Quinn Cook Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

While you can squabble with who the top high-priced play is on the slate, there's zero doubt that Quinn Cook is the best point-per-dollar option on Saturday night. Not only will the Warriors be without Stephen Curry, they'll also be without backup point guard Shaun Livingston which should mean plenty of court time for Cook, regardless of how close the game stays. Cook has been a serviceable fantasy producer when given minutes this season, averaging ~ 30 fantasy points per 36 minutes. That type of production is a steal for Cook's minimum price tag across the industry.

Cook was admittedly not good last night, and Shaun Livingston's return cut into his minutes. Andre Iguodala also helped run the offense and played 33 minutes. However, the Warriors are generally cautious with both Livingston and Iguodala on the tail end of back-to-back sets, and this is a game they should win relatively easily. Even if we see garbage time, I would expect Cook to be the one on the floor, and this is a great matchup against a Hawks team that plays at the fastest pace in the NBA. Don't be discouraged after last night's dud, and hope that only serves to lower his ownership this evening.

We are still dealing with a small sample size with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green both off the floor, but there is plenty of opportunity for the Warriors tonight. Quinn Cook should start in place of Curry, especially with Shaun Livingston also out, and Cook carries a respectable 29% usage rate with those two players off the floor — in addition to his dirt cheap DFS price tag. He jumped right in with a 15/2/15 line over 19 minutes on Thursday, with much of that coming after Curry left due to his injury. Another piece of good news here is that we saw Cook get plenty of run in a similar situation in March and April last season. He averaged 35 minutes per game from March 9th through the end of the regular season, and he put up averages of 14 points, three rebounds, and four assists per game over that stretch. That gives him a nice baseline of around 25 fantasy points, which is solid production given his dirt cheap price tag on every site. I expected the sites to pro-actively price him up given Curry’s injury, but that did not happen. We need to take advantage of that with our cash game builds tonight.

Kevin Durant and Draymond Green are both expected to return for the Warriors tonight, so we can eliminate the frontcourt value with this team. However, I wouldn't be surprised if the team is somewhat cautious with their minutes, especially with Durant. I will proceed with caution there. We still have some value in the backcourt with Curry and Thompson out, so going back to the well with Quinn Cook or Nick Young is still a viable option. Cook has been the only consistent option for this team of late, and the minutes should continue to be there. Yes, the price tag does seem a bit steep at this point, but he should still be able to make value given his guaranteed court time.

The Spurs are a tough defensive matchup for anyone, so the young point guard isn't getting any love against them today. Still, Cook has played 40 minutes in back-to-back games, and his price didn't increase enough to fade him in this tough matchup. I don't expect him to keep shooting 60%+ from the field, but even if you knock that percentage down, he's still going to out-perform his salary with these minutes. With everyone out again for the Warriors, don't be afraid to go back to Quinn Cook tonight.