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
We are always at risk or surprise rests at this point in the season, but for now there are just a few injury situations to monitor. Right now, we have Giannis, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jimmy Butler carrying Q tags into tonight’s slate. Giannis in particular is a slate-altering one. With Jrue Holiday already out, Giannis would be a smash play if ruled in. If he gets ruled out, tons of attention and ownership will move onto the Bucks players. I think SGA will likely sit, but that game comes way after lock so it isn’t likely we have that news before 7pm.
GUARDS
Guard is pretty interesting with tons of sketchy value catching high ownership projections. I’m willing to be lower than the field on the Blazers — Keon Johnson and Kris Dunn. Dunn was chalk on Friday night until it got announced he wouldn’t start, some pivoted to Keon Johnson but it was Dunn who ended with more fantasy points. Portland is clearly tanking at this point, and they keep spreading their rotation to include 10 guys or so. I would be focused more on the Kings tonight, with Davion Mitchell and Donte DiVincenzo sticking out as strong plays in all formats. Mitchell continues to operate in a alpha-level role for the Kings, and they should ride out their young players as the season winds down.
I will also note if SGA gets ruled out, Theo Maledon and Tre Mann would both grade out as strong plays.
FORWARDS
A lot of the cheaper guards that are popping have F eligibility on DraftKings as well but there is one clear play here and it’s Kevin Love. Love is enjoying a renaissance season for the Cavs in 2022 averaging 1.25 DK points per minute. Most importantly, he finally started in the Cavs last game and wound up playing over 32 minutes. If this holds true on Saturday and he starts once again, he is easily the top per dollar option for me on this slate. I would be locking him into my tentative build, and with that game taking place at 8pm, we should know soon after lock the confirmed Cavs lineup.
We can also look at Trendon Watford here, who is one of the few Blazers you can count on major minutes from. It’s a strong match-up, and his elevated price tag will keep big ownership away.
CENTER
Center has a few solid plays tonight, with Nikola Jokic sticking out as a top spend-up and Damian Jones being the top value play. Joker is always the highest-ceiling play on any slate, but that especially holds true if Giannis is unable to suit up for the Bucks. It will be plenty easy to jam in Joker tonight and he’s carrying a near 30% ownership projection right now. Jones has been spoken highly of recently by Alvin Gentry, and he is coming off a start for the Kings. He’s been just under a point per minute player this season, and his price hasn’t fully corrected to this new role yet. Take advantage of these savings while you can.
Joker is probably a decent tourney fade at high OWN% if SGA can’t go for the Thunder, but I would be rolling double C on DK in cash games tonight.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
