My Core
Luka Doncic- Readers of this article secured Giannis Antetokounmpo around just 20% owned in cash games last night, and we could see a similar situation tonight with Doncic. There are plenty of available studs to spend up on including the likes of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but Luka takes the cake for me given how closely priced he is to them. He comes in just $100 more than LeBron James, and the same price as Davis despite being a much better fantasy player this season. He’s averaging more DraftKings points per game, and his marks of a 38% usage rate and 1.68 DraftKings points per minute are higher than both of them. His strength has been in the pick and roll, and the Orlando Magic do an exceptional job guarding pick and roll ball handlers, but not all players are made like one Luka Doncic. The matchup is certainly worse than the Lakers, but I’m willing to bet on the numbers and higher ceiling especially when projected ownership is similar.
CJ McCollum- I’ve always been fond of McCollum given that he went to High School near me, and tonight is one of the few times a season I get to lock him into my DFS lineup. If you haven’t seen, Damian Lillard is expected to miss around the next four games for the Blazers, which should come with a big price hike for CJM. A price hike that he has yet to see. Take a look at the numbers:
McCollum with Lillard on the floor- 26% usage rate, 0.98 points per minute
McCollum with Lillard OFF the floor- 34% usage rate, 1.18 points per minute
That’s a pretty big difference, and it makes him the easiest play in all formats for me on Friday night.
Jayson Tatum- If you remember back prior to the All-Star break, Tatum is someone I had been riding for the last few weeks and that won’t change tonight with Kemba Walker out. He already leads the Celtics in usage rate, and he gets a nice 5% increase with Walker off the floor. He has been on an absolute tear topping 40 DK points in ten of his last 11 games, and is one of the top point per dollar cash game plays at $7,800.
Value Plays
Anfernee Simons- Simons is not a per minute player, but he is priced near the minimum salary and we have seen him start and log 30 minutes without Damian Lillard before this season. As long as he is starting (monitor news) he will be included in my cash game build. The focus is definitely going to be on the Blazers tonight, as Carmelo Anthony also projects for high-ownership in all formats.
Joe Ingles- While I expect Simons to be extremely popular if starting, Jingles is actually my number one value play on the slate. He’s priced extremely low, and I’m not sure if people have fully realized how tied to Mike Conley he is in terms of production. If you take Conley off the floor you see a modest 1.5% usage rate bump, nothing spectacular. However, you also see Ingles put up an average of 30 DraftKings points per game, quite a bit higher than his 25.1 average for the season. The Spurs are nowhere near the juggernaut they once were defensively, and I will be taking full advantage of this price tag.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
