Recap of Last Night
I’ve been enjoying one of my better streaks in the last calendar year over the last few weeks, and that continued last night with my optimal lineup hitting 354.75 on DraftKings. Monday was a great example of how valuable it is to react to late news in NBA, I loved Timothe Luwawu Cabarrot all day, but once he was confirmed starting it was a lock he would be in my core plays. He responded with 37 DK points destroying his price tag of $3,100, and was around 30% owned. 30% might seem like a lot, but that’s a big edge over 70% of the field when someone that is min-priced goes way over 10x their salary. We didn’t get the news that he would start until around 15 minutes before lock, and if we had that news early in the day his ownership likely would of doubled. Being prepared for all outcomes and being able to react quickly to news is one of the most valuable skills an NBA DFS player can have. This is a small section I will feature daily this season after bigger slates, with that being said, onto Tuesday night!
Note: You can gain access to my core plays, along with all of our other analysts for as little as $5 by clicking here.
Guard
Russell Westbrook- We have a lot of studs to choose from on Tuesday night, namely Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic and Steph Curry. While I have interest in all of them, I have my eyes locked onto a building blocks favorite in Russell Westbrook. Westy hasn’t featured heavy ownership in his firs two games in DC, but has responded with back-to-back triple doubles. He’s averaging an insane 1.6 DraftKings points per minute, sustained by a 30% usage rate. It’s clear that Bradley Beal is not Kevin Durant or James Harden, meaning he can still get his while the offense runs through Westbrook. Not only do I love his numbers through the first few games, I love the match-up with the Chicago Bulls. Both these teams rank top-five in pace so far, and neither are good defensively. We should expect a fast-paced, high-scoring affair which tailors to Westbrook’s preferred style of play. We have been getting vintage production from him, and at under $10,000 on DK he is likely my favorite play on the slate.
Forward
Naz Reid- Reid is someone we targeted a lot late last season, and he has been thrust into play again tonight with Karl-Anthony Towns out for Minnesota. Reid was slightly over a point per minute player as a starter in 2019, and he put up 27.3 DK points in 28 minutes in the Wolves last game vs the Lakers. His price jumped from $4,200 on that slate to $5,100 tonight, but if he is going to approach 30 minutes we can still consider him a strong per dollar play. Our projections portal has him projected for 30 DK points, with the highest Karma Value score on the slate.
Center
Mike Muscala- I typically have a value pool section at the bottom, but today we have a mid-priced play in Naz Reid and a punt in Mike Muscala that I like a lot for cash game builds. Al Horford has been ruled out on the back-to-back, clearing the path for him to start at center. Muscala isn’t exactly a high-upside play, but we also don’t need him to be at only $3,200 on DraftKings. He’s averaging over a point per minute this season, and is quietly third on the Thunder in usage rate at 21%. The usage will definitely take a hit entering the starting lineup, but this is someone we have seen produce as a value play before on this team. He is also a really good three point shooter, which allows him another path to beating value if he gets hot from deep.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
