NBA Sundays are slightly different, with afternoon games to consider. DraftKings offers Early (2 games) and All-Day (7 games) contests at 2:00 Eastern. I like the 5-game evening card at 6:00 best, then the action wraps up with 3-game Late pools at 7:00.
Russell Westbrook $10300 and Kevin Durant $9600 are at home to the defenseless Nuggets in the key matchup. OKC is an overwhelming 12-point favorite and the over/under is 211.5, but in DFS those are mere guidelines. We don’t care who wins or who covers — all that matters is individual production. If we root for anything, it’s overtime in games we targeted.
In the nightcap, Dallas visits the Lakers, who gave up 132 (in 48 minutes!) on Friday. The Mavs are far from healthy — Chandler Parsons $6500 (knee) might return on a minutes limit, Deron Williams $6000 (knee) is questionable and Wesley Matthews $4900 (Achilles) sat out Thursday’s back-to-back but should start. If Parsons does not go, Wes will play SF.
John Jenkins $3000 had a great camp and will be a superb value when he does start. However, JJ is behind Raymond Felton $3500 on the depth chart. Ray was at SG in the opener alongside D-Will and started at PG on Thursday, though he struggled against Chris Paul.
Plays of the Day
The Early $35K Sharpshooter is a $3 buy-in (FREE to new depositors at DK) that pays the top 2,750 finishers from up to 13,415 teams. First place wins $2,000. Enter before 2:00 Eastern. You can make lineup changes until the 3:30 game begins.
Maybe L.A. will bounce back and garbage time won’t begin at halftime. Jordan Clarkson $5300 and Roy Hibbert $5400 are solid at those prices and Kobe Bryant $6800 is a proud man. Toss out the poor effort from Julius Randle $5300, who got schooled by DeMarcus Cousins. This game is a good source of cheap players with upside — Charlie Villanueva $3000, J.J. Barea $3300 and Dwight Powell $3100 will all be in the rotation and Ryan Kelly $3200 is off to a decent start.
Houston at Miami is a tough call. James Harden $10000 is 3-for-22 from deep and shooting 25.6% overall through two games. Trevor Ariza $5600 has also been off-target. My guy Clint Capela $4000 is the safest Rocket for the money as the healthiest big man. The Heat are not young, but Chris Bosh $7300, Dwyane Wade $6800 and Luol Deng $4700 seem healthy for now.
The Raptors have done nothing wrong so far. A slimmed-down Kyle Lowry $7900, volume shooter DeMar DeRozan $7400 and two-way star DeMarre Carroll $5500 are leading the way, with Jonas Valanciunas $6200 still a situational guy who sits when opponents go small. Milwaukee is banged-up but Giannis Antetokounmpo $6100 keeps improving and Greg Monroe $7700 is off to a tremendous start.
Can the Magic repeat their latest on the road? Keep in mind that stats for Victor Oladipo $7400, Nikola Vucevic $7700 and Tobias Harris $6300 were inflated by overtime on Friday. Evan Fournier $3800 is great value as the starting SG. The Bulls are not expensive: Jimmy Butler $7700, Pau Gasol $7600 and Nikola Mirotic $6700 would all make my Short List if either Pau or Niko was C-eligible.
Certainly you could use KD and Russ in a stars-and-scrubs approach. My sample lineup goes for balance instead. Westbrook can attack Emanuel Mudiay $5800 all night; the rookie will only get better for the experience and will thrive against weaker teams.
Start with up to 50 Beginner contests if you haven’t played daily NBA at DraftKings before. See you on the leaderboard.
| Pos | Premium | Midrange | Bargain |
| PG | Russell Westbrook $10300 | Kyle Lowry $6800 | Raymond Felton $3500 |
| SG | Jimmy Butler $7700 | Dwyane Wade $6800 | Evan Fournier $38000 |
| SF | Kevin Durant $9600 | Tobias Harris $6300 | DeMarre Carroll $5500 |
| PF | Greg Monroe $7700 | Nikola Mirotic $6700 | Clint Capela $4000 |
| C | Nikola Vucevic $7700 | Jonas Valanciunas $6200 | Roy Hibbert $5400 |
The Fantasy Spin features DFS advice every day of the NBA season. Follow Kent Williams @SheridanFantasy for updates.