DFS Alerts
Dwyane Wade (illness) will be active Friday
Wade has officially been upgraded from questionable and will be active for Friday’s matchup against the Washington Wizards after missing the previous game due to an illness, while Goran Dragic remains sidelined with a right knee injury. Unfortunately, there’s been no confirmation if Wade is healthy enough to play in tonight’s contest, but he will be dressed and available to play off the bench. With Wade sidelined, Derrick Jones Jr. assumed a larger role off the bench and was fantastic from a fantasy perspective in 31 minutes of action, marking two straight games he’s logged at least 25 minutes and been relevant in daily fantasy formats. Additionally, Dion Waiters made his season debut in Wednesday’s win, but he was limited to just 10 minutes and the Heat are likely to continue bringing him along slowly as he works is way back from left ankle surgery.
As reported by: the Miami Heat via Twitter
Favorite Point Per Dollar Play of the Slate
With LeBron James out, everyone has gravitated toward Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, and Kyle Kuzma. Those who use the CourtIQ tool know that while those three see a sizable boost in production, the biggest boost with LeBron off the floor goes to Brandon Ingram (+0.26 FP/min). He draws an elite matchup against the Knicks, the Lakers are playing at home, and there’s a decent chance that Kuzma will sit this game out (strained back). Dollar for dollar, Ingram is my favorite play of the slate.
Fade at Your Own Risk
Hot streaks exist, especially when they are partly due to a role change. Karl-Anthony Towns has been solid ever since the Jimmy Butler trade and he has been on an absolute tear with Jeff Teague and Derrick Rose out of the lineup. Over his last five games, Towns has scored 52, 70, 87, 70, and 55 fantasy points. He is putting up Anthony Davis-type of production, yet his price isn’t prohibitive across the industry. At this point, he’s a tough fade, even if he’s going to be one of the highest owned players of the slate.
Streaming Shooting Guards Against Dallas
Kyrie Irving has already been ruled out of tonight’s game and Marcus Morris is listed as questionable. Irving missed the game against the Wolves the other night and many game log watchers will see that Marcus Smart only logged 22 minutes. What the game log doesn’t tell you is that Smart missed a full quarter with an injury. He sees a significant usage and FP/min boost with Irving off the floor and he should push for 30+ minutes against the Mavericks, who are ranked 27th in efficiency against shooting guards this season.
Jeff Teague (ankle) will start Friday
Teague has officially been upgraded from questionable and will start in Friday’s matchup against the Orlando Magic after missing nine consecutive games due to left ankle inflammation, while Derrick Rose remains doubtful with a sprained right ankle and is expected to join Robert Covington on the Timberwolves’ inactive list. There’s been no confirmation if Teague will be subject to a minute restriction in his first game back, but his return to the starting lineup will send Tyus Jones back to the bench to resume a reserve role following a string of stellar fantasy performance in an average of 38.7 minutes over the last three games. There isn’t an extensive sample size with Covington and Rose off the court together this season, but in that time, Karl-Anthony Towns owns a 35.1% usage rate (+6.7%) and is averaging 1.66 DraftKings and 1.66 FanDuel points per minute.
As reported by: Jon Krawczynski via Twitter James Ennis (hamstring) will play around 15 minutes on Thursday
Ennis has officially been upgraded from questionable and will play in Thursday’s matchup against the Golden State Warriors after missing 10 consecutive games due to a strained right hamstring, while Eric Gordon and Chris Paul will remain sidelined with their respective ailments. There’s been no confirmation if Ennis will start or come off the bench, but either way, head coach Mike D’Antoni did disclose to reporters that he will be limited to around 15 minutes in his first game back. If Ennis does assume a temporary reserve role, Danuel House would remain in the starting lineup at small forward and has logged at least 27 minutes in four of the Rockets last five games. With Gordon and Paul off the court this season, James Harden owns an insane 50.2% usage rate (+8.6%) and is averaging an absurd 2.03 DraftKings and 1.92 FanDuel points per minute in a 168.9 minutes sample size.
As reported by: Jonathan Feigen via Twitter Kyle Lowry (back) out Thursday
Lowry has officially been downgraded from questionable and won’t play in Wednesday’s matchup against the San Antonio Spurs due to lower back pain that’s now forced him to miss five consecutive games. Despite his earlier upgrade in status, head coach Nick Nurse admitted to reporters during shootaround that there is only an “outside chance” that Lowry plays in tonight’s contest, so news of his unavailability is far from surprising. Now that Lowry has been ruled out, Fred VanVleet should draw another start at point guard and has been relatively underwhelming from a fantasy perspective in an average of 31.7 minutes over the Raptors last four games. Kawhi Leonard continues to lead the team by a wide margin with a 36.9% usage rate (+3.5%) and is averaging 1.36 DraftKings and 1.34 FanDuel points per minute without Lowry on the court this season, making him an elite option on DraftKings in a revenge game versus his former team.
As reported by: Eric Koreen via Twitter Rudy Gay (wrist) will play Thursday
Gay has officially been upgraded from probable and will play in Thursday’s matchup against the Toronto Raptors after missing the previous game due to a sprained left wrist. Head coach Gregg Popovich originally stated to reporters that Gay was unlikely to play in tonight’s contest, but the Spurs’ injury report consistently suggested otherwise. Gay’s likely return to the starting lineup would send Jakob Poeltl back to the bench to resume a reserve role following a middling fantasy performance in 20 minutes of action in Monday’s win. A lot of the focus in this matchup will be on Kawi Leonard and his revenge against his former team, but DeMar DeRozan also finds himself in a revenge spot, and he owns a 31.3% usage rate with an average 1.19 fantasy points per minute this season, both of which qualify him for the team lead among players that have played at least 200 minutes on the year.
As reported by: Paul Garcia via Twitter Top Play of the Slate
You are probably tired of reading this statistic, but James Harden has averaged 1.89 FP/min with a 49% usage rate with Chris Paul and Eric Gordon off the floor this season. I know what you are thinking, that has to be a small sample size, right? Wrong — that’s over a 216-minute sample. It’s hard to justify fading Harden at this point, especially on DraftKings at a price of only $11,000. Even on FanDuel ($13,000), he’s a tough fade given the softer salary cap.
I Can't Resist the Revenge Narrative
Kawhi Leonard scored a career-high 45 points against the Jazz his last time out and now gets to face his former team for the first time. He will be fired up (as fired as up Kawhi can get anyway) and heavily involved offensively. If you take the narrative out of the equation, I would choose Kevin Durant over Leonard at a similar price point, but who doesn’t love a little revenge? Kawhi offers a high floor/ceiling combination and is a strong play for both cash games and tournaments.
Marvin Bagley III (knee) remains out Thursday
Bagley has officially been downgraded from doubtful and won’t play in Thursday’s matchup against the Denver Nuggets due to a bone bruise in his left knee that has now forced him to miss 10 consecutive games. The Kings recently reported that Bagley was slated to remain sidelined for at least two more weeks, so it was definitely a bit odd that they even listed him as doubtful on their original injury report. In his absence, Nemanja Bjelica has taken on an expanded role in the rotation as the starting power forward, and De’Aaron Fox appears to have taken the next step in his development, as he has recorded a 27.7% usage rate and is averaging 1.24 DraftKings and 1.29 FanDuel point per minute in the Kings last nine games.
As reported by: Noel Harris via Twitter Rudy Gay (wrist) upgraded to probable Thursday
Gay has officially been upgraded from questionable to probable for Thursday’s matchup against the Toronto Raptors after missing the previous game due to a sprained left wrist. Head coach Gregg Popovich originally stated to reporters that Gay was unlikely to play in tonight’s contest, but the Spurs’ injury report appears to say otherwise. Gay’s potential return to the starting lineup would send Jakob Poeltl back to the bench to resume a reserve role following a middling fantasy performance in 20 minutes of action in Monday’s win. A lot of the focus in this matchup will be on Kawi Leonard and his revenge against the Spurs, but DeMar DeRozan also finds himself in a revenge spot, and he owns a 31.3% usage rate with an average 1.19 fantasy points per minute this season, both of which qualify him for the team lead among players that have played at least 200 minutes on the year.
As reported by: JeffGSpursZone via Twitter Getting Run and Worth a Shot in GPPs
For those who are looking at Iggy’s game log lately, they will see a 4.75 performance in his last four, but that came on a night where he was ejected at half time. Ignoring that game, Iggy has over 20 minutes in all his last six games and should see similar run tonight. Iggy has over 25 points in five of his last nine and is priced at just $4K on DK and $4.8K on FD. There is a chance that we see a sub 10-point outcome here for Iggy, but there is a decent chance that we see him in the high 20s. Don’t sleep on Iguodala, as this is a slate with a whole bunch of superstars you want to pay up for tonight.
Playing the Revenge Narrative
We’ve seen it time and time again: Danny Green has a great game out of nowhere and absolutely crushes his price tag. Tonight is only a three-game slate and Green is one of the cheapest guys on the board and is playing in a revenge game. His price tag over on DK hasn’t been cheaper than this in months, and he will likely be in for a decent amount of run here as he is facing the team that shipped him off in the Kawhi deal. This could end up busting, but it could end up being another 40-point game like he had against Portland a few weeks ago. There are better options for cash, but he’s in a great spot for GPPs.
Super Underpriced on DK
Although White’s price on FD is a bit too high, it is way too low over on DK. Tonight’s slate features a boatload of great high priced plays and you are going to need a decent amount of value to pay up for them, and on DK, White is the first guy I’m going to go with. Over his last three games, White has 34, 31, and 36 DK points and his price has only risen $200 since his last game. He’s playing in a game that only has a two-point spread tonight and is priced close to the same as Forbes, who is getting close to the same minutes, but isn’t nearly as productive. White should be in for another 30-point performance tonight which would likely make him one of the best point per dollar play on the slate.