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The point guard position is pretty ugly tonight, so it’s worth pointing out Darren Collison ($5,200). Collison has slid into the starting lineup thanks to an injury to Ben McLemore. Whether he starts or not, Collison has logged at least 30 minutes a night for Sacramento for over a month. He’s hit 5x value in three straight including a 39.75 DraftKings point outburst against Cleveland last week. He’s provided a solid fantasy output despite only hitting two of his last 13 three point attempts. Another 30+ minutes tonight against the Lakers should go a long way. As you know, the Lakers are one of the worst teams in general, but especially against point guards.
If you are looking for the ultimate buy-low candidate, it’s Will Barton ($5,700). I imagine he is going to have many jaded owners after he went SCORELESS in 20 minutes last night against the Heat. Consider last night an outlier, Barton had been trending upwards, scoring 30+ DraftKings points in three of his last four games. The Nuggets are still without Danilo Gallinari and Barton is still taking double-digit shot attempts every night. He’s a GPP play, of course, but he did drop 40.5 DraftKings points on the Magic in their only meeting this season.
Small forward is absolutely decimated by injuries leaving us with scraps to choose from. Outside of the top tier options (George is my favorite), I think Rudy Gay ($6,100) is a viable option. The concerns exist. He hasn’t played particularly well after the All-Star Break and hits shots are trending down, taking only 9.8 a game in the last six. In his defense, he has sporadically missed seven of the last 24 games for the Kings so he’s been constantly battling nagging injuries and rust issues. He has played six straight games and the minutes are there, averaging over 35 a night. This is another chance to pick on the Lakers and Gay has the numbers to prove it. In three meetings with the Lakers this season, Gay has averaged 38.6 DraftKings points per game. Gay is one of the few player who has scored more fantasy points on the road than at home, to the tune of four DK points.
The power forward position is much deeper. I really like Nerlens Noel ($6,500) who is benefitting from the absence of Jahlil Okafor. In the last five games that Noel has played without Jah, he’s averaging 33.3 DK PPG. The last three have been even better, averaging 36.7 DK PPG and trending in the right direction. At his best, Nerlens is a double-double threat who can provide multiple blocks and steals. Another soft matchup with Brooklyn should have you excited tonight. Remember, these two teams just met four days ago and ended with Nerlens posting a 13-11-3-2-2 line for 38.75 DraftKings points.
Jonas Valanciunas left last night’s game with a hand injury that required x-rays. It’s unclear how much, if any, time JV will miss but it has to be considered highly questionable to suit up tonight. Assuming he sits, you have to find Bismack Biyombo ($3,700) as one of the top value plays on the slate. Remember that there was a 17 game stretch that JV missed to injury where Biyombo averaged 25.8 DraftKings points and was really turning the corner at the backend of that span. He averaged 34.4 DK PPG in the final five before Valanciunas returned to the lineup. Assuming he is unleashed again, Biyombo is an excellent rebound and one of the game’s best shot-blockers. Any real points he scores are just gravy and it wouldn’t take much for him to reach value.
That’s all folks! Be sure to follow me on Twitter for more player analysis as news and injuries break closer to tip-off! Commentary based on DraftKings strategy and scoring.