WNBA DFS Tournament Picks: Friday, June 23rd
Tonight we have a massive WNBA slate, featuring a FanDuel tournament that has a $6 entry and a $25,000 prize to first place! This is a massive GPP, so I am going to give you my four favorite tournament picks for the slate. I will be giving you two guards, two forwards and my fade of the night.
If you have any questions, I will do my best to answer them for you, so give me a follow on twitter @travismangone. Sometimes news changes in the WNBA, so if anything happens injury wise, I will tweet out if there’s anything we need to know before rosters lock.
Guards
Alisha Gray ($5,200): The San Antonio Stars are one of the worst teams in the league at defending the guard position, which we have seen on display a lot this year. You might ask: “Travis, Gray just played the Stars and had 12.1 FanDuel points, so why would you attack her?” That is the exact reason to play her in tournaments, because ownership will be down.
Gray shot 1-for-6 in that game, which I would not expect to happen again, and Christmas along with Skylar Diggins both had great fantasy nights. That could easily have been Gray. I am hoping many see the recent game and fade Gray because of the poor performance, especially when she could easily post more than 30 FanDuel points this evening. There is some risk here with this pick, but I think the price, matchup and recency bias could all make her a great target.
Moriah Jefferson ($5,100): At this price tag, I feel like Moriah Jefferson has nice upside in this spot. With Courtney Vandersloot back from overseas, instead of taking a gamble on the Chicago guards in this range, I will go with Jefferson against a high paced team like the Dallas wings.
Jefferson is one of the primary scorers on this team, and if she can get rolling, I would expect her to be on the winning tournament lineup. McBride and Currie could have good games for the Stars, but Currie’s game was an outlier, and I would expect McBride and Jefferson to be the main contributors in this matchup. I would normally worry about ownership, but at this price range I think ownership will be spaced out enough that I think Jefferson’s upside is worth the value.
Forwards
Maya Moore ($6,800): Moore has been a little disappointing this year compared to Fowles, who has shined, but if you look at the numbers there are reasons to think there is positive regression coming her way. Moore averages 13.8 FGA per game but is shooting a career low 38.4% from the field, which I would expect to improve considering she is a career 45.7% shooter from the field.
This is also a matchup that plays well in Moore’s favor, as Washington gives up the most percentage of points from the three-point line, while Moore averages a team high 5.4 field goal attempts. For such a cheap tag of $6,800, I think she’s a great play in this spot.
Alyssa Thomas ($6,600): The Sun are without Morgan Tuck and Lynette Kizer, which has benefited Thomas a ton. In the last three games without both, Thomas has averaged 35.4 FanDuel points. With Kizer gone, Thomas has the second highest usage on the team, so for this price tag I think she has a safe floor with some nice upside in this matchup.
While Tina Charles and Jonquel Jones fight each other down low, Thomas should be given a lot of open looks. The price tag for Thomas seems expensive, but with the team shorthanded, it really improves her play. Others can go to Jones, who has been popular, but I will take my shot on Thomas.
Fade of the Night
Shavonte Zellous ($6,000): With Ephiphanny Prince and Kia Vaughn planning to be back for the Liberty in this game, it makes sense to get off of Zellous, especially for $6,000. She is no doubt overpriced now at this price tag, so I will let others chase her massive games. She should lose a ton of value with the returning players. Zellous is an easy fade for me in this spot, as there are other plays I would rather play at this price tier at the guard position.