Saturday’s eight-game NBA slate is an odd one. Typically, there are a ton of high-priced studs we want to pay up for and we are scrounging around trying to uncover cheap value options to fit them in. However, on Saturday’s slate, there are so many cheap value options available I could throw a snowball off my deck and probably hit one. Meanwhile, the challenge is actually finding players that I want to spend my leftover salary on.

Note that some of the stats referenced in this article are my custom DvP calculations that combine both season and last five games data along with blending similar positions production allowed together.

One Stud

LeBron James (SF/PF – LAL): $10,600 @ MEM
LeBron is the only player with a five-figure salary on Saturday’s slate and he doesn’t even have that good of a matchup against the Grizzlies on the road. However, with so much salary available to spend, he is easy to fit in and there aren’t many options that have a higher expected raw points projection. While the matchup isn’t great, James is capable of putting up a big game against anyone and he should play significant minutes in a game with a close Vegas line.

Core Plays

Nikola Jokic (C – DEN): $9,200 @ ATL
If we didn’t have so much salary to use to get LeBron, then Jokic would have been my one stud of the night. He has posted at least 44 DraftKings points in each of his last three games and gets a plus-plus matchup on Saturday against the Hawks. The Hawks have given up increased production in points (+2.5%), rebounds (+3.0%) and maybe most importantly for Jokic, assists (+30.1%). Jokic’s usage also gets a 10.3 percent bump with the collection of Nuggets players that are out for Saturday’s tilt.