Welcome to our NBA DFS Building Blocks article! Each day, we will dissect injury news and breakdown our favorite plays at each position. We also provide Core Plays nightly for our subscribers, as well as projections and a premium discord channel. You can sign up for access to today’s Core Plays and projections by clicking HERE — and can get access to a single day pass for just $5 HERE. Now, let’s get into today’s slate…
Injuries to Monitor
There are only three games on Saturday’s slate, but we have some big question marks especially when it comes to the Los Angeles Lakers. All of their stars played huge minutes in last night’s win over the Raptors, including LeBron James who led the team at 45 minutes. We could see them rest LeBron here, and potentially other players as well. Outside of the Lakers situation, there aren’t any huge question marks on the main slate. If James is ruled out, a ton of attention would be forced onto the supplementary Lakers players and it would completely flip the slate on its head.
Guard
The top guards in both projection and projected ownership tonight are Luka Doncic and Darius Garland. Doncic sticks out as the top option here as he’s been on a tear recently. Garland is coming off major minutes last night in a win against the Nuggets, but can be considered in tournament settings. There’s a good chance we get more value opening up before lock, which would assist in stuffing Doncic into our builds. Deni Avdija is someone that sticks out as a building block for me as a value play. Avdija is someone I liked a lot heading into the second-half of the season, and he’s come with up-and-down results. Most important, however, is the upper-20’s minutes he’s seen over his last three games. If those minutes continue and he is aggressive shooting the basketball, he can easily provide value at this price tag.
Russell Westbrook and Cade Cunningham are mid-tier guys that stick out to me for GPPs. Westy would become a cash game staple should LeBron miss, while Cunningham has been taking over for the Pistons. He has missed the last two games due to an illness, but is probably tonight. He’s top-ten in the NBA in drives per game since the All-Star break, and has a similar ceiling to Darius Garland for less projected OWN%.
Forward
Forward is going to come down to the closer-to-lock injury news for me. Kristaps Porzingis is my favorite play here, but it’s unclear whether he will play or not. If he’s ruled in, as well as LeBron, that would be my favorite build strategy — a mini correlation between Avdija/Porzingis/James. If Porzingis is ruled out, that would be a nice boost to Kyle Kuzma in a revenge spot against his former team. The Lakers defense has crumbled in recent games, and they are one of the worst defensive teams in basketball over the last two weeks. Kuzma is averaging over a 28% usage rate with Porzingis off the floor.
Lauri Markkanen can be used in all formats, especially if no more value opens up. If James is ruled out, Talen Horton-Tucker would see a big ownership boost as well.
Center
Center is a hard position tonight on a small slate with limited options. Currently, Wenyen Gabriel is projecting for nearly 50% ownership after a career-night for the Lakers on Friday. This is the perfect example of someone I’m comfortable playing as chalk in cash games, but won’t feel forced to play him in tournaments unless I really need the savings. People are worried about LeBron sitting, so if he does in fact play he would become my favorite play on the entire slate.
Both Dallas Centers — Dwight Powell and Maxi Kleber — are in good spots against Charlotte. The Hornets continue to struggle in terms of allowing rebounds to opposing big-men, and I would lean slightly with Powell over Kleber for lower projected-ownership.
Main Lineup Musts: Wenyen Gabriel, Luka Doncic, Dwight Powell
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
