Daily fantasy sports is a challenging and enjoyable hobby — competing is fun, there’s satisfaction in breaking even, and of course winning is rewarding. Tonight it’s all about the money.
DraftKings features the $400K Main Event of the Micro Millions promotion, which costs $20 per team to enter, and a guaranteed $400,000 in cash prizes will be awarded to the top 4,625 finishers. Someone will be $100,000 richer, but I’ll be content with $20,000 for third or $2,000 for tenth place.
Plays of the Day
New to DK? They match your initial deposit 100% ($5 to $600) with bonus funds that convert to cash as you play, plus you get a FREE entry in another of the lucrative contests offered this evening, the $75K Mini Main Event — the top score earns $6,000 and 9,400 of 43,125 teams win cash prizes.
The Fantasy Basketball World Championship offers a million dollar first prize, to be awarded March 23. There are only 40 seats in the Final; finish first in a Qualifier to win a spot, including a 5-day VIP trip to Las Vegas (worth $55,000) plus a minimum of $7,000 in cash!
The most interesting of 12 games is in Atlanta, against the Cavaliers in a possible (likely?) East finals preview. Potential mismatches include the Lakers at Memphis, the Celtics in New Orleans, Detroit at Houston and the visiting Jazz against Philadelphia. You could add Denver at San Antonio but I’m actually bullish on the Nuggets to be competitive — and underpriced for a while — after the coaching change.
Closer calls see the Raptors in Charlotte, the Bulls visiting the Pacers, Miami at Washington and Dallas in a back-to-back against the Warriors. Hard to predict but potentially high-scoring? Sacramento at Orlando and Phoenix in Brooklyn.
The lineup-construction puzzle begins at the superstar level. You can afford two players with five-digit salaries if you surround them with six bargains. I’m going with Anthony Davis $10800 plus six midrange guys and just one in the under-$4000 range.
Josh Smith $6300 is both a hunch play against the team that waived him and a response to Terrence Jones $7000 (back) being questionable to play. Kenneth Faried $5800 is one of those let-out-of-jail Nuggets who is thriving lately.
Jonas Valanciunas $5500 was very effective last game (26 PTS, 11 REB, 2 BLK) and if the Raptors keep going to him, can keep up that pace. His teammate Lou Williams $5600 is always a scoring threat.
Dwyane Wade $7300 and Hassan Whiteside $8800 are both critical to the Heat, though it’s difficult to afford both alongside Davis. My longshot pick at PG is Tony Parker $4800, who is long overdue for a big night and determined to put the slump behind him. The matchup with Ty Lawson $7000 could be full of offensive fireworks.
As always, breaking news about injuries and real-life lineup shuffles can have a tremendous impact on fantasy values. I strongly suggest you enter the many big-money contests earl, before they fill, then make adjustments closer to the 7:00 ET deadline.
| Pos | Premium | Midrange | Bargain |
| PG | Stephen Curry $9500 | Jeff Teague $6400 | Tony Parker $4800 |
| SG | James Harden $10400 | Dwyane Wade $7300 | Lou Williams $5600 |
| SF | LeBron James $10500 | Josh Smith $6300 | Paul Pierce $4500 |
| PF | Anthony Davis $10800 | Kenneth Faried $5800 | Amir Johnson $3900 |
| C | Hassan Whiteside $8800 | Rudy Gobert $7200 | J. Valanciunas $5500 |
The Fantasy Spin features DFS advice every day of the NBA season. Follow Kent Williams @SheridanFantasy for updates.