My Core
Luka Doncic- We have a medium-sized slate on tap for Monday night, filled with injuries across the board. One of the biggest ones is Kristaps Porzingis resting, which is why I have Doncic in my core section against the Chicago Bulls. Despite owning a massive 39% usage rate with over 1.7 fantasy points per minute with Zingis off the floor, Doncic is only projected for around 15% ownership tonight. Sure, Zach LaVine is doubtful for the Bulls and the Mavs could easily run them out of the building tonight — but anyone that reads this article regularly knows I don’t factor in blowouts as much as others when spending up. He’s just over $10,000 and is the top overall play for me on this slate.
CJ McCollum- We’ve seen McCollum’s price tag rise over the last week due to Lillard’s absence, but I can make the argument it hasn’t risen near enough. His usage rate spikes by a monster 7% with Lillard off the floor this season (up to 34%) along with a 0.22 per minute increase. Those increases result in over 50 DraftKings points per game over that span, which would make his salary of $9,300 still on the light side. Orlando is known as a tough defensive unit, but I have regularly attacked them with ball-dominant players over the last few weeks and McCollum fits that mold.
Jonas Valanciunas- Memphis is another team that has been bitten by the injury bug with Brandon Clarke and Jaren Jackson both still sidelined. JVal is coming off 49 and 51 DraftKings points in his last two games, but remains below $7,000 despite a matchup with the Atlanta Hawks. Yes, the same Hawks who surrender the third-most rebounds per game. There’s a lot of strong value at F/C tonight, but I can’t overlook Val’s price in this specific matchup and will be locking him into my optimal build.
Value Plays
Rudy Gay + Trey Lyles- Gay and Lyles should both be winners again with Jakob Poeltl now out in addition to LaMarcus Aldridge. Lyles played 40 minutes against a big Orlando frontcourt, which lines up very similar to the Pacers who have both Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner. Gay is also projected for at least 30 minutes of action while both remain under $5,000 in salary.
Cavs Situation- The Cavs are an absolute mess tonight with Darius Garland, Andre Drummond and Tristan Thompson all expected to miss. The big winners here in terms of value should be Kevin Porter Jr and Larry Nance. But, we also have the possibility of Ante Zizic getting minutes to counter Gobert. Nance is my personal favorite followed by KPJ, and I will only consider using Zizic IF he is listed as a starter.
Maxi Kleber- Willie Cauley-Stein hasn’t played since February 12th, and I highly doubt he steps back in immediately tonight and logs major minutes. Kleber has been around 0.9 fantasy points per minute with Porzingis out, and would be one of the top value plays on the slate should be push for 30 minutes against this Bulls frontcourt.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
