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
Lamelo Ball
Ball has been a lock and load for us in DFS since returning from injury, and that is the case once again tonight with Terry Rozier doubtful. Lamelo sees a 5% usage rate increase with Rozier off the floor, and will see even more shot attempts / touches than usual. He also draws the best game environment on the slate tonight against the Kings — the game currently features a monster 240 O/U which the clear top spot on the night. His 1.4 fantasy point per minute numbers are more indicative of a $10K player — since he’s priced as if Rozier is in I believe he is a discount tonight and a strong spend-up in all formats.
Chris Paul
Devin Booker was ruled out for the Suns on Monday afternoon, solidifying Chris Paul as one of the top options on tonight’s slate. Paul sees both a usage and per minute boost with Booker and Cam Payne off the court this season, and will need to carry the load offensively against the Lakers tonight. He’s averaged over 35 minutes per game with those two out this season, and is priced as if Booker is playing. We will be plugging in some Lakers pieces tonight due to their injury situations — and running it back with Paul will be a must for me on my main teams.
Value Plays
Thomas Bryant
Bryant looked great in his start last night putting up a 16-10 double-double in 33 minutes of action. He should continue to start with Anthony Davis out for the Lakers, and taking advantage of his price while he’s priced as the back-up is advantageous on all sites. His per minute numbers have always been solid, and they are again this season with a 1.15 rate. Minutes have always been his issue, and we have have him projected for over 30 tonight. Phoenix has actually been a pretty bad defensive team against centers this season, and he’s the top point per dollar option on DraftKings tonight.
OwnersBox Top Play
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Donovan Mitchell
Mitchell is very scoring dependent and not typically the type of player I like to use in DFS — but I would love some exposure to him tonight. He’s been a complete alpha for the Cavs this season, ranking first overall in field goal attempts per game. He’s playing against his former team for the first time tonight, and has spoken personally about how it is definitely emotional. We’ve seen him get up for these similar spots this season, and I fully believe he’s going to try to score as many points as possible tonight. Utah is a bad defensive team, and Cleveland is much, much better as a whole at home this season. I think his peripheral ceiling is lower than other closely priced players, but if he goes for 35+ real points he’s likely going to put up a strong score.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
