The Locks
Ben Simmons- Simmons has been playing exceptional basketball since Joel Embiid went down, and the thing we like the most over that stretch is that he’s averaging nearly 40 minutes per game. The Bulls are not a good defensive team, and they rank bottom-three against the point guard position in terms of defensive efficiency this season. He’s under $10K tonight and is going to be the first person in my cash game rosters on both sites given the matchup and minutes he’s been seeing.
Luka Doncic- Sooooooo, nobody is going to play Luka again tonight, right? Nobody ever plays him despite how good he has been, and he actually got up to around 30% owned in their last game against the Nets, and due to an early ankle tweak and a blowout he put up just 31 fantasy points, which means the masses will shy away from him tonight at a loaded position. He still boasts well over a 30% usage rate since the start of February, and the matchup against the Wizards has been one we have been pounding over the last few weeks.
Taurean Prince- Prince has missed the last two games for the Hawks due to personal reasons, so he should not be eased in tonight against the Spurs with the Hawks a bit short-handed in the frontcourt. Prince has the ability to stuff the stat sheet, and on a balanced build night for me I love him at his price on both sites at a pretty murky SF position.
Javale McGee- We are set up for another Alex Len chalk night tonight with DeWayne Dedmon doubtful and Omari Spellman still out for the Hawks. While I understand wanting to go back to Len, I think McGee is a viable pivot in the exact same price range against the Denver Nuggets. McGee has been the victim of Kyle Kuzma spending a lot of time at center recently, but Kuzma out tonight and with how big the Nuggets play, McGee’s size should be needed for over 20 minutes. McGee is over a fantasy point per minute producer this season, and I feel more confident in him right now than I do about Len against the Spurs, who could easily go small tonight and turn it into more of a John Collins night than an Alex Len one.
Secondary Options
Dwight Powell- Powell has been a huge beneficiary of the DeAndre Jordan trade, averaging over 30 minutes throughout his last five games. The Wizards are one of the worst rebounding teams in the NBA, and someone like Powell that can rebound well and beat you with hustle stats should have no issues having success against them. He’s priced up to $6,800 on FanDuel and is still in play for me there, but he’s a near lock on DraftKings once again at only $5,900.
Frank Kaminsky- Kaminsky has been re-inserted into the Hornets rotation playing 24 and 27 minutes over the last two games. He’s almost free on both sites, and if we can expect 25 minutes from him again tonight he is one of the top value plays on the slate — especially with a lack of PF value now that Jonah Bolden has been confirmed playing.
Derrick White- White has been locked in for the Spurs posting 35+ fantasy points in three straight games and now drawing a matchup with the Hawks who are allowing the most fantasy points to opposing point guards in the NBA. Given the Hawks fast-pace, the Spurs own the slate’s highest implied team total at 120 points — on the back of a 235 O/U and just a six point spread.
LaMarcus Aldridge- I was going to insert Kyrie Irving here, who I think is still a strong play in all formats, but with the news that Jakob Poeltl is out for the Spurs I have a ton of interest in LMA. This cements Aldridge’s time at the 5 tonight, and the Hawks rank bottom-five in defensive efficiency against the center position. Stacking White/LMA makes a lot of sense to me in cash games, and you certainly run it back with Trae Young in GPPs.
GPP Plays
Spending for C- With everyone focusing on cheap options at center, I love spending up for the likes of Nikola Jokic, Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert in GPPs. All of them have pretty solid matchups, particularly Joker and Gobert, and I don’t see Andre Drummond being able to step out and defend Towns red-hot three ball. I like them all pretty equally and I 100% would experiment rotating them into my tourney teams tonight.
Blake Griffin- Griffin is an elite leverage play off of LaMarcus Aldridge, his price is all the way down to $8,500 on FanDuel and the Timberwolves grade out as one of the worst teams in the league against power forward’s. He hasn’t flashed much upside recently, but this is the perfect bounceback spot and we get a pretty nice price discount to go along with the matchup.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
