Our NBA DFS journey continues with 6 games on the main slate in the association tonight. The Coach is here to unveil his starting five and give his authentic insight from ‘inside the ropes’. The NBA’s daily fantasy landscape continues to change, especially as we approach the league’s trade deadline. We see almost nightly examples of last-minute injury designation and load management rest. For reference, last night’s $12k main slate contest pay line on FanDuel was 327.6 points. This gives us a targeted baseline for our player recommendations within our player recommendations.
Our starting lineup is designed to provide core players with which to construct your DFS lineups. We strive for players who have the potential to be less owned and give us a lineup different from the masses. The fantasy point-per-game averages referenced are those across FanDuel scoring rules. Who gets the green light from the Coach tonight?
DFS Guards
Shai Gilgeous Alexander ($10.7k DraftKings and $11.8k Fanduel)
Our floor general will be Shai Gilgeous Alexander, who has the coach’s major green light tonight. He will be chalk and cost us a pretty penny but this guy is a one-wrecking crew. Gilgeous Alexander enters as the overall number two-ranked fantasy player averaging a stellar 54.47 points per game. He has been above his scoring average in the last five games pumping out 56.3 points and faces Toronto tonight who allows the fifth most points to shooting guards. To roster SGA we will need value elsewhere in our starting five.
Bilal Coulibaly ($5.5k DraftKings and $6.3k Fanduel)
We found a nice value play at the shooting guard in Bilal Coulibaly and he will be playing in a great fantasy environment tonight. Cleveland is yielding the seventh most fantasy points a game to shooting guards and the Cavaliers-Wizards tilt features the slate’s second-highest implied game total at 236.
The departure of Kyle Kuzma has elevated Coulibaly’s usage rate. In the last three games, he has jumped to 35 minutes per game and his scoring average is at 40.1 fantasy points. To put that in perspective that would be the SG4. Finally, he has dual position eligibility and can slot him at small forwards in your roster builds if needed.
Substitution Options: Tyrese Maxey, Darius Garland, Dyson Daniels, Jordan Poole
DFS Forwards
Paul George ($8k DraftKings and $7.7k Fanduel)
Paul George gets the green light at small forward tonight, he has a great DFS price tag and faces the Pistons who allow the third most points to the small forward position. George returned from a five-game absence Wednesday and produced 24.2 fantasy points. We expect his minutes to jump tonight and George to play closer to his seasonal output of 34.08 points per game. That total would pay close to 5x his salary making him a decent value tonight.
Bobby Portis ($5.5k DraftKings and $6.8k Fanduel)
Bobby Portis returned to the Bucks lineup in a big way on Wednesday night against Atlanta with 61.9 fantasy points. We love the price tag and the matchup is excellent. Portis will face the Hawk’s defense that allows the 11th most fantasy points to power forwards, Milwaukee has the slate’s highest implied team total and the third-highest implied team total at 124.
Substitution Options: Max Strus, Miles Bridges, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Evan Mobley
DFS Center
Jarett Allen ($6.4k DraftKings and $7.2k Fanduel)
Playing the five spot tonight and getting our green light, will be Cleveland’s Jarrett Allen. Allen is another player set in a terrific fantasy environment. He will face the Wizards who allow the fourth most points to centers and will play in the slate’s highest implied game total of 236. Allen, on the season, averages 33.43 fantasy points per game, and in the last three, he is at 37.66. He is the overall C8 and we needed to get you a piece of this contest in our starting five.
Substitution Options: Onyeka Okongwu, Bam Adebayo, Kel’el Ware
DFS Tournament Stacks
Tyrese Maxey-Paul George-Joel Embid/Darius Garland-Donovan Mitchell-Jarrett Allen/ Damian Lilliard-Giannis Antetokounmpo/ Trae Young-Dyson Daniels-Onyeka Okongwu
Final Thoughts
As we stated earlier, we are trying to find player options projected for low ownership and value. Pay attention to implied game totals and try to get pieces of those games within your lineup construction. The top DFS builds will consist of the right balance between studs and value players that pay 2x-5x their DFS salaries. Good luck with your DFS builds and please like and follow us on social media. The FanDuel main slate contest lobby does not include tonight’s Suns-Jazz game. Please always double-check our recommendations and your roster builds once line-ups are finalized for late inactives.
