My Core
LeBron James + Other Lakers?- I can already tell I’m going to be taking a different approach with my lineups in cash games tonight than the rest of the industry, and that’s okay. I’m going to be focusing on one particular game — Lakers/Mavericks — which comes in featuring a 224 O/U and just a 2,5 point spread. Anthony Davis has already been ruled out for this contest, which is going to open up a lot of usage and production on this Lakers team. Below, I’m listing the biggest beneficiaries with AD off the court this season:
LeBron James- 31% usage/1.54 fantasy points per minute bumps to 37% usage/1.61 fantasy points per minute
Rajon Rondo- 18% usage/1.00 fantasy points per minute bumps to 20% usage/1.15 fantasy points per minute
Javale McGee- 15% usage/1.16 fantasy points per minute bumps to 21% usage/1.38 fantasy points per minute
All of these players, King James especially, are going to be counted on to play a much bigger offensive role tonight without an MVP-level player in Davis. I do agree with the spread here and think the game will be close, so I’m going to plug these guys in and move on regardless of projected ownership.
Luka Doncic- Since I’m essentially going all-in on the Lakers, it makes sense for me to look at the other side of the game as well…and what better way to do that than with Luka Doncic? Doncic will still be playing without Kristaps Porzingis, meaning we will get a near 40% usage rate from him tonight. He also has averaged 56 DraftKings points per game against this Lakers team in three meetings this season, all three with Porzingis active. I don’t think pairing Doncic with James will be a popular build in cash games whatsoever, making it my favorite strategy.
Value Plays
Kendrick Nunn- Nunn has cooled off since his blazing start to the season, but it’s not as bad as you think and it’s also resulted in a big-time price drop on DraftKings. If you go back to December 20th, he was priced at $6,500 and tonight you can have him for the low price of $4,600! He still has upside for big minutes, this is a pace-up spot for the Heat, and I’m willing to bet on a buy low for someone that can score 30 real points on any given night.
Terrence Ross- This is the perfect spot to buy Ross, who gets a pace-up matchup against the Suns with DJ Augustin out for the Magic. Ross’ numbers actually go down with Augustin off the floor, but it should result in more minutes and he’s never a huge per minute producer anyways. When you roster someone like Ross you’re hoping for him to get hot shooting, this is an ideal matchup for that with the Suns allowing the fifth-highest three point percentage to opposing players this season.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
