Welcome to Tristan’s NBA Game Theory (12/1)! In this article, I’ll outline my favorite cash game and GPP options at each of the positions. I’ll utilize our Projections Portal when making decisions about what types of leagues specific players are best suited for. You can get all of my Core Plays along with our Cheat Sheets, projections, and Premium Discord channels with our Premium NBA Package.
| Guards | Forwards |
Centers | Game Stacks |
| J. Harden | D. Bembry | P. Achiuwa | BKN/HOU |
| A. Dosunmu | C. Martin | S. Adams | ORL/SAC |
| C. Anthony | E. Gordon | M. Bamba | PHI/CHA |
| D. Bane | N. Powell | M. Robinson | DEN/NO |
| M. Strus | E. Mobley | M. Harrell | UTA/MIN |
*If you don’t already play 3 max entry contests daily, try using the teams provided in the stacks above to maximize upside and correlation in your NBA lineups.
Happy December!!! A ton of news to get through tonight in a 13 game slate so please please please, don’t forget to check for updates either on Twitter or in our discord channel where news updates are posted and in our premium channel, breakdown of the news! With that out of the way, let’s get to it.
Guards
Cash
First guard I’m looking at for both cash games and GPPs is Cole Anthony. He’s had two below average games with a big stinker last time out and a disappointment against Houston. He’s now going to be matched up with a below average defense and an above average pace team in Sacramento. They have also been struggling this season, and give up 3rd most FP against PGs this season. Cole Anthony is in a prime bounceback spot in a game that shouldn’t garner too much ownership % especially with his recent performances. I love this price and this match-up for him as Jalen Suggs continues to be out.
If you can stomach the feeling of praying for a close game then you will want Tyler Herro. He seems to play enough minutes even in big blowouts anyways to keep his floor pretty high, and without Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, his usage is at 31.7% in a fast paced match-up against MIL. This team did just get blown out by MIL about 2 games ago, where MIL was missing Giannis Antetokoumpo. Today they will have him back, which doesn’t bode well for MIA’s chances against this team EVEN MORE. Even so, Herro is at a decent price at 7k with a semi decent floor that can definitely put up upsides of 40 DKP.
With news that Kevin Durant and Lamarcus Aldridge are sitting, James Harden is a cash staple tonight against a Houston team that is t3 in pace as well as below average defensively. They give up the MOST FP to PGs atm, which is what Harden is. There isn’t much to say here besides I would play this dude tonight.
BONUS: Ayo Dosunmu, Gary Harris
GPP
This guy is listed in the GPP section just because I have no clue how Memphis is winning this bad without Ja Morant right now, but they look damn good. Desmond Bane has been crucial in the past two games where Memphis has won, putting up 15+ shots in the last 3 competitive games. He is crucial to their scoring and is very clean at doing it at the same time. Against this Dallas team he put up 29 points in 20 shots and has rebounded the ball really well since Ja has gone out. Be careful though, Dallas is on a b2b after Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis both came back from injuries, wouldn’t be surprised to see one rest EVEN TWO rest here.
This is one to watch, because if he stays in the starting line-up then I love him. Luke Kennard got moved into the starting line-up last game and though he did not produce amazingly, he still hit regular value and had 30+ minutes in his run. I love the upside here because we’ve seen what he can do below 30 mins and has high boom or bust potential. He’s only 4.2k on DK, meaning a cheap price with high upside.
BONUS: Max Strus
Forward
Cash
Cody Martin should be popular tonight with his 43 minutes (OT included) in this past game vs PHI. They will be in the same exact match-up at home, where everyone is still out b/c of COVID. I expect him to continue to play high minutes and handle the ball a ton. He accumulates peripheral stats quite easily and he does not struggle with production. I believe he has a really high floor and a high ceiling just because of the minutes he continues to play, as well as his ability to accumulate defensive stats. He did get moved up price wise from 3.9k to 5k but he should still be good for cash games.
Eric Gordon has found new life with Jalen Green being out of the starting line-up and has fully taken advantage of that absence. He has put up 30+DKP in the last two close games, while those 2 games vs OKC do not look that great… you have to remember Kevin Porter Jr was in for one of them. Without both Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Jr, Eric Gordon has shot 14 shots both games and scored over 20 points in both as well. This is a great match-up against a BKN team that will be resting both KD and Lamarcus Aldridge to make this game a lot faster paced and a lot more competitive.
Bonus: Garrison Mathews, Dorian Finney Smith (If Luka out), Derrick Jones Jr
GPP
Evan Mobley will be overlooked tonight with all the news coming out, but for good reason. He hasn’t found a consistent string of games but his floor is above the 25ish FP mark for a 6.4k price tag. That won’t kill you if he does have a floor game but his ceiling is as high of 40+ FP. This match-up bodes well for him as CHI are down multiple bodies, specifically defensive players. Jarrett Allen will have to deal with Vucevic and will maybe follow him out to the arc to defend him off PnRs, leaving Mobley to clean up all the rebounds as well as leaving him in better spots.
Norman Powell will be mainly relied on for offense with both Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum out for this one. This is a GPP play just because GSW are the best defensive team in the NBA, and Portland has been getting whooped without CJ or Damian. You would need this game to stay somewhat close for Norman to be able to play his full allotment of minutes, but he might be able to hit 25 in 3 quarters if they aren’t getting defensively demolished. In a close game vs the Clippers he played 44 minutes and shot 24 times… that’s nuts.
Bonus: Aaron Gordon if Will Barton out, Franz Wagner
Center
Cash
Word to @joey_dfs, Precious Achiuwa will be going against OKC who allow the most rebounds to C this season. Precious is in a great spot tonight and usually what stops him is foul trouble. Against Jonathan Roberson Earl (?), his foul trouble potential is VERY low so he should be fine tonight to be in play at a very cheap price of 4.6k. He has 30 DKP upside tonight and has been playing upwards of 30+ minutes before this. This game does have blowout potential but might allow Precious to dominate here.
Bonus: Mo Bamba, Steven Adams
GPP
Usually I don’t like playing players that JUST had a huge career or season high FP output game, especially THE NIGHT BEFORE. But this might be an exception… Mitchell Robinson got moved to the bench and he had a quote saying that if he did get moved, he would play even HARDER and stay focused, aka proving his worth even after being moved to the bench. I actually think this move helps him as well, allows him to have more usage in the 2nd unit, as well as stay out of foul trouble vs the main opposing center. Nerlens Noel might start again tonight against Sabonis, and I feel like that’s a high chance of foul trouble for Noel. This will bring Mitchell in early and even if he plays his regular allotment of bench minutes, he’s 4.2k and has a floor of about 15 here.
BONUS: Yurtseven if you think this game blows out! Montrez Harrell
Follow Tristan on Twitter (@SrirachaDFS)
