My Core
Giannis Antetokounmpo- I always look to lock in at least one stud in my cash game builds, and with no Luka Doncic on this slate, that title goes to the reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. He’s having another monster season averaging 1.9 fantasy points per minute with a monster 39% usage rate. This is a tough matchup for him defensively, but he has a strong history against Kawhi Leonard’s defense and if anything, we want him in this situations because there is a much lesser chance of him being limited minutes-wise from a blowout. If this game stays competitive, which it should, we should see 34+ minutes from the Greek Freak tonight which would average out to well over 60 fantasy points. He’s relatively easy to fit in on both sites should you attempt to.
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Washington Wizards (yikes)- The Wizards are once again the focus of the slate with Thomas Bryant, Isaiah Thomas and to a lesser extent, Jordan McRae and Ian Mahinmi out. Here’s what happens when you take those player’s off the floor:
Brad Beal– 40% usage rate + 1.3 fantasy points per minute
Rui Hachimura– 19% usage + 1.09 fantasy points per minute
Moe Wagner– 17% usage 1.12 fantasy points per minute
We also have Davis Bertans at just under 1.00 fantasy points per minute…
So what does this mean? It means that all of these guys become quality options in all formats and all should beat value at their current price tags. This not a great matchup with a good defensive team in the Miami Heat, and the Wizards are on the second game of a back-to-back, but they are all priced like IT2 and Bryant are playing when they aren’t. I plan on playing at least two of these guys tonight in my cash game build, and I would rank them in the order they are listed above.
Jimmy Butler- Since I plan on playing so many Wizards guys, it only makes sense to “run it back” with Jimmy Butler, who was featured in this section on Wednesday as well. It’s clear that the Heat are ready to push him regardless of game-script, he was coming off 41 minutes played on Tuesday night and still nearly got to 40 again on Wednesday despite the Heat getting easily beat by the Celtics. We currently have him projected for around 35 minutes tonight, which is great when you factor in his 1.26 fantasy point per minute rate this season.
Value Plays
Ish Smith- We don’t have much value on this slate to work with outside of, get this, another Wizards player (yay!). Smith will step into the starting lineup for the injured Isaiah Thomas again tonight, and owns a 0.8 fantasy point per minute mark without him this season. He posted 33 DK points in 34 minutes last night, and even if he production slips a little, his price didn’t move and he will be one of the highest-owned players on the slate. I’m always more inclined to eat chalk the cheaper the player is.
Kendrick Nunn / Tyler Herro– Both Nunn and Herro are in play against a horrible Washington defense with Goran Dragic out, and could get an even further bump up if Justise Winslow (questionable) was unable to go as well. Both have usage rates over 20% this season, and Nunn in particular has had a pretty reasonable floor for his price.
Abdel Nader- This is one I don’t feel super great about, but might be forced into if no other value pops up. Nader is slated to start with Hami Diallo and Terrance Ferguson out for the Thunder, and has been a 0.78 fantasy point per minute player this season — for reference, if you read above, that’s around the same mark as Ish Smith. He’s projected for 6-7 less minutes than Smith tonight, though he is also a few hundred cheaper. Regardless, you would only need 16 or so fantasy points to feel good about him at his price, and he does have the ability to get hot from three and really smash his price tag.
Note: As you can tell, the majority of the interest in cash games is coming from the WAS/MIA game so getting weird in tournaments could be even more valuable than normal tonight.
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Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
