We had a fairly successful day yesterday but you needed major exposure to that crazy 4OT game between the Bulls and the Hawks to win anything significant. An ok slate tonight with three games that stand out by far. My core had been on fire of late prior to the break so make sure to check that out tonight by purchasing the NBA Core Plays package at dfskarma.com/shop and asking any questions you have in Discord tonight to fill out the rest of your lineup. Make sure as usual to leverage some of my TOP GPP options with a core of chalkier plays. Let’s get into my top GPP plays for this slate.
AS NBA is a game where last-minute real-life changes are made before tipoff, always monitor breaking news up to last second!
The plays below in this daily article are low owned pivots and GPP plays. This means that these players will be RELATIVELY low owned, and ‘contrarian’ relative to the more highly owned, chalky plays of the night. I emphasize upside/leverage over ownership, particularly in NBA DFS.
BALL IN!
Point Guard
Top GPP Plays:
- Derrick White: White has been playing incredible basketball of late with the Spurs. He is averaging a full .2 more FP/min over the course of the past month when compared to the season. This may seem small but is a substantial difference. White is getting pretty consistent minutes between 25-30 a game and has posted a usage rate over 20% in five of his last six games.
- Justise Winslow: Winslow has been a beast of late and his price of 5k remains extremely affordable considering he’s gone for over 30 DK points in four straight games and five of his last six. Winslow has scored in double figures in six straight games while adding his usual plethora of peripheral stats. Brooklyn is going to struggle to guard this type of player tonight and I expect a huge game from Winslow where he goes for at least six times value once again.
Shooting Guard
Top GPP Plays:
- Mikal Bridges (punt): Bridges may be one of the best punts on the slate and even if he ends up with some ownership between 15-20% he’s a top play in GPPs. He is relatively 1.2k more expensive on Fanduel compared to Draftkings which makes him strictly a Draftkings play. He has posted 30+ DK point games before and has gone for over 20 DK points in three straight games. This Lakers game is one of the best games on the slate from a fantasy perspective and I want a lot of exposure.
- Donovan Mitchell: The usage projections we’re seeing on Donovan Mitchell tonight are actually crazy. Mitchell is a high-caliber player who is the star of this Utah Jazz team who some people just don’t like to pay up for whatever reason. At 7.9k Mitchell has crazy high upside with the highest usage projection on the slate ahead of those like Devin Booker (who will likely be more popular), Steph Curry, DeMar DeRozan, etc. Mitchell is going to go overlooked by not being in one of the three big totals on the slate but this Bucks vs Jazz game is a very underrated matchup between two high caliber teams. Mitchell should show out at home.
Small Forward
Top GPP Plays:
- Kyle Kuzma: It will be difficult to assess what Sixers players to play tonight with so many high usage players on the court. My best bet would be Tobias Harris but I really don’t think there is a ton of predictability and upside there, even with Embiid still out. However, back to the Lakers/Suns game which is potentially my favorite on the slate, Kyle Kuzma seems to me like an elite GPP play. Overshadowed by LeBron James not playing defense and Ingram playing better of late, Kuzma’s stats are looking very similair to they have all season long except now his price has come down over 1.5k from its peak and he’s projected for under 15% ownership. With LeBron looking like he may be human, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Kuzma overtake a lot of the scoring tonight en route to a massive fantasy game in a shootout.
- DeMarre Carroll (punt): I was on Caroll the other night when Dinwiddie was back at this same price of 3.8k and he went for 31.25 DK points at 1.1% ownership. I know this team like the back of my hand and this is another game where Carroll will be heavily involved. He is the Nets best bet to matchup with some of the bigger Heat players and likely will see big minutes tonight as the veteran tries to pull out what feels like a must win for the Nets after two bad losses. Carroll has that 7-8x upside and makes for a fantastic punt on this slate.
Power Forward
Top GPP Plays:
- Draymond Green: No Klay Thompson tonight which obviously just opens up some shots for some other players. Draymond could end up posting a massive score where he’ll likely play heavy minutes to match up with the likes of Tobias Harris. This is one of the best games on the slate with the highest total while priced at only 5.8k, the cheapest we’ve got him in quite a while. The triple-double upside is still here for Draymond and this seems like a fantastic spot to bet on it where he should see a slight usage bump in a pace up game.
- David Bertans (punt): Bertans is unknowingly by most one of the best three-point shooters in the league. This game between the Spurs could end up being pretty high-scoring where the Spurs are favored by four points without Paul George in the Thunder lineup. Bertans is a volatile player due to his dependence on shot but with the price decrease after a putrid three-game stretch, I’m going to take a punt chance on a bounce back tonight in GPPs.
Center
Top GPP Plays:
- Nikola Jokic: On the other side of the court, Jokic is slated to matchup up against Jahill Okafor, one of the premier offensive big men in the game but known for being absolutely terrible on defense. Okafor should be absolutely bullied and outskilled on the defensive end by Jokic. 10.2k is actually a bargain considering the ceiling on Jokic tonight in one of the highest projected scoring games on the slate.
- Jahill Okafor (punt): We saw what Okafor was able to do when he got significant minutes for the Pelicans. Anthony Davis is resting tonight and Okafor is getting inserted back into the lineup but for whatever reason at 3.6k is projected for under 20% ownership. He becomes one of the elite plays of the slate for me in this scenario against a big Nuggets frontcourt where he’ll be needed to play extended minutes.
Written By: Robert Viafora
- Twitter: @DF_Advantage
