What’s Up Karma Nation! We had another successful day to start out week 2. It will be a great season ahead of us. I was able to cash again on Draftkings, which is what this article is mostly based on. Bringing me to 2-1 on the season and I missed on FD for the first time, bring me to 2-1 over there too. Today we have a couple exciting games on tap.
I’m going to be switching things up this article and focusing on my favorite cash plays for the slate. These may not be in my core for tonight but I will be giving my favorite player from each tier, that if you are forced to play someone at that price you know who to plug in! WNBA is a little different than other sports where I don’t see myself forcing a cash lineup in. I could be looking at two completely different cash cores that may only have one or two plays in common.
Remember to always be checking out Final Thoughts because we always have news that updates throughout the day leading to changes in my outlook on the slate. I moved Bonner from GPP Pivot to cash/upside. Azura Stevens moved from GPP Pivot to cash/upside as well and I ranked her over Jones which was a huge edge. That helped me kill double ups even with Nneka. Usually I put my cash lineup into Final Thoughts as well so you can steal it from me there.
Draftkings Cash Lineup: 236.75
Bird, Bonner, Ogwumike, A Thomas, Stewart, Stevens. I was able to finish top 10 in my $5 Double ups and 3x ROI in most tournaments. Sometimes it’s okay to leave salary on the table. I left $900 on the table. I was 2 pivots away from the best lineup. Copper over Bird and Fowles over Nneka was the best possible DK lineup.
Guards
Top Tier
Chennedy Carter: I can’t believe after just one game she is already up at 10,000. I’m not going to be chasing this game but if you want a safe option at guard with a ton of usage still with no Courtney Williams, she is your gal. She was able to play 30 minutes and played a huge roll in the offense. She does rank third on her team in usage rate, but 9th among guards in the league in regards to usage rate. ATL really relied on three players last game. Billings, Carter and Laney. Which you can try to game stack them with A’ja, Angel, and Young. Which on DK is impossible because you only have 6 roster spots so you can leave Young out of it and look for someone cheap to replace her. There isn’t much to work with at 4000 so might as well look at that as a FD only stack. Work with maybe a mini stack if you are on DK.
GPP Pivot: Sabrina Ionescu
Mid Tier
Betnijah Laney: I don’t care if I’m alone on this one I will be putting Laney in close to 100% of my lineups and ride her tonight. This should be a high scoring game, Vegas has it projected at 174.5, one of the highest totals of the season. Both teams want to play quick, which means we have a ton of fantasy opportunities available in this game. Laney is coming off a huge usage game and she is looking to build on it even more tonight. Laney had an even higher usage rate than Carter and will be forced to play big minutes yet again while the Dream are short handed. She played the second most minutes in the league last game and minutes + Usage rate equals fantasy stardom. At 6.5k she is way too cheap not to lock in. She is able to create her own shot, with 100% of her 2 point FGs unassisted, but she still is able to feed off the guards with 100% of her 3 point attempts assisted. This is the perfect combo leading to consistent results.
GPP Pivot: Victoria Vivians
Cheap Tier
Moriah Jefferson (FD): DK did a great job pricing players, so there really aren’t any cheap players you can just plug and play for value. Other slates you had players like Stevens and Bird where they were cheap starters with a ton of usage and produced easy fantasy point floors for their price, letting you plug in 4 10,000+ players. Jefferson is a starting PG that you are getting for 4000. Yes, Arike is the big name doing all the scoring but Jefferson is handling the ball most of the time now with a 22% usage rate, 2nd on the team. She really didn’t do much last game but she is looking to bounce back here against a poor Liberty defense.
GPP Pivot: Jackie Young
Forwards
Top Tier
A’ja Wilson: She is the top play on the board and is a good stack with her frontcourt partner Angel McCoughtry. The Aces should have their way inside against the thin frontcourt in Atlanta. Even with Glory back, I don’t expect much from her returning from Covid. So Billings and Williams should be forced to play a lot of minutes leading to fatigue and worse defense again. A’ja and Angel just murdered the Sky and I am expecting much of the same again tonight. They both have 40 point ceilings but A’ja is just a little safer than McCoughtry if you are deciding between one of them. They boht have extremely similar usage rates, both rank top 10 in the league at 28.6% and 27.4%. On FD I will be locking in Angel for cash and DK I will be locking in A’ja. Both might find their ways into my cash lineup on both sites.
GPP Pivot: Teaira McCowan (If Starting) and Amanda Zahui B.
Mid Tier
Satou Sabally (FD): She was the number 2 overall pick for a reason. Coming off a 27 minute 26.5 FPTs debut she gets an even better matchup tonight vs the Liberty. It’s not always about usage rates for forwards but Sabally has the 4th highest usage rate on the team behind all the guards, and 16th highest in the league for a forward which for a rookie is good especially in her debut. Her rebounding % is one of the worst in the league but she makes up for it with her high assist rate. Which assists are more valuable than rebounds. I’m expecting more rebounds today as the Dream were shooting way too efficient last game. She ranks 4th among forwards in ast %. She is a lock for me on FD and just a GPP play on DK. I will consider her more on DK if McCowan doesn’t get the start.
GPP Pivot: Brianna Turner
Cheap Tier
I’m not going to be considering cheap forwards or probably even guards in cash for Draftkings. Unless some random news hits that makes one of these players cash playable.
GPP Pivot: Leaonna Odom (She is FD cash playable IF you need to)
