Give DraftKings a shot, as there will be a few freeroll opportunities each night in Daily Fantasy Basketball.
Details of tonight’s featured tournament:
-$125,000 prize pool.
– First place wins $10,000
– Only $3 to enter (FREE with first deposit)
– Top 9,625 finishing positions are paid.
– Starts tonight at 7:00 PM EST
– Salary Cap Style Drafting. $50,000 to select 8 players
– Roster Format: 1 PG, 1 SG, 1 SF, 1 PF, 1 C, 1 G, 1 F, 1 Utility
Point Guard
–Russell Westbrook is the best player in fantasy right now, but faces a tough Memphis defense and will cost you $12,500, or 25 percent of your salary. I’m not sure if I’ll be playing him tonight, especially since he’s averaging less than 20 points per game in two meetings with the Grizzlies this year.
–John Wall, meanwhile, draws an elite matchup against the lowly Knicks, but in Washington, there’s a 15-point spread. He, too, is expensive, and I wouldn’t be shocked if the Wizards starters sat during most of the fourth quarter.
-My favorite play at point guard tonight might be Elfrid Payton, who now ranks 6th in the league in triple-doubles with two. Over his last five games, he’s averaging 15 points, 7.6 rebounds, nine assists and 2.4 steals per game. He’ll face a Minnesota defense that has allowed a whipping FOUR triple-doubles this season, as well as the second-most fantasy points, second-most assists, second-most steals and fifth-most real life points per game to opposing point guards on the year. Two bottom-five defenses should result in a high-scoring game, too.
-Finally, give Tyreke Evans a look, too. He faces a weak Kings defense that ranks bottom-five in terms of defending the point guard position, and Evans will face his former team, a unit that he has had success against this year, averaging 21.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game in three meetings with them this year. He also ranks second in the league in drives per game, and the Kings are a bottom-six team in terms of defending the paint. Evans is in a pretty good spot tonight.
Shooting Guard
-I’m not opposed to stacking this ORL/MIN game at all, which means I love me some Victor Oladipo. Minnesota is banged up, Oladipo is averaging about 20/5/5 over his last five outings, and he also attacks the rim a ton, and the Wolves can’t defend the basket, allowing the most paint points per game this season (47.8). Minnesota also allows the fourth-most fantasy points per game to opposing two-guards (38.4) and this game should feature plenty of offense.
-Picking between Oladipo and DeMar DeRozan may be tough for me, as I really like both. Kyle Lowry isn’t expected to play this evening, which means DeRozan will see an uptick in offensive responsibility. With Lowry off the floor, DeRozan has a usage rate of almost 28 percent, a fairly high number. The Nets have struggled to defend wing scorers this season, and over his last eight games, DeMar is averaging about 37 fantasy points per game, a very healthy number.
Small Forward
-With Rudy Gay already ruled out, Omri Casspi once again makes for a tremendous value option at just $4,000. On Wednesday night, Casspi started for the Kings and produced well, scoring 18 points, while adding seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. The matchup isn’t great, but it’s also not terrible, and Casspi is going to see anywhere from 33-38 minutes for the Kings, and he’s a pretty solid rebounder.
-Blah, blah, blah, player against the T-Wolves. Tobias Harris has played 36, 36 and 40 minutes over his last three games and he’ll draw a favorable matchup against Minnesota, but in that same game, I’d prefer Andrew Wiggins, facing an Orlando unit that is allowing more fantasy points per game to small forwards than any other team in the league to this point. Wiggins was already logging a ridiculous amount of minutes, but with seemingly everyone for Minnesota hurt, you can essentially lock him in for 40 minutes, something you can’t do with most players in the league. In fact, there have been 22 instances where Wiggins has played at least 40 minutes this year, which accounts for 30 percent of his total games.
Power Forward
-Play Anthony Davis.
-In slightly less obvious news, I love me some Pau Gasol this evening. He leads the entire league in double-doubles with 49, which means that he is providing fantasy owners with a double-double about 70 percent of the time this season, giving him an insanely safe floor in fantasy. Meanwhile, the Pistons are allowing the second-most fantasy points (44.4), ninth-most rebounds (12.2) and third-most real points (21.9) to opposing power forwards. Detroit also struggles to defend the paint, and Gasol ranks top-12 in close touches per game on the season. The Pistons defense has struggled lately, surrendering at least 100 points in four of their last five games.
-If you are looking to spend down a bit, Ersan Ilyasova is an intriguing name. He’s scored double-digit points in eight of his last nine games, and despite posting less than stellar fantasy numbers over his last three games, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, as he faced the Bulls, Hawks and Warriors. Tonight’s matchup is much, much better, facing a Boston unit that is allowing 53.8 total rebounds per game, the fourth-most in the NBA.
Center
-Play DeMarcus Cousins
–Nikola Vucevic. Timberwolves can’t protect the rim, he’s posting a double-double about 62 percent of the time, high-scoring game, relatively fast pace, etc.
