Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis dribbles during the first half of a preseason NBA basketball game against the Golden State Warriors Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
After a day off, the NBA is back on Friday with a huge slate. We are breaking down how to attack cash games on with so many options on both sites.
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Opponent - PHO
Proj Pts FD - 61.27 DK - 65.41
At this point, it doesn’t take much to make the case for Luka and really the only thing you’re debating is the price. He’s been everything you could ever want in a player, averaging 30 points, 10 rebounds and 9.5 assists, ranking second in Win Shares and just basically dominating the game of basketball from the jump. The Suns started the season as a stalwart defensive matchup, but they’ve been dropping in the short term and now rank middle of the pack with a top-10 pace. This is a great matchup for Doncic and he rates as a top spend-up option on a big slate.
Opponent - CHI
Proj Pts FD - 45.27 DK - 46.93
The Trailblazers plan for Lillard is to play upwards of 36-37 minutes a game but they haven’t been pressed into that kind of situation lately because the last two games have been moderate blowouts and he’s lost some run. This is still a guy who can drop big points on you of course, but the assists have been there as well with double-digit dimes in three of the last six games. The matchup against Chicago is great considering the latter doesn’t play anything in the way of defense and their guard play around the perimeter is a borderline joke. Lillard makes for a solid pivot off Doncic if you want to save some and make a more balanced lineup.
Other Thoughts
Markelle Fultz (FD 5500 DK 5500) is a decent option. He’s been seeing a few more minutes of late with the Magic playing shorthanded. He doesn’t have a ton of upside because they simply aren’t going to play hi 33+ in a game. But he’s been decent.
If Jimmy Butler sat again Goran Dragic (FD 5500 DK 5400) and Kendrick Nunn (FD 5600 DK 5600) would be in play.
Opponent - TOR
Proj Pts FD - 33.47 DK - 34.97
With Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic on the shelf in the short term, Fournier has taken over parts of the Magic offense and become something of a volume shooter and scorer. Over the last three games, he’s averaging 20 shots per game and scored 30, 17, and 26 points respectively in that run. He needs to get buckets to hit value considering the only other stats are 7 assists and 7 rebounds (total on both) in the last three. But this kind of usage is borderline elite and that gives him such a high floor. If he’s going to shoot 20 times a game, then $6K on both sites is simply too cheap and he makes for a pretty easy cash game play even running into a tougher matchup against the Raptors.
Opponent - NY
Proj Pts FD - 18.82 DK - 19.63
This one is a bit speculative of course, but the Sixers are playing shorthanded on Friday. Al Horford has already been ruled out and Josh Richardson is doubtful. That’s going to mean a lot of extra minutes for some of the Philly role players. Furkan has seen spurts of usage, getting up double-digit shots in two of the last three games and putting up 15 threes in that stretch as well. I think there’s a higher floor for him here and even some upside assuming he enters the starting lineup because of the Philly injury/rest issues.
Opponent - WAS
Proj Pts FD - 57.8 DK - 61.33
I’m not sure you can pay for both him AND Luka in cash on Friday and we’ll get to Anthony Davis in a minute, but this is such a good matchup for the Lakers that you have to strongly consider Lebron as a lock for cash. Washington is playing the fifth-fastest pace in the league with the very worst defensive efficiency. This kind of recipe makes for the perfect mashup of what we’re looking to stack against in a DFS format. Lebron’s played 35 or more minutes in each of the last five games and on the season is averaging 26 points, 11 assists, and seven rebounds. Again, he doesn’t have quite the numbers of Luka, but the matchup makes up some of the difference and he isn’t as expensive.
Dorian Finney-Smith FD - $4400 DK - $4100
Opponent - PHO
Proj Pts FD - 22.38 DK - 22.64
When it’s all said and done, he might end up on the cutting room floor because that’s the nature of DFS and what it means to publish cash game picks almost 24 hours before the actual lock happens. But Finney-Smith seems locked into the Dallas starting lineup for now and does even have some double-double upside when things are going well. If in the starting lineup he should be in line for around 30 minutes and considering the Suns are wing-heavy I’m not too worried about him losing run in this matchup. He doesn’t have a tremendous ceiling, but I’m fine with the price if other cheap plays don’t open up.
Opponent - WAS
Proj Pts FD - 60.95 DK - 59.97
I’m aware I’ve written up a bunch of expensive plays on this slate, but considering how many teams are playing I do think we’ll enter Friday with something of a stars and scrubs approach. Like I said with Lebron, the Wizards offer something like a perfect DFS matchup with a super-fast pace and no real defense to speak of. They just let up a million points every game BUT also stay in the game so you aren’t as much at the risk of losing minutes to the blowout. AD’s production has been a bit up and down this season which makes him a tricky cash game play. The rebounds come and go and he does get by on defensive stats which are super variable. But this game has so much volume potential that I do think he’s rather safe. If those words can even be used with Davis.
Other Thoughts
After Davis, the power forward position is a but messy. For starters, Domantas Sabonis (FD 8700 DK 7900) is a really nice price on DraftKings. I think he has a solid floor against a weaker Atlanta front court and could see a decent amount of ownership on DK.
I don’t mind Bam Adebayo (FD 8700 DK 8000) on FanDuel but we are getting to a point where you can’t spend up for everyone. I totally get that.
If you think you get 20+ minutes out of Chris Boucher (FD 3700 DK 3900) then he makes for a FD play.
Okay, I need everyone to understand something from the outset here: center is a disaster on Friday especially on FanDuel where you are locked into positional issues. So let me run through some of the options and thought processes with the understanding that we usually write up AT LEAST one guy. On this slate, there isn’t even one clear play. But we’ll roll through some of the options.
Ivica Zubac (FD 4000 DK 4000) is a low minutes, low upside but higher floor play considering his price. If nothing else opens up, I don’t think he kills you but understand you aren’t getting hue upside here.
Montrezl Harrell (FD 7400 DK 6400) is interesting off the bench. The Clippers are playing fully healthy in this game which isn’t a good recipe for Harrell but he also isn’t all that expensive for what he can give you.
With Al Horford out, Joel Embiid (FD 10200 DK 9000) is a great option on DraftKings. He might be a chalk option on that site and it would be for good reason.
Much like Zubac, Jakob Poeltl (FD 4900 DK 4500) offers an okay enough floor without a ton of upside.
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