What’s up everyone and welcome to Ben’s Building Blocks! If you’ve never read my content before, welcome. To those that have, welcome back. I truly appreciate everyone that reads and supports during NBA season. This article is designed for me to highlight the top plays of the day. Obviously, things can change rapidly in the NBA with injury news close to lock, so I would be sure to subscribe to our premium package for access to our Final Thoughts cheat sheet, our premium discord channel and my core plays. Our Core Plays product gives you the ability to tail all of our analysts in your contests each night. We do the work for you, and you simply plug and play with our premium Core Plays. With that being said, let’s hop into the plays…
Building Blocks
Alperen Sengun
Anyone that reads my articles knows that I’ve been riding Sengun in both props and DFS over the last two weeks. His breakout has finally happened, and that’s in part due to Kevin Porter Jr’s absence for the Rockets. Since KPJ went out injured, Sengun has averaged over 1.4 fantasy points per minute compared to 1.1 with him on the floor. Another big factor has been his minutes, he’s averaged over 34 minutes per game over that five game span and that’s allowing him to hit his ceiling. He’s topped 50+ DK points in three straight games and draws another strong match-up tonight as long as Rudy Gobert is out. His price is way up, but I can’t argue his performances as of late and he’s viable in all formats on Monday.
Derrick White
White will get a huge opportunity tonight with both Marcus Smart and Malcolm Brogdon out vs the Orlando Magic. He’s been around a 0.9 fantasy point per minute player this season but is certainly capable of a rate increase with those two guys off the floor. More importantly he will be needed for major minutes as long as the game is close — we have him projected for over 30 tonight. He’s coming in with a pretty hefty 30% projected ownership number, but that’s warranted for his expected role. He’s one of the top mid-tier plays on Monday and will be tough to avoid in cash game formats.
Value Plays
Jalen Duren
Duren ranks outside the top-five on the Pistons this season in usage rate, but continues to post near 1.00 fantasy point per minute due to his ability to stuff the stat sheet. He will see increased minutes tonight with Isaiah Stewart out for Detroit, and could push for 30+ if the game is close in the second-half. He’s priced as if Stewart will be in, making his $4,500 salary tag one of our top values on the entire slate. The match-up is neutral, but I’m willing to bet on him with an increased minutes load and I think he can be used as a one-off, as well.
OwnersBox Top Play
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Jayson Tatum
I wrote White up earlier for value, but I think Tatum is in a monster spot tonight at what should be low-ownership. He’s had a few big games against the Magic already this season, and continues to come in top-six in overall ceiling on his slates. Despite that huge ceiling projection, he isn’t catching much expected OWN% due to his salary and other similarly priced players. Jaylen Brown will draw the toughest individual match-up against Franz Wagner, which should open things up even more for Tatum on the offensive end. Overall, he is the type of player that can break a slate at low OWN% and those are the guys I want to bet on when chasing first place in tournaments.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
