We’ve made it over the hump and sauntered into Friday for another huge NBA slate for DFS.
There are 10 games scheduled for the NBA tonight, and the Value Index will continue to provide a game-by-game look at some plays you can take advantage of in each game (if necessary) based on matchup, injury news, schedule, Vegas odds and pace of play.
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Now let’s get it on!
| O/U | Spread | Pace | |
| Atlanta Hawks | 13 | ||
| Charlotte Hornets | 209.5 | -6.5 | 9 |
Injury News
None
Atlanta: The first game of the slate features a mediocre Hawks squad powered by high-usage point guard Dennis Schroder as they travel to Charlotte to take on the Hornets, who are shopping Kemba Walker as trade bait. The aforementioned Schroder has the best matchup of all his teammates against Walker. At Schroder’s price and usage, he certainly is playable in all formats in one of the higher-paced games on the slate. Bazemore, Prince, Collins, Ilyasova, Dedmon are all shots in the dark for me. Ersan draws the most interest for me due to the Hornets weakness in guarding PFs, especially of the stretch variety. Marco Belinelli sees high usage off the bench, but you need to rely on him to make shots to pay off value. If John Collins were to ever get a full complement of minutes, he would be a great value play on this slate.
Charlotte: How many revenge games can Dwight Howard have? This is certainly one of them and it’s not a tough matchup by any means for him. He held his own against Boogie the other night and now he will see the likes of Dwayne Dedmon and Mike Muscala? The only issue for me is Howard’s $8,800 price tag. That’s a bit too steep for me, but I certainly understand why you would roster him anyway. Nicolas Batum is my favorite play on this side of the ball. He’s finally seeing 30+ minutes consistently and draws a favorable matchup as the Hawks struggle to cover wing players. They are top 10 in fantasy points allowed in the following categories: points, rebounds, assists and 3-pointers made. Walker on the other side also has a great draw against Schroder and the Atlanta backcourt that is top-15 allowances in points, assists, rebounds and 3-pointers made. But again, the price for Walker might break your cap at $8.7K. MKG, Marvin Williams and Frank the Tank are all lawn dart DFS throws with unbankable minutes and usage.
Must-Have Plays: Dennis Schroder, Nicolas Batum
Bubble Plays: Dwight Howard, Kemba Walker
Value Plays: None
| O/U | Spread | Pace | |
| Indiana Pacers | 18 | ||
| Cleveland Cavaliers | 222 | -5 | 15 |
Injury News
Questionable: Myles Turner
Indiana: Myles Turner went through a full practice on Thursday, but his return to the lineup tonight against Cleveland is questionable. The Cavaliers continue to struggle to put teams away, meaning this is a great spot to roster the high-usage guys in a kick-the-dog-while-its-down matchup. Oladipo disappointed against the Suns and his price rose $300. There are a lot of studs to pay for tonight, making Dipo a likely contrarian option who can score 60+ fantasy points. The Cavs struggled against SGs. J.R. Smith, his likely defender, is 91st in Defensive Real-Plus Minus out of 106 qualified SGs. Darren Collison returns to the starting lineup, but he’s still unplayable because of his price, lack of upside and lack of a safe floor. Bojan benefitted last time out to Collison’s absence, but he’s another guy who will get a bunch of minutes who won’t do much with them. Thad Young and Domantas Sabonis should see continued minutes into the 30s as long as Turner is still ruled out. With all of that said, there’s not anyone I want to play as a one off and this game is setting up like a game stack or stay away for me.
Cleveland: LeBron James is Mr. 30,000, but his Cavaliers are still in disarray. LBJ, Kevin Love, the addition of Isaiah Thomas and return of Tristan Thompson and Derrick Rose have put this team on the fast track to failure so far. LeBron always is in play and SFs eat up the Pacers allowing top-10 fantasy points-per-game performances in points, assists and 3-points made (5.2). In 3 matchups this season, LeBron is average 60 DraftKings points. King James is a cash and tournament option tonight. Kevin Love would be in a great spot against a weak frontcourt, but he hasn’t been playing anywhere close to 30-minutes per game now that the Cavs have more offensive options. He could easily still put up 40 in a half due to the Pacers inept rebounding ability in the paint. He’s averaging 38 DK points in 3 matchups against Indy for what it’s worth. Thomas hasn’t really flashed a lot of upside and his price is in the mid $6K range. He has been a scorer on this team and barely puts up any surrounding stats.
Must-Have Plays: LeBron James
Bubble Plays: Victor Oladipo, Kevin Love, Thad Young, Domantas Sabonis
Value Plays: None
