Easy Breezy: Chalk Stack
Oklahoma City Thunder
The Oklahoma City Thunder and Philadelphia 76ers will be playing in one of the fastest paced games on the slate. These two teams rank third and seventh in the NBA in pace, respectively. Oklahoma City has surprisingly struggled at times offensively, although they rank 12th in the league in offensive rating this season. Philadelphia currently ranks in the same position in defensive rating in 2018, as well. The Thunder are -7.5 point favorites in a game set at 240.5 points, giving them the highest implied total on this slate at 124 points.
I’m breaking the mold a bit on this article, and this stack will only have two players. Russell Westbrook and Paul George have completely taken over the offense this season, and they are both elite fantasy options. Westbrook is a triple double threat on a nightly basis, who has been playing at an absurdly high level recently. He’s averaging 35.3 points, 13.0 rebounds, 7.0 assists, and 1.0 steals (65.9 DK points) in 37.6 minutes per game since returning from the All Star Break (ASB). Westbrook is also averaging 66.2 DK points per game over his last 10 games, including a pair of games with 81.75 and 88 DK points. He owns an elite floor/ceiling combination, and his price tag is still reasonable on this slate tonight. George has also been playing at an elite level recently, averaging 28.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 6.3 assists, and 2.3 steals (55.8 DK points) in 42.6 minutes per game since the ASB. He’s also averaging 60.4 DK points per game over his last 10 contests, while flashing near 90 DK point upside over that span. Westbrook and George aren’t going to come cheap, but they are extremely consistent, and come with unmatched upside. Jerami Grant is an option who can be considered to fill out this stack a bit more, but I’m strictly sticking with the expensive duo and filling them out with other cheap options on this slate.
NOTE: Golden State will be the “Chalk Stack” with Kevin Durant and Andre Iguodala out.
Wildcard GPP: Low Owned Stack
Denver Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets have been slowing the pace down throughout the 2018 season, ranking only 24th in the NBA in pace thus far. They get a matchup against the Utah Jazz, who rank 14th in the league in pace through 60 games. Denver has also featured an elite offense, ranking fourth in the NBA in offensive rating this season. Utah is in a similar position, as they also rank fourth in the league, but in defensive rating. Still, the Nuggets are -7 point favorites in a game set at 225 points, and they feature an implied total of 116 points.
Nikola Jokic is going to feature ownership tonight, but it’s impossible to avoid him in a Denver stack tonight. He has been playing at a high level for quite some time, as he’s averaging 25.7 points, 12.7 rebounds, 7.0 assists, and 1.3 steals (56.3 DK points) in 30.6 minutes per game since the All Star Break (ASB). He has also been an elite option at home, where he’s averaging 1.76 DK points per minute, as opposed to 1.46 DK points per game on the road. Furthermore, Jokic is averaging 57.4 DK points per game against Utah this season. Paul Millsap is finally playing bigger minutes on a consistent basis, and he has looked outstanding since returning from the ASB. In those games, he’s averaging 16.7 points, 13.0 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.3 blocks, and 2.7 steals (44.4 DK points) in 30.3 minutes per game. It isn’t overly surprising, though, as he’s averaging 1.11 DK points per minute through 49 games. Millsap is expected to see around 30 minutes again tonight, and he comes with tremendous upside, as his price tag has yet to catch up to his most recent role with Denver. Will Barton is far from a consistent option, but that has kept his price tag low. He’s only averaging 12.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 3.7 assists (23.2 DK points) in 28.3 minutes per game since the ASB, but he has scored 26 and 34.25 DK points in two of those three games. He also found tremendous success in his only matchup against Utah this season, scoring 45.3 DK points in 29.4 minutes. Similarly to Millsap, Barton is expected to play roughly 30 minutes tonight, and he comes with a surprisingly cheap price tag.
Hidden Gem: Value Guard
Emmanuel Mudiay
Mudiay has found quite a bit of success in somewhat of limited minutes this season. Overall, he’s averaging 14.9 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists (26.3 DK points) in 26.3 minutes per game. He has also seen a larger role recently, playing 32 and 26 minutes in two of his last three games. He also scored 32.5 and 31 DK points in those games.
Mudiay’s new role is expected to continue, as he’ll like find minutes in the mid- to high-20s tonight. He has always been a solid fantasy option, and that’s unlikely to change now. He gets a great matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have struggled against guards throughout the season. In their only matchup, Mudiay scored 39.5 DK points in 30.4 minutes, and he makes a strong option tonight.
Hidden Gem: Value Big
Bam Adebayo
Adebayo is another player that has found plenty of success in limited minutes. He’s averaging 7.9 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 2.0 assists (21.7 DK points) in only 22.0 minutes per game this season. He saw 32 minutes in his last game with Hassan Whiteside out, scoring 34.5 DK points. He also found success in only 21 minutes in his game prior to that, as he posted 32.75 DK points against the Phoenix Suns.
Whiteside has been ruled out again tonight, along with James Johnson. That will lock Adebayo into minutes in the high-20s or low-30s. He gets a solid matchup against the Houston Rockets, who Adebayo scored 19.75 DK points against in 23.5 minutes earlier this season. There is a very real chance that Adebayo could be the highest owned player on the slate, but there’s no real reason to avoid him tonight.
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