Milwaukee Bucks' Damian Lillard during the first half of a preseason NBA basketball game against the Memphis Grizzlies Friday, Oct. 20, 2023, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
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Opponent - MIA
Proj Pts FD - 46.24 DK - 50.67
This is an interesting situation with the Bucks on Monday. It looks like Giannis Antetokounmpo will rest here against Miami (not confirmed at the time of this writing). If that’s the case one would have to assume that Damian Lillard has ridiculous usage in this game.
He really struggled on Sunday against the Hawks, taking only 12 shots in the blowout loss. Dame finished with just six points and five assists. But he’s only a game removed from a 20 FG/ 17 FT game against the Sixers and this is Damian Freaking Lillard we are talking about. He’s a tough fade on both sites considering the situation.
Opponent - CHA
Proj Pts FD - 34.53 DK - 36.93
Opponent - CHA
Proj Pts FD - 37.15 DK - 37.97
Opponent - CHA
Proj Pts FD - 37.08 DK - 40.42
Let’s just group all of these guys together and call the Nets an “interesting” fantasy team at this point. They moved Cam Thomas into the starting lineup for Cam Johnson on Friday and he responded by taking 19 shots in 33 minutes, scoring 30 points while also adding seven rebounds. He’s quickly becoming a fantasy star and has always (when given the chance) been one of the better per-minute scorers around. He’s still coming too cheap on DraftKings for this opportunity.
Meanwhile the questions around Spencer Dinwiddie and Ben Simmons, from a fantasy perspective, are a bit tougher to answer. Simmons still isn’t shooting much, but he still piled up a 10/10/8/2/2 line against the Mavericks in 32 minutes. He does enough across the stat line to keep the floor high and without Nic Claxton his minutes are a bit safer here. He’s a value on FanDuel still.
Finally, Dinwiddie is coming in the middle tier on both sites and has had an up-and-down first couple of games. We saw the scoring spike against Dallas, but the first game was a rough one. I’m not sure, in the current construction of the Nets, that he is going to be on ball enough to really hit a high ceiling, but he should be locked into the low-to-mid 30s minutes at least.
Opponent - MIN
Proj Pts FD - 35 DK - 35.79
Jalen Johnson moved into the starting lineup on Sunday and it doesn’t look like he’s going to be giving up that spot anytime soon. Even with two games off the bench this season, Johnson is averaging 15.3 points and 7.7 rebounds with 2.7 blocks+steals as well. His minutes would have been higher against Milwaukee but he got into a bit of foul trouble early. The opportunity is too good to pass up at his current prices which are sure to rise with more minutes.
Opponent - DET
Proj Pts FD - 32.66 DK - 34.7
Jalen Williams is coming pretty cheap on FanDuel at this point at a position that is sometimes tough to cover with the current pricing setup. He’s been okay to start the season with double-digit scoring in each of the first three, but the rebounds and assists haven’t been there in bunches. With Chet Holmgren patrolling the backline, that could be set to continue and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander just soaks up so much usage. But Williams’ minutes are safe and this is a good matchup.
Opponent - GS
Proj Pts FD - 44.98 DK - 47.52
There are some good signs and not-so-good signs with Zion Williamson so far. The good, of course, is that he’s playing and the minutes have looking like they are trending in the low-30s as long as everything is going well. He’s scoring too with 23.5 points per game on 17 field goal attempts. So all good there. But he’s barely gotten to the line (just 9 times in the first two games total) and the rebounds aren’t coming in bunches. We will drum it up to a small sample size here, but there are at least a couple of question marks. That being said, his FanDuel price is too low to pass up in a matchup against the Warriors who trend on the smaller side.
Opponent - MIA
Proj Pts FD - 32.23 DK - 35.34
It looks like Giannis Antetokounmpo will sit out the second leg of a back-to-back on Monday and that should open up minutes for Bobby Portis in the starting lineup. In the past, Giannis sitting would have been a full stack of the Bucks, but this is a bit of a different situation. Khris Middleton is back, but still on a minutes limit and there’s a good chance that Damian Lillard soaks up a lot of the usage. That being said, Portis would be an easy button click in this situation and wouldn’t be priced right for getting the full start and 30+ minutes.
Opponent - ATL
Proj Pts FD - 44.11 DK - 47.87
He’s getting awfully tough to pass up on both sites now, but especially on DraftKings at just $8400. The scoring hasn’t been there like crazy to start the season, but he did take 25 shots in the first game, including 10 three-pointers. Just none of them went in. There are, for sure, some bigger scoring games in his future, and this could be one of them. The Timberwolves-Hawks game has the highest over/under on the slate at 234.5 and Minny is favored. Have to like the floor on KAT in this one.
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