We get just five games for Saturday’s NBA slate, but if there’s DFS to be played, who’s complaining? With a smaller set of games naturally comes a smaller player pool. So like always, ownership will be key, but it may be harder to find those low-owned value plays that the rest of the field necessarily won’t be on as well. It’s essential to stay up to date with all the news and information heading into tonight’s games, like the injury report from Friday’s games and active/inactive’s that will come out closer to tip-off today. By doing those two things alone, you will already have an edge on a decent percentage of the field. Leverage will always be a must to take down any DFS tournament, and just because we have a smaller slate, that doesn’t make it any less important.
With that being said, lets go ahead and dive into the cash, GPP, and value plays that stand out across the five games on both FanDuel and DraftKings.
Get a $5 bonus when you make your first deposit at FanDuel 
Schedule and Odds
- UTAH @ MIA (MIA -2.5) O/U: 212.5
- PHI @ CHI (CHI -3.5) O/U: 211
- BOS @ DAL (DAL -4.5) O/U: 212
- ATL @ PHX (PHX -4.5) O/U: 223.5
- LAL @ POR (POR -4) O/U: 218.5
Injury Report
Core Plays
Russell Westbrook (PG – LAL): $10,900 DraftKings, $9,600 FanDuel
The price is a little easier to swallow on FanDuel, but the elevated price tag on DraftKings may have players thinking twice before putting Russell Westbrook into lineups. Westbrook has started to come around after getting off to a slow start scoring the rock with his new team. He has now scored 40 or more DKFP’s in 7 of 8 games, and we should continue to see the Lakers call on him to run the offense with teammate LeBron James (abdomen) out of the lineup. Westbrook hasn’t been the walking triple-double we have become accustomed to, but we know he has that upside to his game. I like his chances in a plus matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers, who give up an average of 9.4 assists to opposing point guards on both sites.
We get just five games for Saturday’s NBA slate, but if there’s DFS to be played, who’s complaining? With a smaller set of games naturally comes a smaller player pool. So like always, ownership will be key, but it may be harder to find those low-owned value plays that the rest of the field necessarily won’t be on as well. It’s essential to stay up to date with all the news and information heading into tonight’s games, like the injury report from Friday’s games and active/inactive’s that will come out closer to tip-off today. By doing those two things alone, you will already have an edge on a decent percentage of the field. Leverage will always be a must to take down any DFS tournament, and just because we have a smaller slate, that doesn’t make it any less important.
With that being said, lets go ahead and dive into the cash, GPP, and value plays that stand out across the five games on both FanDuel and DraftKings.
Get a $5 bonus when you make your first deposit at FanDuel
Schedule and Odds
- UTAH @ MIA (MIA -2.5) O/U: 212.5
- PHI @ CHI (CHI -3.5) O/U: 211
- BOS @ DAL (DAL -4.5) O/U: 212
- ATL @ PHX (PHX -4.5) O/U: 223.5
- LAL @ POR (POR -4) O/U: 218.5
Injury Report
Core Plays
Russell Westbrook (PG – LAL): $10,900 DraftKings, $9,600 FanDuel
The price is a little easier to swallow on FanDuel, but the elevated price tag on DraftKings may have players thinking twice before putting Russell Westbrook into lineups. Westbrook has started to come around after getting off to a slow start scoring the rock with his new team. He has now scored 40 or more DKFP’s in 7 of 8 games, and we should continue to see the Lakers call on him to run the offense with teammate LeBron James (abdomen) out of the lineup. Westbrook hasn’t been the walking triple-double we have become accustomed to, but we know he has that upside to his game. I like his chances in a plus matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers, who give up an average of 9.4 assists to opposing point guards on both sites.
Luka Doncic (PG/SF – DAL): $10,700 DraftKings, $10,200 FanDuel
Doncic has massively struggled as far as his efficiency numbers go to start the season. He went 3-of-12 from behind the arc in his last outing and hasn’t been able to sink more than three in a game yet this year. Despite the downtick in efficiency, he still gives lineups elite peripheral production, finishing with a double-double in 5 games already this season, still making him one of the top options to build DFS lineups around. Doncic has the highest usage rate in the league at 35.04, so sooner or later, his threes are going to start dropping, and he’s going to go off for one of those head-turning fantasy performances where he goes for a triple-double and 70 fantasy points. A poor defensive Celtics team who rank 26th in defensive efficiency seems like a good spot to help Doncic get back to form.
Anthony Davis (C – LAL): $10,500 DraftKings, $10,600 FanDuel
Now, Davis (thumb) is questionable for tonight’s game, so as stated at the top of this article, stay tuned for all breaking news up until lock in case he isn’t able to go. If Davis were ruled out, that would make Westbrook an absolute smash play in both GPP’s and cash. If Davis does in fact play, he’s a great core piece to build around coming off his game on Thursday where he scored 29 points, 18 rebounds, five assists, and two blocks while also making 7-of-9 from the line. We know LeBron (abdomen) has already been ruled out, so AD will have the ball in his hands more often than not, giving him big-time opportunity against a Portland Trail Blazer’s team that is average at best defensively.
Cash Game Considerations
Norman Powell (SF – POR): $4,800 DraftKings, $6,100 FanDuel
This is more of a DK play for cash games due to his below 5k price tag. Powell has smashed similar price tags on DraftKings in his last two games, going for 40.8 and 37.5 DKFP’s. Even if he doesn’t return 7 or 8 times the value he did over the previous two games, he will give you a safe floor for cash games. Take advantage of this charitable price on a player who’s shooting lights out right now.
Dennis Schroder (PG/SG – BOS): $5,400 DraftKings, $6,000 FanDuel
With Jaylen Brown (hamstring) already being ruled out, Schroder should see an uptick in usage, leading to more scoring opportunities. Jayson Tatum has been struggling to put the ball in the hoop over the last three games, only scoring a total of 44 points, and at times Schroeder has been the boost this offense has needed. He’s averaging 30.9 minutes and around 30 fantasy points per game, putting him just over a fantasy point per minute. At only $5,400 with no Jaylen Brown in the lineup, Schroeder should definitely be a cash play to consider tonight.
Joel Embiid (C – PHI): $10,300 DraftKings, $9,300 FanDuel
I like the thousand-dollar discount we’re getting on Embiid over at FanDuel, but he can pay off his salary tonight regardless of the site or type of DFS contest you’re playing in. We know this offense runs through the big man, especially with their two other offensive stars in Tobias Harris (COVID-19) and Ben Simmons (personal), both out for the foreseeable future. Embiid just played the Bulls on Wednesday and almost came away with a triple-double, finishing with 19 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists. The Sixers will have no choice but to get the ball in the center’s hands again and let him go to work. The situation is primed for Embiid to have a big night.
GPP Targets
Jayson Tatum (SF/PF – BOS): $9,600 DraftKings, $9,500 FanDuel
As I mentioned before, Tatum has yet to find his rhythm on the offensive end of the floor, but the young forward is entirely too talented to be held down for long. Despite being off his game for most of the season, apart from a game or two, he’s still managing just above 40 fantasy points per game, but that’s still significantly down from last season, about 8.9 points in total. He’s only averaging 22.7 real points a game with a 37.3 field goal percentage, also both drastically down from last season. Pretty much all major offensive categories are down for Tatum to start the year except for his three-point attempts. With all that being said, this will be the Jayson Tatum show tomorrow with no Jaylen Brown (hamstring). This is a good buy-low spot for him because even on a five-game slate, a decent amount of the field may shy away from him due to the recent play not being up to par with what most DFS players have become used to. This offense will indeed run almost entirely through Tatum tomorrow. He needs to be rostered.
Damian Lillard (PG – POR): $9,400 DraftKings, $8,600 FanDuel
Lillard is kind of in the same boat as Tatum in terms of just flat out being off his game and not being able to find his stroke, a sentence I never thought I would be writing about ” Dame Time,” but here I am. Lillard is shooting just 32 percent from the floor on the road, with his shooting percentage of 39 percent at home not being anything to write home about either. To top it off, his 46.1 true shooting percentage is below even his rookie year which ended at 54.6 percent. It’s safe to say things haven’t gotten off to the start Dame hoped for, but he knows, and we all know, it’s early in the season. There’s going to be that game where he snaps out of this shooting slump. Once he does, the buy-low window is over, and his price will begin to sky-rocket back up. Lillard needs to continue to be rostered in large-field tournaments because he has the upside to win you a GPP.
Deandre Ayton (C – PHX): $6,500 DraftKings, $7,800 FanDuel
Ayton is never the sexiest of plays, but if he can stay out of foul trouble and see the floor for close to 30 minutes or more, he’s a multi-category fantasy producer who can score the ball and clear the glass with the best big men in the game. At $6,500 on DraftKings, he just needs to get to 39 fantasy points to pay six times the return on investment. He averages 34.3 so far this year. Ayton is most likely out of most people’s top 5 big men on tonight’s slate, making him a more than viable option in tournaments because he has the skill set to end the night at the top of leaderboards, especially on a smaller slate.
Value Plays
Matisse Thybulle (SF – PHI): $3,900 DraftKings, $4,500 FanDuel
Thybulle is being asked to take on a larger role until Tobias Harris (COVID-19) can return from being placed in the NBA’s health and safety protocols. He’s played 38 and 30 minutes in the last two Sixer games, and while he isn’t a player that’s going to score many points, he is one of the better defenders in the league with nine blocks in his last four appearances. He will continue to see big minutes tonight, and the Sixers will count on his tough defense against one of the better offenses of the NBA in the Chicago Bulls.
Robert Williams (C – BOS): $5,700 DraftKings, $5,700 FanDuel
Williams is still yet to put up double-digit shot attempts this season, but he’s efficient with the shots he does put up, as most of them are high percentage looks with him being a true big man who stays down low, putting up almost all of his shots close to the rim. Williams is still crashing the boards, but we have seen his blocks come down, only having one over the last three games, but in a plus matchup against the Mavericks, we could see him get back to form. It wouldn’t be surprising at all to see Williams go for a double-double and three to five blocks, easily paying off the cheapest salary he’s had since the first game of the season.
Shake Milton (PG/SG – PHI): $4,500 DraftKings, $4,800 FanDuel
Milton is coming off his best game of the young season, playing a season-high 34 minutes where he scored 16 points, eight rebounds, and five assists, also all season highs. Milton previously hadn’t seen more than 20 minutes in a game which was probably largely due to the coaching staff electing to ease him back into a full workload after his ankle injury but also because of the Sixers being undermanned due to the absence of Tobias Harris (COVID-19) and Ben Simmons (personal). With his ankle looking to be just fine, there shouldn’t be any reason Milton doesn’t see 30 plus minutes once again in a matchup against the Bulls where the 76ers are going to need all the offense they can get. Milton pretty much had a ceiling game setting season-high marks across the board on Thursday, but with the minutes he’s in line to see and his price tag being below 5k on both DFS sites, he is shaping up to be one of the better value plays of the night.
Advantageous Pricing
- Joel Embiid (C – PHI) $10,300 DraftKings, $9,300 FanDuel
- Robert Williams (C – BOS) $5,700 DraftKings, $5,700 FanDuel
- Deandre Ayton (C – PHX $6,500 DraftKings, $7,800 FanDuel
- Damian Lillard (PG – POR) $9,400 DraftKings, $8,600 FanDuel
- DeMar DeRozan (PF – CHI) $8,300 DraftKings, $8,400 FanDuel
- Mike Conley (PG – UTA) $6,600 DraftKings, $5,600 FanDuel
Get a $5 bonus when you make your first deposit at FanDuel
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | RadioPublic | Breaker | Castbox | Pocket Casts
Evan Ritter is a featured writer for FantasyPros. For more from Evan, check out his archive and follow him on Twitter.
