Uriah Wesson 
I know we were only off for a couple of months but it still feels like it has been forever and I’m incredibly excited to get back to the NBA grind. We didn’t have a cash article on the two game slate but this 13 gamer is perfect to get us started when it comes to building your bankroll over the 72 game season. We all enjoy playing the NFL but the NBA for me has created the largest runs in terms of profits night after night. Every single night you have an opportunity to grow your profits and put yourself into position to be successful over the long term. Especially for this Cash Game NBA Breakdown for 12.23! And don’t forget to check out our NBA Projection Model and Cheat Sheet to lock in the best of them!
Since this is a large slate one thing you’ll need to do is plant your flags on certain games. Unless you have a min priced lock play in a low scoring game you want to focus on the highest totals with lower spreads and build your core that way. Enough minutia though let’s get into my Cash Game NBA Breakdown for 12.23.
There are games I will focus my attention on in cash. By no means is this list comprehensive given the size of the slate so if you don’t see player on here that doesn’t mean that you should fade that player. These are just the spots that I have chosen to focus my attention on in my cash contests. Additionally, we want to build our NBA cash lines the same way that we do NFL cash lineups. Try to limit full game stacks and do not worry about high ownership. You can run multiple players from the same games but try to avoid “game stacks” or where the majority of your build revolves around one contest.
New Orleans Pelicans @ “Florida” Toronto Raptors: 229.5 Total/Raptors -5
Atlanta Hawks @ Chicago Bulls: 231.5 Total/Hawks -2
San Antonio Spurs @ Memphis Grizzlies: 231.5 Total/Grizzlies -2
Utah Jazz @ Portland Trail Blazers: 229 Total/Blazers -1
Dallas Mavericks @ Pheonix Suns: 237 Total/Suns -1
One thing you’ll notice these first couple of weeks is that I will largely avoid the deep analytics. I’ll be relying on totals, rotations, and potential value spots based on mispricing based on injuries and bias that I think we’ll see in favor of teams that played in the bubble (it seems to have affected DraftKings algorithm a bit as well).
Cash Game NBA Breakdown For 12.23: Studs (Above 8K)
Luka Doncic, Mavericks, PG, $10,000(DK):
This is a steep price tag for a season opener but one, it’s Luka. Two, he’s playing the Suns. Three, he’s in the highest total game of the night. Finally, he’s opening the season without Kristaps Porzingis on the court. Even at 10K he is underpriced. He would be 12k in this scenario if we were in the middle of the season.
Trae Young, Hawks, PG, $9,400(DK):
Another high usage stud player in a smash spot is Trae Young. He had a couple of hiccups due to injury last season but when he was healthy he was a monster from a point per minute standpoint and his usage rate was only rivaled by Luka, Giannis, and Santa…I mean James Harden (Sorry, I get the two fat bearded guys in red mixed up this time of year.) We have ourselves a pace up scenario, with an improved/healthy Bulls team with a low spread and a 231.5 point implied total making this a prime spot for Trae.
Cash Game NBA Breakdown For 12.23: Mid-Priced (Between 5-8K)
Zach Lavine, Bulls, SG, $7,900:
I can pretty much copy and paste much of what I said about Trae Young with Zach Lavine but I can say it with a $1,500 dollar discount. Bulls should be much improved being a year older and in much better health. I’ll be attacking this game from many different ways in my GPP builds. Levine regularly exceeded 50 DK points last season even with a variety of injuries slowing him down last year.
Donovan Mitchell, Jazz, PG/SG, $8,000(DK):
The entire Jazz team is underpriced. The pace of this game should be one of the highest on the night. Utah was 9th in pace last year and with Hassan no longer in Portland, they should have an increase from their already decent 16th fastest pace (pace quickened in the bubble but I don’t know if that will stand). Mitchell finished the season with a usage rate of over 30% and came out of the gate playing 34 minutes or more in five of the first six. He also took at least 21 shots in three of four. He’s not shy in any way in the early going. I’ll be a little lighter with him in cash due to his hot/cold nature shooting. If I choose to run two cash lines today, he’ll be in the second given his multiple 60+ DK point outings to finish up last year.
Cash Game NBA Breakdown For 12.23: Value
Hassan Whiteside, Kings, C, $3,800(DK):
Hassan has outplayed Richaun Holmes in every way in this preseason and looks motivated to prove he isn’t a bust after being dealt to the Kings. He finished one rebound shy of a double double in two contests in limited minutes during the preseason. If he gets the starting nod he’ll certainly be the highest owned value play of the evening. He’s had a reasonable amount of success over his career against Jokic averaging over 15 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks in 11 games. With pricing this disrespectful he only needs half of that to hit cash value on DK.
Lauri Markkanen, Bulls, PF, $4,800(DK):
One injury riddled season and the DFS sites have forgotten that Lauri was christened the Unicorn 2.0 upon entering last season. When healthy, Markkanen played over 30 minutes a game and finished with over 40 DK points in 6 of with first 11 games last season. He’s already playing over 25 minutes in preseason outings with no signs of injury slowing him down. I don’t need to go too in depth as we’ve already discussed the total and pace of this game. He should be a core value piece in your builds tonight.
Thanks for taking the time to look through my Win Daily Sports Draftkings Cash Game NBA Breakdown For 12.23. Looking forward to seeing some green screens this evening. Any questions about the breakdown, I will be available all day in the WinDaily Discord Chat. Don’t forget to subscribe to the WinDaily Youtube channel and follow @WinDailySports on Twitter to stay current and up to date on all of our fresh new content!
