Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant (12) goes up to shoots while defended by Charlotte Hornets center Willie Hernangomez (9) in the second half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Dec. 29, 2019, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Karen Pulfer Focht)
We've got two little mini-slates today, and instead of giving you positional picks I think it will be more effective to touch on the early slate briefly and then go game by game and break out what you should keep an eye out for in the main slate. Let's get to it.
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The early slate has a few extremely important dominoes to keep an eye on before you even begin to start making your lineups. Let's start with the most important.
The Clippers could be missing everyone, or no one. At this point there's no determination as far as whether Paul George and Patrick Beverley will play through their respective injuries, and while there is no word on Kawhi's status, it would be surprising to see him out there on the second half of a back to back.
All of this news affects not just the Clippers plays, but the Knicks as well. If the Clippers best are going the Knicks are unplayable, but if they sit there is a whole host of great plays from both sides. Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell, Moe Harkless, and even Landry Shamet could be cash game plays.
On the Knicks side, we have more question marks. Elfrid Payton could miss this game on account of the birth of his daughter, and if he sits Frank Ntilikina would be a phenomenal cash game play. Typically solid plays like Marcus Morris and Julius Randle would be great plays if the Clips are short staffed but risky if the Clips ran the full squad.
The second game featuring Portland and Miami features a lot of solid plays, but you won't know which you want until the Clips/Knicks situations get sorted. I would be happy to run Lillard, McCollum, Anthony, and Whiteside from the Blazers and Jimmy Butler from Miami. I could consider Kendrick Nunn if I absolutely needed the money for other positions.
The late slate features some shenanigans of its own, but some good old fashion value as well. Let's go game by game.
This is the game that contains the aforementioned shenanigans. The Timberwolves are the big team in question here, as currently all of Wiggins, Teague, or Towns are questionable. If they all sit, you'll see incredibly chalk for their back-ups, most notably Shabazz Napier and Jarrett Culver. Gorgui Dieng will be a solid center option as well, and Robert Covington could be a terrific play either way.
If any of those guys return things get pretty tricky. Teague would kill Napier, Wiggins would kill Culver, and Towns would kill Dieng, and Covington gets progressively worse the more of those guys return.
The Cleveland Cavaliers
Our system likes basically all of the Cavs' starters if the Wolves sit. Larry Nance has already been ruled out, and that should give more minutes to some combination of Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson, whom our system already likes. The backcourt duo of Collin Sexton and Darius Garland played a combined 70 minutes in a close game against the Hornets in their last time out, and since Vegas likes this as a 1.5 point game you'd have to imagine that these guys will be out there quite a bit again.
The only Cavs starter I'm not so high on is Cedi Osman, though he should presumably be in line for more minutes with Nance out again.
It's a DFS player's dream match-up, with the 5th and 9th fastest teams facing off against one another. Did I mention that they also play the 5th worst and 11th worst defense as well? Yep, DFS plays about here. Let's take a look at the two squads.
The Memphis Grizzlies
Opponent - PHO
Proj Pts FD - 35.34 DK - 36.45
Opponent - PHO
Proj Pts FD - 35 DK - 35.35
The cornerstones of the future Grizzlies dynasty both rank as excellent plays in our system on account of the fast pace and poor defense of their opposition. Both Morant and Jackson have settled into 32 minute rotations when things aren't going pear shaped, and given that this game has by far the highest total on the slate (234.5) with a reasonable -6.5 point spread there should be plenty of opportunity to go around. Both of these guys topped 41 fantasy points in a much tougher match-up with the Clippers yesterday it's hard to imagine that they don't produce similarly against the speedy Suns.
Outside of these guys, our system seems both Jonas Valanciunas and Dillon Brooks as potentially solid cash game plays.
The Phoenix Suns
Opponent - MEM
Proj Pts FD - 45.76 DK - 46.36
Opponent - MEM
Proj Pts FD - 28.86 DK - 29.63
We'll start with the Phoenix bigs, who seem to have found a way to stay on the court together for fun and profit against the Knicks. Baynes is more of a safe play, and given that you can't play both on FanDuel I'd far prefer Ayton. Speaking of the newly returned youngster, have you seen what he's been up to recently? He's been crashing to the rim with aplomb, and topped 12 rebounds in each of his 3 games since returning from injury. Today he'll get arguably his best match-up against the defensively challenged Jonas Valanciunas, who shouldn't be able to match his athleticism. Ayton might have the highest floor and the highest ceiling of any center on the slate.
Opponent - MEM
Proj Pts FD - 39.19 DK - 38.9
Oubre has been playing like a man possessed in the last 4 games, topping 36 minutes played and 45 fantasy points in each of them. He's shooting a little bit more, sure but he's also flying around on the defensive end. He's got 3 steals in each of his last 3 games, and piling up defensive stats is just huge on FanDuel in particular. He should have plenty of opportunity against this young Memphis team, who is absolutely prone to making mistakes. Oubre looks like a cash game must from where I'm sitting.
Devin Booker looks totally serviceable, if unexciting on these prices.
I just don't know what you're supposed to do with this one, but it is a short slate, and I'm not sure you can ignore it all together. One team I do plan on ignoring is the Detroit Pistons as they are all at once banged up and 14.5 point underdogs. Their best fantasy plays, like Drummond, are very prone to losing minutes if the game gets out of hand. They don't really feature a lot of solid DFS options to run out there if the game gets out of hand, and I don't know what you do with that. Throw in the fact that the Lakers have a stout defense and I just don't see it here.
Let's talk Lakers
You know the drill by now. If you think it stays close, get your dose of LeBron and Davis. If it's a blowout, this one could be anyone's guess. I'd honestly prefer to not play the Lakers here, but I could see chasing some cheap value plays in guys like Danny Green and Avery Bradley, who have been playing more minutes recently.
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