Tonight, brings a 11-game slate starting at 7p.m. ET.
The “Droppin Dimes,” article will go over my favorite plays for the slate. It will consist of three to five core plays along with a few additional plays and a few value plays. You won’t always see the highest-priced players or the most obvious plays. Players listed first at each position are my favorite and a good start to build a lineup around.
(Note: All pricing and fantasy points are based on DraftKings but can be used for all sites.)
Keep an eye on the injury status of players (also players listed out due to health and safety protocol) as they can be ruled out right before lock.
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Game/s to Target
Rockets/Wizards
Hawks/Kings
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CORE
Nassir Little (SF/PF), Portland Trailblazers ($4600)
The Blazers who are already without two of their star players in Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum will not be without Larry Nance for tonight. This opens up more opportunity for Little who has already been playing well. A solid scorer and rebounder that adds in some defensive stats gets a go at home against the Heat tonight. The Heat have been one of the better defensive teams this year but are down some key players due to injury and health and safety protocol. Little should see 30-35 minutes with the possibility of pushing high 30s. He is coming off a 22/9/2 performance (39.8 FPs) and has played well over the past 5 games.
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Trey Lyles (PF/C), Detroit Pistons ($4700)
Lyles just came back off the health and safety list and played 34 minutes last game. Prior to that game, he played 37 minutes and dropped 50 FPs. The Pistons have been without Jerami Grant, Kelly Olynyk and Isaiah Stewart allowing Lyles to slide into the starting lineup and play over 30 minutes. Tonight, the Pistons get a pace up matchup against the Hornets who have the 3rd worst defensive efficiency. This opens up a lot of opportunities for the Pistons big man and a good chance he pushes 7-8 times value.
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Keifer Sykes (PG), Indiana Pacers ($3300)
Sykes is coming off back-to-back 35 plus minutes games where he played well enough to pay off his salary. He actually hit 11 times value last night and over 8 times value the game before. After these two games of destroying value, DraftKings decides to lower price from $3500 to $3300? The Pacers are still without Caris LeVert and have Malcolm Brogdon, Chris Duarte and Jeremy Lamb listed as doubtful with Torey Craig now out tonight (He played last night). This opens up the start again for Sykes and playing time similar to the last 2 games. The bottom line here is the Sykes is a free-square tonight and should be locked into lineups as long as all the above are still out before lock.
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Anfernee Simons (PG/SG), Portland Trailblazers ($5300)
Simons was a lock for me last game and he went off for a career high 43 points and over 60 Fps. The kid is not afraid to shoot and right now the team is down 2 of their top shot takers. I see him playing similar minutes 35 plus and taking 20 plus shots while adding in some assists and a few other peripheral stats. The matchup may not look good on paper, but as stated above the Heat are down a few key players. I am expecting another solid game out of Simons tonight.
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TOP PAY-UP OPTIONS
- Luka Doncic
- Joel Embiid
- Bradley Beal
- Jason Tatum
**Giannis Antetokounmpo is out tonight- this opens up 35% usage and around 34 minutes. Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton pick up the most usage followed by Bobby Portis. George Hill is now out- opens up Bucks value guards.
NOTES:
FPPM= Fantasy Points Per Minute, FPPG= Fantasy Points Per Game, PPG=Points per Game, Value=Projected points/salary(This will differ depending on the site).
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Also consider: D’Aaron Fox– is still way too cheap, Terry Rozier, Jrue Holiday
Value: Delon Wright, Kyle Guy
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Also consider: Fred VanVleet, Anthony Edwards, Tyler Herro
Value: Caleb Martin, Justin Holiday
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Also consider: Khris Middleton, Harrison Barnes
Value: Furkan Korkmaz, Kevin Huerter, Deni Avdija
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Also consider: Domantas Sabonis-failed last night, but bounce back tonight, Kyle Kuzma, Draymond Green
Value: Maxi Kleber, Darius Bazley
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Also consider: Jusif Nurkic, Jakob Poeltl, Daniel Gafford
**Christain Wood- is too cheap, but make sure he is starting
Value: Hassan Whiteside, Damian Jones
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Dimes Play(GPP Play of the Night) Under 5k Player with low ownership and upside
Rudy Gay- the Jazz are without Joe Ingles and possible more with Covid hitting the team. Gay should see an increased roll with Ingles out and he was already playing around 20 minutes a game. Potential for 25-30 minutes and at only 3.4K he is a steal and possess 10x plus upside tonight.
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**Options to help build lineups- Take these core plays and enter into optimizer with your favorite settings (rating, FBrating, FBprojections, FunkProjections, ownership or ratings). OR use this article to help you build a lineup with some of your favorite plays. The Dashboard is also a great tool to help build lineups- It contains a good variety of stats and projections from multiple sources.
Good Luck!