Massive eleven-game slate on this fine November Friday. We cannot possibly cover all the viable fantasy options in this post, so the below players are the ones that really stand out the most with relation to their salary.
The best team spots on the board that I will build my core out of are the Timberwolves (vs. Warriors), Raptors (vs. Pelicans), and the Nets (vs. Trail Blazers). The worst spots that I want very little to do with are the Bucks (vs. Jazz), Heat (vs. Lakers), and that 76ers vs. Nuggets game. Okay, let’s get into some plays.
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Guards
Kyrie Irving (PG – BRK): $9,700 @ Trail Blazers
Kyrie just continues to soak up so much usage on this Nets team. For the year, he has scored 23% of their fantasy points, taken 25% of their shots, and has recorded 32% of their assists. He is even rebounding the ball at a pretty high rate with a 12% share in that category. He has been held under 50 DraftKings points just twice in seven games, and has been over 60 twice and over 70 once. The Blazers have not been a good defensive team this year, adding 12 fantasy points to their opponent’s average. Any time the Nets are among the top projected scoring offenses and Kyrie is under $10,000 – he will be an awesome play, and that is true tonight.
Massive eleven-game slate on this fine November Friday. We cannot possibly cover all the viable fantasy options in this post, so the below players are the ones that really stand out the most with relation to their salary.
The best team spots on the board that I will build my core out of are the Timberwolves (vs. Warriors), Raptors (vs. Pelicans), and the Nets (vs. Trail Blazers). The worst spots that I want very little to do with are the Bucks (vs. Jazz), Heat (vs. Lakers), and that 76ers vs. Nuggets game. Okay, let’s get into some plays.
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Guards
Kyrie Irving (PG – BRK): $9,700 @ Trail Blazers
Kyrie just continues to soak up so much usage on this Nets team. For the year, he has scored 23% of their fantasy points, taken 25% of their shots, and has recorded 32% of their assists. He is even rebounding the ball at a pretty high rate with a 12% share in that category. He has been held under 50 DraftKings points just twice in seven games, and has been over 60 twice and over 70 once. The Blazers have not been a good defensive team this year, adding 12 fantasy points to their opponent’s average. Any time the Nets are among the top projected scoring offenses and Kyrie is under $10,000 – he will be an awesome play, and that is true tonight.
Fred VanVleet (PG/SG – TOR): $6,200 @ Pelicans
If you had been playing VanVleet in every slate all year, you would not have gotten any real big-time scores from him since the first game of the year. However, you would have gotten at least 25 points from him every time and would have gotten more than 30 from him in five of seven games. The Raptors project to score a bunch of points tonight as the Pelicans are playing at the fastest pace of all the teams on the slate. They are adding almost five possessions to their opponent’s total on average – so this is a great spot for a talented guard like VanVleet. He has played 30+ minutes in every game this year, and has gone over 40 on three occasions, which makes it very tough for him to have a dud. This is a great cash gameplay.
Evan Fournier (SG/SF – ORL): $4,400 vs. Grizzlies
The Grizzlies are playing at a very high pace this year, allowing 2.5 extra possessions per game to their opponents (the highest on the slate is the Pelicans at 4.8 for comparison), and while the Magic have not given you many good fantasy scores this year, the price on Fournier is just too low. You just are not going to find a guy that is playing 28 minutes and shooting 12 times a game for this price tag. Now is the time to buy in on Fournier, because this price will be over $5,000 soon.
Furkan Korkmaz (SG/SF – PHI): $3,400 @ Nuggets
The injury to Ben Simmons opens up 30+ guard minutes for the 76ers, so we have two nice value options to choose from here. Simmons was injured early in their last game and ended up playing just ten minutes. The 76ers started the second half with a lineup of Korkmaz-Richardson-Harris-Horford-Embiid, with Richardson and Korkmaz doing most of the ball-handling at the point. Korkmaz failed to do much with his role in that game, scoring just 10 Draftkings points in 25 minutes. He gets most of his fantasy points through scoring, as he has just 16 rebounds, six assists, three rebounds, and one steal on the year. Simmons being out does not really lend itself to Korkmaz taking a ton more shot attempts since Simmons is more of a facilitator/drive-to-the-basket type. You should see extra minutes in this spot, but there is still risk if you are going to play the Kork monster.
Raul Neto (PG – PHI): $3,400 @ Nuggets
This play makes more sense to me than the Korkmaz play. Neto played 30 minutes (mainly with the second unit) after the Simmons injury in that Wednesday game. He attempted 11 shots, scored 11 points, dished four assists, recorded three rebounds, and even chipped it three steals. As more of a prototypical point guard, I think he sets up pretty well in replacing Simmons. The floor is much higher with Neto than Korkmaz, and I would be pretty surprised if Neto does not find his way into 15+ Draftkings points here, which is a stomach-able floor for $3,400.
Forwards / Centers
Karl-Anthony Towns (C – MIN): $10,300 vs. Warriors
The Warriors have been the worst defensive team in the league this year in terms of giving up fantasy production. On the season, they have added 18.4 fantasy points per game to their opponents above their average. Teams score eight points above their average and get four more assists when playing the Warriors. The Timberwolves are the best team to attack with on this slate, and Towns is far and away the best fantasy option on the team. There is, of course, a little bit of blowout risk here with the Warriors being really battered right now, but I think the price and skill of Towns make him the best play on the board once again tonight. In the four games Towns has played a full share of minutes in, he has averaged 19 shot attempts (10 three-point attempts), 30 points, 13 rebounds, four assists, two steals, and two blocks. The suspension and a bad shooting night on Wednesday kept his price tag at $10,300 which is just criminally low for a guy with this floor/ceiling combination in one fo the best matchups you can find.
Hassan Whiteside (C – POR): $6,500 vs. Nets
I do not know what is going on with Whiteside’s Draftkings price. On October 28th, he cost $7,600. DraftKings decided to drop his price for a tough matchup against Steven Adams, but it never came back up. In his last three games, he has gone for 36, 41, and 48 fantasy points. He is one of the highest fantasy points per minute players in the league and gets a plus matchup with the Nets. In addition to all of that good news, he has played his highest minutes totals of the year in his last two games. There is some risk here on the back-to-back, but Whiteside offers an enormous ceiling at this price.
Jordan Poole (SF/SG – GSW): $4,700 @ Timberwolves
This play depends on D’Angelo Russell sitting out again, if he plays I do not want any part of the Warriors after their prices have been adjusted for their role in the battered Warriors offense. If Russell does not play, however, Poole is my favorite value on the team. He has been a letdown in the last two games, but that has come on miserable shooting. Over his last two games without Russell in the lineup, Poole has shot 27 times and has made just five of those attempts. The price is too low for his opportunity in this offense, and he is a great way to capture some upside at very low ownership.
Treveon Graham (SF/PF – MIN): $3,600 vs. Warriors
We talked about how awesome this matchup is in the Towns paragraph, so check that out if you missed it. I am not confident enough in the minutes being there for Graham if Jeff Teague returns for this game, so this play is dependent on that news. Graham has been playing some great basketball recently and has seen his minutes tick up because of it. In the Timberwolves last game he played 32 minutes and contributed across the board with 10 points, six rebounds, four assists, a block and a steal. That is the kind of line we want to see from our lower-usage value plays. The matchup is so good for Graham and the Wolves here – he projects very well if you expect him to see 25+ minutes again.
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Jon Anderson is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Jon, check out his archive and follow him @JonPgh.
