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This article aims to highlight some of the best NBA DFS Plays at every position for your cash game lineups. Keep in mind that the following player write-ups were constructed earlier in the day, and sometimes injury/rest situations can alter the fantasy landscape. Monitoring our NBA News & Headlines Feed throughout the day will keep you in the loop while giving you the subsequent DFS consequences of each information piece.
We’ll take a look at Thursday’s 3-game slate starting at 7:00 ET.
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POINT GUARD
Tyus Jones – Memphis (vs. LA Lakers) - DK: $6,000 / FD: $5,800 / Yahoo: $17
Tonight’s small slate features four teams who played last night, including the Grizzlies. I’m aiming to go with a high and mid-tier build tonight, avoiding any real bargain fliers in favor of more security. I’ve included a couple of minimum price dart throws in the “also considers”, more for tournament consideration. Jones’ salary has risen to the official mid-tier, but he continues to be productive in Ja Morant’s absence. His consistent assist numbers give him a high floor and most nights his scoring won’t be as bad as Wednesday was. The game has the highest over/under, and a narrow spread. LA plays at a faster pace than Memphis, which usually proves a benefit to opposing point guards. In addition, the Lakers are the best PG matchup on tonight’s slate, and fifth-best overall. On a night where there aren’t many defensive weaknesses, I’m eager to take advantage when I can.
Also Consider: Dejounte Murray, Tyus Jones, Monte Morris, Mike Conley, Bones Hyland
SHOOTING GUARD
Will Barton – Denver (at San Antonio) - DK: $6,800 / FD: $6,000 / Yahoo: $25
Barton has been one of the most steady, high-floor players for his salary this season. When on the court, he does a little bit (or a lot) of everything making it close to a double-double or triple-double a surprising amount. This is another game with a narrow spread (Nuggets minus-1.5) with the Spurs offering the big pace bump, good conditions for Denver to thrive. Barton was recently sick, but had an excellent outing Wednesday night. With only three games, it’ll be easy to catch any news of him resting on the back-to-back, but that isn’t his typical routine.
Also Consider: Donovan Mitchell, Desmond Bane, Jordan Clarkson
SMALL FORWARD
Doug McDermott – San Antonio (vs. Denver) - DK: $4,200 / FD: $4,500 / Yahoo: $10
The Spurs have listed Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson as doubtful tonight, which opens the door for players like Lonnie Walker, Keita Bates-Diop and McDermott to get some more opportunity. McDermott is arguably the safest of the bunch, playing about 25 MPG and scoring in double-digits in his last five games with a good 3-point percentage. His peripherals could be better, but that’s where the injuries might benefit his fantasy line the most. They’re all $10 on Yahoo, but Walker and Bates-Diop are significantly cheaper than McDermott on FanDuel and DraftKings, so you might slot one of them in with the hope of fitting another star player in tonight’s GPP lineups.
Also Consider: LeBron James, Dillon Brooks
POWER FORWARD
Anthony Davis – LA Lakers (at Memphis) - DK: $10,000 / FD: $10,000 / Yahoo: $46
Both LeBron James and Davis are officially questionable, but both should start and play as usual in tonight’s game with the Grizzlies. As noted above, this game has high pace and high point total going for it, but the Grizzlies actually rank 25th in defensive efficiency and sixth in overall fantasy points allowed. Their best positional DvP is to opposing bigs, but it’s a real toss-up between Davis and James for me tonight. James is cheaper on Yahoo by $3, Davis is cheaper by a couple hundred dollars at most on the other sites. Davis is a near lock for a double-double, making him and the bonus appealing on DraftKings. I’m guessing you can’t go wrong with one or both Lakers’ forwards tonight.
Also Consider: Jaren Jackson, Jr., Tobias Harris, Aaron Gordon
CENTER
Jakob Poeltl – San Antonio (vs. Denver) - DK: $11,800 / FD: $11,100 / Yahoo: $23
If you try to fit both Lakers’ forwards, you won’t be able to roster Jokic, who is the clear cut best center option tonight. I’m leery of Embiid resting on a back-to-back, plus it is no easy matchup with Gobert and the Jazz. You could consider Steven Adams, but he too is on a b2b against one of the best defenders in the league (see above). Poeltl is probably your best compromise play if you don’t spend up on Jokic, getting you in the 35-fantasy point range and allowing you to roster both Davis and James, plus someone in the Jaren Jackson range.
Also Consider: Nikola Jokic, Andre Drummond (if Joel Embiid rests), Rudy Gobert
ADDITIONAL NOTES
Jaren Jackson Jr. (PF – MEM) is another solid F option to fill tonight’s lineups. He feels surprisingly cheap ($6200 FD, $7000 DK, $28 Yahoo), especially on FanDuel, and is playing 28-32 minutes for the shorthanded Grizzlies. He’s coming off a great effort against Dallas last night, and that made three of his last five games worth 40-plus fantasy points. Desmond Bane is the guard version and someone I’ve been turning to a lot the past couple weeks.
