DFSGhost 
The story of tonight’s action in the NBA is the number of players that are sitting out for their respective teams. The Warriors and Trail Blazers will be awfully thin, while numerous players are already listed as questionable. While it is crucial to keep up with the news on any given NBA slate, tonight will be one like no other. It’s a Mojito Monday edition of the Gems – let’s ride.
One thing I want to clarify based on the questions I have received over the past few years is that I will never list a player under the $5,000 price tag simply because I use the projection model to identify all targets in this range and below. While there are often plenty of options that I like at $5,000 and less, since I often find myself with not only one – but multiple – in my NBA DFS lineups, you all have access to the very model I use to make my own selections, so when asking yourself: “Should I use player X or player Y?”, make sure to check the model because that is how I make all of my own decisions and I truly ride or die by it on a daily basis.
Before running to the DraftKings, FanDuel, or Yahoo lobby to construct your NBA DFS lineup after reading this article, please make sure to utilize the abundance of tools we have at Win Daily:
Chicago Bulls @ Philadelphia 76ers (-7)
With the number of value plays available to us on this NBA slate, we’ll have the luxury of fitting any stud we want. Despite both Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic being elite options, there is no more competitive game environment on the slate than a tilt between two Eastern Conference heavyweights.
Hop on the James Harden train tonight because when it leaves the station, you’ll want to be onboard. Suffering a serious blow to their perimeter defense in the absence of Lonzo Ball, the Bulls will throw a combination of Zach Lavine and Ayo Dosunmu against the most prolific offensive player of this generation and, well, it’s not great, Bob. Respectively, Lavine and Dosunmu rank 15th and 23rd in the NBA in net individual defensive ratings this season amongst qualified players, whereby they both rank inside the bottom-10 amongst qualified starters. Harden, who has posted a 26.8/7.5/12 scoring line on 59.2% shooting since joining Philadelphia will contend for leading the slate in scoring.
On the Bulls side of the ball, we have a decision to make between Zach Lavine and DeMar DeRozan, if feeling the need for a run back option. At the time of writing, I prefer Lavine since a matchup versus James Harden and Tyrese Maxey is simply much better than DeRozan’s matchup versus Tobias Harris. Lavine, who has now scored 20 or more points in his last five games, is sporting a 28.2% usage rate in that span, where he has posted a 24.4/4.8/5.2 scoring line on 48.9% shooting. While DeRozan will likely score more raw points and fantasy points, the point/$ upside of Lavine on this NBA slate is hard to pass up.
LA Lakers @ San Antonio Spurs (-2)
While I am not expected a duplicate performance of his last versus the Warriors, LeBron James will 19 games left in this NBA season to salvage what’s left of it. Whether he plays the ‘5’, point, or just goes beast mode, LeBron has the advantage over everyone on the court tonight, where he sports a 33.9% usage rate with Anthony Davis out this season and has averaged 32.6/9/5.5 on 53.3% shooting.
If you’re going to this game for studs rather than the Chicago/Philadelphia game, there is no other option than to pair LeBron with Dejounte Murray, who is currently listed as questionable (calf). Should he be cleared for tonight’s tilt, it’s all systems go on the most underrated point guard in the NBA, whereby Murray gets a matchup versus a Lakers team that ranks 25th in scoring to opposing primary ball handlers, last in rebounding to opposing primary ball handlers, and last in assists to opposing primary ball handlers. All. Systems. Go.
NBA teams to target for value:
- Golden State Warriors (Curry, Thompson, Wiggins, Green, Payton, Iguodala OUT)
- Portland Trail Blazers (Bledsoe, Lillard, Nurkic, Winslow, Simons, Little, Ingles OUT)
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