My Core
Jayson Tatum- The already banged up Celtics are thrust into the lead situation on this slate again tonight with Kemba Walker now injured and not expected to play. Tatum is having a very productive season for the Celtics, now leading the offense with Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn, and is one of the top overall plays tonight. If you take Gordon Hayward and Kemba Walker off the floor this season, you’ll notice Tatum’s usage rises to nearly 35% and he sees a decent point per minute hike as well. There isn’t any glaring value tonight, outside of one other Celtics player, so going with a more balanced build and starting with Tatum at $6,900 on DraftKings is my inital plan.
Trae Young- Speaking of a more balanced build, with the lack of quality value, it seems like getting up to Trae Young at his price rather than a Giannis or LeBron at over $10,500 seems most optimal on Monday night. Young himself sports a 36% usage rate with 1.3 fantasy points per minute this season, and this is a great matchup for him against a weak defensive Wolves team, that also ranks 3rd overall in pace. This is far and away the highest O/U on the slate, and the four point spread means we should get a full compliment of minutes from Young, who has elite upside in every game he plays.
Malcolm Brogdon (DK)- DraftKings must have forgotten that there was a possibility he plays tonight, because they listed him at $6,100 despite a matchup with the fast-pace, horrible defending Memphis Grizzlies. There is some uncertainty with him just coming back from injury, but I see no reason why he shouldn’t play around 30 minutes at minimum in a competitive game tonight, and his rates have far outproduced that type of price tag this season. I won’t overthink this in cash games.
Note: I’m really interested in this matchup for Anthony Davis against the Spurs who have been crushed by bigs all season. They allow the 8th most rebounds in the NBA, and he is priced under $10K on DK. I am considering adding him to my core section, if I can fit him in.
Value Plays
Brad Wanamaker- This was the easy value play I mentioned above, as we should expect Wanamaker to see around 29 or more minutes tonight in the absence of Kemba Walker. I wouldn’t be concerned if he doesn’t start the game since he didn’t start the second half once Walker went down over the weekend, but he will be counted on to run point guard a decent amount tonight and is priced very affordably on both sites. He’s not a super-high upside play, but he’s actually been over 0.8 fantasy points per minute this season and last, which is more than enough for his pricing tier. I will have 100% of him on Monday, even in GPPs.
Warriors- The Dubs are a situation we need to monitor closely tonight, the bad thing is we most likely won’t get news before lock, so this plays more into DraftKings than FanDuel. If Draymond Green is active, I think he is a strong value play at his price, and if he is out again we can definitely consider the likes of Glenn Robinson and Omari Spellman as cheaper options.
I will also be adding in Cam Reddish here, if he is active and good to go.
Note: If Rudy Gobert gets ruled out, both Tony Bradley and Jeff Green will enter my value pool for all formats.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
