The Locks
Cheick Diallo- We kick off Wednesday’s slate with some solid value in Cheick Diallo with Anthony Davis ruled out. The Pelicans have been committed to playing Diallo more down the stretch with the playoffs not in sight, and Diallo has been above a fantasy point per minute player this season. He is affordable on all sites, and on a very clear stars and scrubs slate he sticks out as someone I want to fit in to begin my lineups.
Bucks- We are set for another Bucks chalk night with Nikola Mirotic out and Giannis Anteokounmpo questionable. It’s pretty tough to break down not knowing whether or not Giannis plays, so right now I will leave my interest in DJ Wilson (all formats), Pat Connaughton (GPP) and Ersan Ilyasova (GPP). If Giannis is OUT, we can bump up Eric Bledsoe and Khris Middleton to cash game plays, but if he is in I won’t be focusing on them given the plethora of plays in their pricing tiers tonight.
Bradley Beal- Beal sets up in a smash spot tonight against the Bulls, who rank bottom-three in the NBA in defensive efficiency against guards, and in a game featuring a 230 O/U. I haven’t played much Beal recently given how aggressive they have been with his pricing, but with all of the value on this slate we should have no issues getting in Beal should we want, who has a much higher floor than we are normally accustomed to.
Russell Westbrook- If you’re plugging in guys like Diallo and the cheap Bucks I listed, you are going to have room to spend and Russ has by faer the safest floor on this slate. He’s extremely under-priced at $10,300 on DK, and he is coming off some extra days rest after being suspended for the Thunder’s last game. James Harden is in a meh matchup against Memphis, and we don’t even know if Giannis is playing, meaning Russ is the top floor/ceiling play for cash games on this slate and is a LOCK at that price on DraftKings.
Secondary Options
Damian Lillard (DraftKings)- Another blatant mis-pricing by DK, Dame comes in at $8,800 with CJ McCollum still out for the Blazers. Lillard boasts a viedo game-like 60% assist rate in the few games without McCollum this season, and the matchup against Dallas is better than you would think as they come in outside the top-20 in defensive efficiency this season against Point Guards.
Nikola Vucevic- As you can tell, this is an extremely straightforward slate. Simply plugging in Diallo + cheap Bucks on DraftKings is going to allow you to basically get in three of Russ/Beal/Lillard/Vucevic and you should easily be able to fit three of them on FanDuel as well given the low score drop and our ability to punt a position. Everyone knows why Vuc is an elite play tonight against New Orleans, so you simply need to decide if he is a better play than the other three players I just mentioned. 100% this is a stars and scrubs slate and if you don’t follow that build strategy I see you being pretty far behind the field even in cash.
FanDuel Value Plays: Danuel House, Derrick Jones Jr, Troy Brown, Ante Zizic
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
