Welcome to NBA FanDuel Saturday! We get the long MLK day weekend started with a short, four-game main slate after heavy action on Friday night and some more action Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, the short slate means that lineups will be heavily impacted by whether Kawhi Leonard and Steph Curry will be available to play for the Spurs and Warriors respectively. For now, we will operate on the assumption that Leonard won’t suit up while Curry will, but both are officially listed as questionable. It should be noted that Kyle Lowry is also questionable for the Raptors which could impact some decision-making. Let’s take a look at the team.
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Point Guards
Stephen Curry (GSW): $10,200 @ TOR
Curry is said to have a “solid chance” of returning against the Raptors, and he should be in FanDuel lineups if he does indeed return. John Wall is a no-go at point guard due to his high price point and no-rest woes while the Warriors should be in for a tight battle with the Raptors in Toronto. Curry had been playing his best ball of the season just before injury, and proved just last week that he has no problem heating up quickly after an extended absence.
Welcome to NBA FanDuel Saturday! We get the long MLK day weekend started with a short, four-game main slate after heavy action on Friday night and some more action Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, the short slate means that lineups will be heavily impacted by whether Kawhi Leonard and Steph Curry will be available to play for the Spurs and Warriors respectively. For now, we will operate on the assumption that Leonard won’t suit up while Curry will, but both are officially listed as questionable. It should be noted that Kyle Lowry is also questionable for the Raptors which could impact some decision-making. Let’s take a look at the team.
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Point Guards
Stephen Curry (GSW): $10,200 @ TOR
Curry is said to have a “solid chance” of returning against the Raptors, and he should be in FanDuel lineups if he does indeed return. John Wall is a no-go at point guard due to his high price point and no-rest woes while the Warriors should be in for a tight battle with the Raptors in Toronto. Curry had been playing his best ball of the season just before injury, and proved just last week that he has no problem heating up quickly after an extended absence.
Kris Dunn (CHI): $7,600 v. DET
Dunn has been a dynamite fantasy performer for the Bulls, and it will certainly be interesting to see how he is affected with Zach Lavine making his Bulls debut on Saturday. For now, though, Dunn is a play as long as he’s priced under 8,000 in a good matchup with the Pistons.
Shooting Guards
Avery Bradley (DET): $5,300 @ CHI
The Bulls are easily the worst team in the NBA at defending SGs with an astounding defense vs. position (DVP) of just over 44 points per game. They allow nearly as many points to shooting guards as the league does on average to point guards which is pretty incredible considering how many more points that the point guard position typically generates. Until further notice, play SGs against the Bulls. Avery Bradley qualifies as such.
DeMar DeRozan (TOR): $9,100 v. GSW
Regardless of whether Lowry is a go, DeRozan is a play against the Warriors after two sub-par performances as far as Derozan is concerned. DeRozan was overpriced due to Lowry’s absence, but his price has now dropped back to reality at $9,100 which seems to be more of his comfort zone. DeRozan has at least 50 points in each of his last two contests with the Warriors.
Small Forwards
Wilson Chandler (DEN): $4,800 v. SAS
I generally have a no Wilson Chandler policy, but it should be pretty obvious from the way the picks have gone up to this point that it is going to be tough to fit Durant into this lineup. That leaves a myriad of low-priced SF options to choose from. I’ll roll the dice with Chandler rather than banking on a second consecutive strong performance from Demarre Carroll on a back-to-back.
Kelly Oubre Jr. (WAS): $4,100 @ BKN
A couple of takeaways with Kelly Oubre here. The first is that he’s actually been better as a reserve than as a starter which means he’s playable even when Otto Porter Jr. is in. The second is that Oubre is averaging over 28 points per game on no rest. Oubre has been quiet lately but he fits in here as a sneaky SF pick against the Nets.
Power Forwards
Draymond Green (GSW): $7,800 @ TOR
LaMarcus Aldridge is vastly overpriced while Nikola Mirotic‘s return makes the Bulls PF situation way too crowded. That leaves little to choose from at the PF position, but Draymond is there to take care of that. In what appears to be the most competitive game on the slate, Draymond makes for a strong play as he’s put up at least 40 points in each of his last four games priced under $8,000.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (BKN) $7,200 v. WAS
Tobias Harris is a bit overpriced while the lower-priced PFs aren’t too appealing so that leaves us with RHJ who has proven capable of big games at $7,200. The Wizards present a strong matchup for all frontcourt players.
Center
Jahlil Okafor (BKN): $3,500 @ WAS
Yes, Jahlil Okafor is on the Brooklyn Nets now, and he’s finally getting a bit of playing time. Okafor had one of the stranger lines you’ll ever see from a center with 17 points, one assist, and zero rebounds against the Hawks Friday night in only 12 minutes. Maybe this production is enough reason to give Okafor more playing time over the likes of Tyler Zeller and Jarrett Allen. The Wizards rank last on the slate defensively against centers after allowing a monster performance to Bismack Biyombo Friday night. He’s an interesting contrarian play in GPPs.
That’s going to do it. Best of luck.
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Joey Korman is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Joey, check out his archive and follow him @leaveit2divac.