DFS Alerts
Nuggets to start Murray, Morris, Grant, Millsap and Jokic; Gary Harris off the bench
Nuggets to start Murray, Morris, Grant, Millsap and Jokic with Gary Harris off the bench. Harris’ presence should give the Nuggets some extra perimeter defense to throw at Donovan Mitchell, Jordan Clarkson and Mike Conley. Harris’ return is likely to eat mildly into the minutes of Monte Morris, Torrey Craig and/or PJ Dozier.
As reported by: Mike Singer
Gary Harris available to play Sunday
No surprise here. It’s expected that he’s going to come off the bench and will have a restriction on his playing time.
As reported by: Mike Singer Gary Harris expected to play on a minutes limit Sunday
Gary Harris is expected to return to the floor Sunday night, but will be on a minutes restriction. He’s projected for 20 minutes in the RotoGrinders projections and isn’t a solid per-minute contributor, but he’s certainly on the value radar for single-game contests. Harris’ presence should give the Nuggets some extra perimeter defense to throw at Donovan Mitchell, Jordan Clarkson and Mike Conley. Harris’ return is likely to eat into the minutes of Monte Morris, Torrey Craig and/or PJ Dozier.
As reported by: Kendra Andrews Luka Doncic, Tim Hardaway Jr., Trey Burke and Dorian Finney-Smith all expected to play Sunday
Luka Doncic, Tim Hardaway Jr., Trey Burke and Dorian Finney-Smith are all expected to play Sunday, which has been the prevailing thought despite them previously being listed as questionable. With Porzingis on the shelf, expect Luka to continue doing a ton of heavy lifting with guys like Hardaway Jr. and Burke helping as ancillary scorers.
As reported by: Tim MacMahon Other tagged players: Trey Burke, Dorian Finney-Smith, Tim Hardaway Jr. Patrick Beverley will not play Sunday
Patrick Beverley will not play Sunday, marking yet another absence in the opening round of the playoffs. It’s expected that Landry Shamet will continue to start, but Reggie Jackson should see a very similar allotment of minutes off the bench and is the preferred DFS target between the two. Lou Williams’ minute projection also rose very slightly as a result of Beverley’s absence.
As reported by: Mark Medina Other tagged players: Reggie Jackson, Lou Williams, Landry Shamet Conley playing elite basketball
Conley has been playing elite basketball since returning to the bubble after the birth of his son. Taking a further look back, Conley averaged .93 DKP per minute during the regular season without Bojan Bogdanovic. However, during his regular-season bubble games in Orlando, that number jumped to 1.06 DKP per minute. Conley is averaging 37.1 DKP against Denver this series with a respectable 24% usage. He’s a great option on a small slate today.
Brown in a good spot Sunday
Although Jaylen Brown didn’t consistently produce against Philadelphia, just remember that he averaged just a shade over 1 FDP per minute across the entire season. Brown has been playing mega minutes, and in a competitive game, has a good opportunity to crush today at his reduced price of $6,500. He’s rarely this cheap and could be a critical key to your builds on Sunday.
Steady Mid-Range Value
Kemba Walker does not have the ceiling of other elite point guards in the NBA right now, but he is exactly the kind of safe, consistent, mid-range point guard that we want for cash games on a three game slate. His role as the leader of this team along with Jayson Tatum is even more secure with Gordon Hayward on the shelf. Walker owns a healthy 28.3% usage rate and scores two additional fantasy points per 36 minutes with Hayward off the floor. This is nothing spectacular, but it adds to Walker’s element of safety. That is the whole purpose of this article. Following Hayward’s injury, Walker scored 47 and 50 fantasy points in the final two games of the series against the Sixers. This is not an ideal matchup against a good defensive team, but that is only a minor detriment on such a short slate. The floor is super safe, and Walker should be one of your point guard choices today.
Top Play on the Slate
It would be foolish to start with anyone other than the playoff version of Kawhi Leonard. Sure, he is the most expensive player on the slate outside of a banged up Luka Doncic, but it is not like Leonard is off the charts expensive. He is certainly attainable on every site today. Why should we just play Leonard and move on? Well, Kawhi has taken at least 19 shot attempts in every game of this series, and he has topped 50 fantasy points in every single game of this series. When 50 fantasy points is your floor… that’s pretty darn good. His minutes have also ticked higher in the playoffs, as they always do. The Clippers absolutely will not want this series to go to a deciding Game 7, so they will do what they can to close it out here. That means we will likely get 36-40 minutes of Leonard assuming the game stays close. Part of what made his Game 5 performance so impressive was that he topped the 50 fantasy point mark without really being needed late in the game because of the blowout; Leonard played a playoff low 30 minutes in that contest. He should be rested and ready to go after four days off, and Leonard is your clear starting point at the small forward spot today.
Wenyen Gabriel (quad) out Saturday
Gabriel was never listed on the Trail Blazers’ injury report, but he’s now officially been ruled out and won’t play in Saturday’s matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers due to quad tendinitis. This leaves Portland even more shorthanded than they already were with Damian Lillard sidelined, and they now have just nine active players for tonight’s contest. However, head coach Terry Stotts is likely to utilize just a seven-man rotation, which makes players like Mario Hezonja, Hassan Whiteside, and Anfernee Simons more intriguing options in daily fantasy formats since they should have much higher minute floors this evening.
As reported by: the Portland Trail Blazers via Twitter
Rajon Rondo (back) inactive Saturday; Dion Waiters (migraine) a game-time decision
Head coach Frank Vogel confirmed that Rondo has been downgraded from questionable and will be inactive for Saturday’s matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers due to back spasms that also forced him to be scratched from the Lakers’ active roster earlier in the week. Rondo has yet to see any playing time during the Lakers’ stay in the Orlando bubble, but now that he’s officially unavailable, Alex Caruso and J.R. Smith figure should maintain their roles with the second unit for at least one more game, while Dion Waiters could see minimal minutes if he’s cleared to play through migraines that currently have his status as a game-time decision this evening.
As reported by: Dave McMenamin via Twitter Other tagged players: Dion Waiters Davis looks to continue stellar play
Over his first three games of the POR series, Davis is averaging an absurd 1.8 DKP per minute. This seems fairly unsustainable, but he has a history of thrashing the Blazers in the past. Across three regular season contests against Portland, Davis averaged 61.3 DKP per contest. Today on FanDuel, Davis will be one of the first players in my lineup. There is nobody else at PF on FanDuel with his upside, and many other PF ceiling games could be AD’s floor on Saturday.
Needed: Vintage Melo
Damian Lillard is out and Portland needs the rest of the Blazers to step up. Without some of its other rotation players (Ariza, Hood, Little), this season, Anthony owns a 28% usage and exactly 1 FDP per minute across 275 minutes. If this game is remotely close, Melo has serious 7x upside against the Lakers on Saturday.
Rajon Rondo (back) listed questionable Saturday
Rondo has been listed as questionable on the latest version of the Laker’s injury for Saturday’s matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers due to back spasms that forced him to be scratched from the active roster earlier in the week. Rondo has yet to see any playing time during the Lakers’ stay in the Orlando bubble, but if he does end up being available, Alex Caruso and potentially J.R. Smith figure to see a reduction in minutes with the second unit moving forward whereas Dion Waiteouts should remain firmly out of the rotation with an extra body available to soak up guard minutes off the bench.
As reported by: NBA Official Injury Report Increased Role + Positional Flexibility
Damian Lillard’s absence is going to leave a huge void to fill both in terms of minutes and offensive responsibility. Trent is the leading candidate to start in Lillard’s place (with CJM moving to PG) which should lead to increased fantasy production for the SG who entered The Bubble en fuego from deep. It’s a difficult matchup for Trent and the Blazers but the combination of his price tag and positional flexibility (both G + F eligible) make him a strong fit on DraftKings.
