Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal (3) dribbles the ball during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Philadelphia 76ers, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2019, in Washington. The Wizards won 119-113. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
It’s a shorter Sunday main slate with some injury questions to answer and a Washington team to figure out.
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Opponent - NY
Proj Pts FD - 48.41 DK - 50.8
In the last two games with CJ McCollum playing half of one and missing the other because of injury, Damian Lillard put up 35 and 36 points respectively with 23 shots in each. Over the last two seasons, Lillard has a 30% usage rate, but that jumps to 36% when CJ is out of the mix. He’ll be called on to take a lot of shots going forward and the price, especially on FanDuel, doesn’t represent just how much of the offensive load he’s going to have in the short-term. This feels like a pretty easy play on this slate against the Knicks.
Opponent - POR
Proj Pts FD - 28.55 DK - 29.3
It’s never been easy to trust Elfrid Payton’s minutes, but that’s also one reason his price has stayed in a completely reasonable zone. And over the last three games, it’s been a little more consistent, running more than 30 in each. You’d like to see the scoring get a little more consistent and the assists tick up as well. But in that stretch, he’s averaging 11 points, four assists and a steal. It won’t overwhelm you, but he does typically contribute enough across the stat line to keep the floor at least relatively high.
Opponent - SA
Proj Pts FD - 62.97 DK - 65
Russell Westbrook (probably) and basically the rest of the Washington Wizards’ team is going to miss this game against the Spurs. But Bradley Beal should be out there and will likely be called on to do anything and everything. Now, Washington hasn’t played a basketball game in almost two weeks, but before they stopped Beal was on an absolute tear. Over his last five games he averaged 39 points, six rebounds and six assists on more than 26 shots per game. That’s just insane usage and production. With the Wiz playing so shorthanded and with other cheap value out there, fading Beal doesn’t make sense.
Opponent - WAS
Proj Pts FD - 44.78 DK - 44.68
Washington is playing with an absolute skeleton crew in this game and the Spurs might be without Dejounte Murray. Even if the latter plays, the Spurs are in such an excellent spot against a Wizards team that was already second-to-last in defensive efficiency and is now without about 75% of its rotation players. DeRozan is playing heavy minutes in close games this season and has been decently consistent this season from a fantasy perspective on a new look Spurs team. Over his last seven games, he’s averaging 23 points, six rebounds, and five assists. Plus he’s chipping in more than a steal per game in that stretch. This game has some blowout potential, but the Spurs should be able to run it up early.
Opponent - ATL
Proj Pts FD - 44.22 DK - 46.42
Middleton has been steady and consistent over the last few seasons, putting up similar and solid numbers year-after-year in this offense. This season he’s even been able to tick up the scoring just a bit thanks to an improvement in three-point shooting where he’s up to 44% on almost six attempts per game. Atlanta has actually improved mightily on defense this season, sitting in the top-10 in efficiency, but this game still projects to be high scoring. With value elsewhere I think you can get up into the middle tier on Middleton.
Opponent - SA
Proj Pts FD - 23.09 DK - 23.04
It’s a little unclear what the Wizards’ rotations will be on this slate considering they are missing so many players. But it stands to reason those who are left will be playing heavy minutes. Bonga is projected to start on a wing today and could log major run if Washington is playing with 8-9 players. Look, it isn’t the easiest thing ever to make a strong fantasy case for Bonga considering his track record, but considering he’s coming at near minimums and should get huge minutes, it’s hard to imagine him killing you at these prices. The strongest endorsement ever? No, but these are strange DFS days.
Opponent - CHA
Proj Pts FD - 39.82 DK - 40.3
Aaron Gordon was a minutes restriction for much of the early season, but that is over now and he’s back up to full run. Over the last three games he’s been on the court for about 36 minutes in each. In that stretch he’s dialed up the fantasy scoring with an average of 16 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists and three blocks. Yup, it’s been an awesome three games and timed exactly with when the minutes increased. Let’s look for it to continue here against Charlotte with Gordon’s price not yet fully corrected for the uptick in minutes.
Opponent - WAS
Proj Pts FD - 30.53 DK - 30.69
Like we said with DeRozan, the Spurs are in a tremendous spot against the Wizards on Sunday. They are without nearly every big man on the roster and had to emergency sign Alex Len and Jordan Bell just to give them warm bodies. Aldridge could really punish them on the interior in this game considering their personnel. He’s had fits and starts sometimes when it comes to minutes and the fantasy production will come and go. For instance, twice in the last four games, he scored only four points. But when it’s clicking he will crush these prices which are down because of the inconsistency. I think you can take a flyer on him today, especially on FanDuel.
Opponent - POR
Proj Pts FD - 31.87 DK - 29.13
Center is something of a problem position on this slate with not a ton of value and a couple of question marks. I do think Robinson is in a good spot here against the Blazers who are now starting Enes Kanter at the five. Foul trouble is always an issue for the young center and he has four or more fouls in three of his last five games. But when he can stay on the court he’s a double-double threat who’s averaging about two blocks and a steal per game. That gives him big defensive upside, especially on FanDuel. I don’t mind the price on either site though.
Opponent - SA
Proj Pts FD - 22.87 DK - 22.88
Conventional wisdom says that Robin Lopez finds a way to play a lot in this game considering the Wizards are so light on players and have lost a ton of big men with Rui Hachimura, Moritz Wagner and Davis Bertans out and Thomas Bryant lost for the season. But like I said before, they did sign Alex Len and Jordan Bell so it’s not totally clear Ro-Lo will play 30+ minutes. Keep an ear out for what you hear about this team leading into lock because it’s one of the big question marks.
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