WNBA DFS Breakdown: Friday, July 14th
We have a nice three-game slate today, with some pretty good prize pools on both sites at $7 and $8 levels. There are enough studs and value plays on this slate that makes it interesting, which I will discuss further below.
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Indiana Guards
Briann January is a value that everyone knows about and one we should keep riding. I understand Mitchell and Wheeler are still good plays, but January is priced down and with Johnson out for the season someone needs to soak up the production of Johnson. For me, Wheeler could do well, but for $8,100 I would rather just pay down for January or Mitchell. These are the three guards we need to choose from, and I think riding out the vet in January makes sense. Mitchell is another great option, considering everyone will go back to January because she was so successful, so I don’t hate pivoting to her instead. Either way, with Shenise Johnson’s production (22% usage and 9.1 field goal attempts) to go around, I think we need to take note of who that will fall to.
For me, I will likely rank January as the best option, but Mitchell is a great tournament pivot that comes with both risk and upside. Wheeler will not be prioritized a ton in my lineups, but as I am building, if I am paying up at guard, I think getting Wheeler in is smart. My likely construction will be to load up on these guard values.
Chicago Guards
I will no doubt go back to my strategy of going Tamera Young over Vandersloot here, especially with the price decrease on Young and increase on Vandersloot. On DraftKings, why would I pay $9,800 for Vandersloot when I can play the higher usage player in Young for only $5,800, to allow me to pay up for these stud forwards? I do worry about not having Vandersloot, because she can really pad the stat sheet, though we did see her 30% usage with this guard rotation go back down to only 18%. Vandersloot can have a monster game, but for me there is value at guard to take advantage of, and I am going to continue to do that. On FanDuel the difference between Young and Vandersloot is only $1,300, which is not as big of a deal, meaning I have more interest in Vandersloot there. I do worry that ownership will be high after two massive games, especially on FanDuel.
The last guard we have not talked about is Allie Quigley, who can have a better game than Vandersloot at less ownership. Thing is, she is very points dependent. At $7,400 on DraftKings I think she’s more playable over Vandersloot, but on FanDuel I am struggling to not go Vandersloot, as she still feels like a value over there at that tag.
Emma Meesseman
Meesseman might be someone that no one knows, because early on in the year she was priced up but now she is super cheap. The reason why she is priced so lowly now is because her chemistry with Ellena Delle Donne joining was off. When you add a MVP to a new team, that can shake some things up, and then Meesseman went to Belgium to play basketball for a while. Once she returned, the coach did not start her until the last game, and she had 28.5 FDP in 31 minutes. They got Delle Donne to pair with Meesseman and make things a nightmare for opponents, and at only $5,100 FD/$7,300 DK, she is a great value at the forward position that you don’t want to pass up. I am going to play her until her price increases and will encourage everyone to buy low. Let’s not forget Meesseman led this team last year in DraftKings points per game with 29.25. Yes, Delle Donne should hurt her production a little, but it should help get her easier looks as well.
One last thing to point out is that Indiana is horrible against forwards and centers, allowing the most fantasy points per minute to centers and tied for third most against forwards. Indiana also has the worst rebounding % in the league, so this is a great spot for Meesseman. Don’t be afraid to pair her up with Delle Donne, who could dominate in this spot too.
Brittney Griner
I am going to fade her tonight. Of course I understand wanting to play her, but Griner has showed us she can struggle in tough matchups this year. A matchup against Minnesota is as tough as it gets, and she is the highest priced player on the slate. We also have four forwards that I think are worth paying up for instead, so I will just pass on Griner. On top of that, she has to go up against last year’s Defensive Player of the Year. I don’t think it’s worth paying for Griner in a tough matchup against a beast who has broken out to have a massive year all around.
There is a little narrative street her for Griner going up against Fowles, who got voted in the All-Star game over her, but I still think with a ton of other forwards in play, like Tina Charles in a juicy matchup against Chicago, we can easily pass on Griner. Minnesota is one of the best teams against opposing forwards in the league, while Chicago is one of the worst teams in the league versus forwards. Charles over Griner just makes way more sense, and I would encourage you to go that way in your lineups.