DFS Alerts
Ricky Rubio (hand) will start Wednesday
As expected, Rubio will start in Wednesday’s matchup against the Orlando Magic despite originally being listed as probable with a left-hand injury, while Cheick Diallo will return from a one-game absence stemming from an illness. The Suns are still without Aron Baynes, so the availability of Diallo will certainly provide some depth behind Frank Kaminsky and Dario Saric in the frontcourt rotation, and Diallo managed to record a minimum of 23 minutes in the two of his previous three appearances off the bench. With Baynes and Diallo unavailable for Monday’s win, Williams essentially resorted to a core of six rotational players, as both Kaminsky and Saric logged at least 32 minutes of action while Cameron Johnson and Mikal Bridges helped fill the void at power forward when one of the two big men were off the court.
As reported by: the Phoenix Suns via Twitter
Brook Lopez (back) and Sterling Brown (shoulder) listed available Wednesday
As expected, Lopez and Brown will be available to play in Wednesday’s matchup against the Detroit Pistons after missing two games due to their respective ailments. In Lopez’s absence, Robin Lopez ended up receiving the start at center in both contests, and he was inconsistent for fantasy purposes despite logging at least 23 minutes in each spot start. There haven’t been any reports of a potential minute restriction for Brook Lopez, so he should resume his normal role as the starting center, which puts him in consideration for tournament formats on a nightly basis since his minute total can be volatile and is averaging 0.92 DraftKings and 0.97 FanDuel points per minute on the season.
As reported by: NBA Official Injury Report Other tagged players: Sterling Brown Michael Carter-Williams (nose) out Wednesday
Carter-Williams has officially been downgraded from questionable and won’t play in Wednesday’s matchup against the Phoenix Suns due to a nasal contusion he sustained at the beginning of the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s win. With Carter-Williams unavailable, Wes Iwundu would more than likely rejoin the rotation following a one-game hiatus. However, Iwundu is a terrible per-minute fantasy producer, and there’s always a chance that Steve Clifford opts to condense his rotation, which makes players like D.J. Augustin and Terrence Ross interesting options on a 10-game slate that is surprisingly lacking viable value options for all daily fantasy formats.
As reported by: Orlando Magic PR via Twitter Correlation With The Chalk
With Conley out for the Jazz, the field will gravitate heavily towards underpriced Utah pieces such as Mitchell, Ingles & Mudiay. If you choose to play this chalk in GPPs, a way to differentiate those specific lineups is to include Lebron or AD alongside them. If the game stays competitive, each should play maximum minutes and at around 10% ownership in a perceived “bad” matchup, the leverage could be worth it in large-field tournaments.
Other tagged players: LeBron James
Cheick Diallo (illness) listed available Wednesday
As expected, Diallo will be available to play in Wednesday’s matchup against the Orlando Magic after missing one game due to an illness, while Ricky Rubio remains listed as probable but is good to go, according to head coach Monty Williams, despite dealing with a left-hand injury. The Suns are still without Aron Baynes, so the availability of Diallo will certainly provide some depth behind Frank Kaminsky and Dario Saric in the frontcourt rotation, and Diallo managed to record a minimum of 23 minutes in the two of his previous three appearances off the bench. With Baynes and Diallo unavailable for Monday’s win, Williams essentially resorted to a core of six rotational players, as both Kaminsky and Saric logged at least 32 minutes of action while Cameron Johnson and Mikal Bridges helped fill the void at power forward when one of the two big men were off the court.
As reported by: NBA Official Injury Report Michael Carter-Williams (nose) listed questionable Wednesday
Carter-Williams has been listed as questionable for Wednesday’s matchup against the Phoenix Suns due to a nasal contusion he sustained at the beginning of the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s win. If he’s unable to suit up Wes Iwundu would more than likely rejoin the rotation following a one-game hiatus. The Magic are still without Al-Farouq Aminu and Nikola Vucevic, so Carter-Williams may be able to carve out a relatively consistent role in the second unit while they are sidelined, but he still has only eclipsed the 15-minute mark just four times this entire season. Carter-Williams has been a solid fantasy producer on a per-minute basis thus far on the year, but given the uncertainty surrounding his playing time, his presence likely hurts the ceilings of D.J. Augustin and Terrence Ross more than he actually provides fantasy value himself.
As reported by: NBA Official Injury Report Luke Kennard (knee) listed questionable Wednesday; Markieff Morris (neck) probable
Kennard has been listed as questionable on the Pistons injury report for Wednesday’s matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks due to bilateral knee tendinopathy, while Morris is probable with a cervical strain. Morris should be good to go in tonight’s contest since he saw his normal allotment of minutes in Tuesday’s win, but Kennard’s status may be a bit more up in the air after he exited towards the end of the third quarter and was limited to just 22 minutes of action. If Kennard is unable to suit up, Langston Galloway would more than likely rejoin the starting lineup, and both he and Bruce Brown should be in line for additional playing time if the aforementioned scenario plays itself out this evening.
As reported by: NBA Official Injury Report Other tagged players: Markieff Morris D’Angelo Russell (thumb) likely to play Wednesday
Russell was originally listed as questionable on the Warriors’ injury report, but he is likely to play in Wednesday’s matchup against the Charlotte Hornets after missing nine games due to a sprained right thumb. There haven’t been any reports of a potential minute restriction for Russell in his likely return, but with Draymond Green yet to eclipse the 24-minute mark in the three games he’s played since returning from an extended injury layoff, it certainly seems possible that Russell is subject to a similar restriction in what’s becoming a lost season for this Golden State franchise. If that’s not the case, Russell sets up as an intriguing tournament option on tonight’s slate, as he owns a 34.7% usage rate, 40.4% assist rate, and is averaging 1.40 DraftKings and 1.33 FanDuel points per minute with Stephen Curry off the court this season.
As reported by: Anthony Slater via Twitter Marcus Smart (illness) officially out Wednesday
As expected, Smart won’t play in Wednesday’s matchup against the Miami Heat due to an illness. There has yet to be any inclination from the Celtics or head coach Brad Stevens on who will replace Smart in the starting lineup, but the last time one of the guards was unavailable, Semi Ojeleye drew the start alongside Jayson Tatum in the frontcourt and logged 27 minutes of action but was essentially relevant for fantasy purposes. Kemba Walker only has a 75.7 minutes sample size with both Smart and Gordon Hayward off the court this season, but in that limited time, he has a 34.6% usage rate, 31.9% assist rate, and is averaging 1.47 DraftKings and 1.35 FanDuel points per minute, putting him in position to be an intriguing tournament option on tonight’s 10-game slate.
As reported by: A. Sherrod Blakeley via Twitter Kevin Huerter (shoulder) will play Wednesday; De'Andre Hunter (finger) ruled out
Huerter has officially been upgraded from questionable and will play in Wednesday’s matchup against the Brooklyn Nets after missing 11 games due to a strained left rotator cuff, while De’Andre Hunter was previously ruled out with a dislocated right index finger. Head coach Lloyd Pierce already confirmed with reporters at shootaround that Huerter will be subject to a minute restriction between 15-20 minutes in his return, so with Hunter and Allen Crabbe unavailable, there could be a plethora of playing time available at the wing positions for the likes of DeAndre Bembry and Cam Reddish this evening. However, Pierce could always fill most of Hunter’s vacated role by extending additional minutes to Vince Carter and Chandler Parsons, which would make Reddish, in particular, much more of a tournament flier than a viable cash option.
As reported by: Kevin Chouinard via Twitter Other tagged players: De'Andre Hunter Warriors Come Out to Play
Glenn Robinson still has a favorable salary around all sites despite playing nearly 34 minutes per game over the last 7 contests. During that span, he has averaged 12.3 points per game, 3.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists. At less than $5,000 on FanDuel and DraftKings, there is still plenty of room for a solid return on your investment with Robinson tonight.
Salary Saving Big Man
On FanDuel we can still get Frank Kaminsky for the rock bottom salary of only $4,300. He is up to $5,500 on DraftKings, which takes him out of consideration on that site in my opinion. After playing 33 minutes last game, and still having a role carved out for himself with the suspension of Deandre Ayton, it becomes clear that we can take advantage of Kaminsky’s pricing inefficiency on FanDuel this evening.
Continuing To Ascend
Take a look all the way back to yesterday, where in this very space I called Doncic a top five player in the NBA at age 20. I might have sold him short. Doncic scored 33 points and grabbed 18 rebounds in last night’s dominating win over the Pelicans — and he did it in only 28 minutes. Dallas was able to rest him late in the game with the contest in hand, yet he still scored 58 fantasy points on FanDuel and Yahoo and well over 60 fantasy points on DraftKings and FantasyDraft. The kid continues to impress on a nightly basis, and his fantasy floor is amazing at this stage. He deservedly won the conference player of the month for November. Dallas draws another favorable matchup tonight against Minnesota, a team that ranks fourth in the NBA in pace and in the middle of the pack in defensive efficiency. His price has risen to Harden and Antetokounmpo levels, but he has earned it. It’s basically choosing between Doncic and Antetokounmpo at the top tonight, and I’ll give the edge to Doncic, as Antetokounmpo has to face a Detroit team that ranks near the bottom of the league in pace.
More Point Guard Looks
As for Mitchell, we always know that his prospects are better whenever he gets to handle the ball more often. His splits aren’t noticeably different with Conley off the floor this year, but we are still dealing with a very small sample size there. If we re-run a CourtIQ query based on last season’s data when Ricky Rubio was off the floor, we see that Mitchell’s usage climbed from around 31% to 34.8%, and he scored four additional fantasy points per 36 minutes with Rubio out. That’s a sizable difference in a 1,100 minute sample size. Mitchell hasn’t been an elite fantasy option this year, but that also gives us a chance to get him at a more reasonable price tag tonight. Essentially, Mitchell and Mudiay will likely split 100% of the point guard duties tonight. Both become distributors more often than we are used to, and the Lakers — for all their success so far this year — still rank 30th in our defense vs. archetype tool against distributing guards. I like the outlook for these two Utah players tonight, especially relative to their salary tags, and I would expect both to be highly owned in cash games.
Punt Value
Mudiay is nowhere near an elite fantasy player, but the circumstances dictate that he will be utilized more tonight. Mike Conley has already been ruled out, and the Jazz do not have another true point guard on the active roster outside of Mudiay. Donovan Mitchell will certainly handle the ball a ton, and it’s possible that we only see 24-26 minutes out of Mudiay tonight. However, CourtIQ shows us that Mudiay sees a respectable 24.5% usage rate, and he scores around 32 fantasy points per 36 minutes with Conley off the floor. Even if we scale back the minutes to 25, that puts us at a baseline projection of 22 or 23 fantasy points. While that is not lighting the world on fire, it is certainly a worthwhile output for a player who costs the stone minimum or close to it on every DFS site. Given the tighter pricing over the last few weeks, we simply don’t have a lot of that value available on most slates. For that reason, I am reluctantly including Mudiay in the core, as he really helps free up cap space for your other options — and he is unlikely to tank your lineup given the circumstances.