Wake up, basketball fans. An unusual NBA Sunday tips off at noon Eastern with the wounded Pelicans visiting Madison Square Garden. Anthony Davis $10700 (hip) is doubtful, leaving Eric Gordon $6300, Ryan Anderson $6200 and Jrue Holiday $5000 as the only scoring threats.
Carmelo Anthony $8100 and the Knicks should dominate. Arron Afflalo $4400 has been sharp in his two starts since recovering from a hamstring injury and 7’ 3” rookie Kristaps Porzingis $5800 is the real deal. Even Jose Calderon $3400 is coming around after a horrible start.
DraftKings offers Early contests that span only the two matinees. At 3:30 in Minnesota, Ricky Rubio $7500 (hamstring) is questionable and backup Zach LaVine $4700 is inconsistent; Mike Conley $5900 is the top PG in a thin pool. The Grizzlies are off to a disappointing 4-6 start, but if Marc Gasol $6900 can neutralize Karl-Anthony Towns $7400, the T-Wolves will have trouble stopping Zach Randolph $6200.
That game also figures in Turbo contests that close at 3:30 and conclude with Portland in Charlotte at 5:00. Remember that Damian Lillard $8700 (thumb) is not 100%, making C.J. McCollum $6500 temporarily the #1 option. Nicolas Batum $6600, the Hornets’ best player, might find a bit extra against his former team and the poor FG% of Kemba Walker $6400 doesn’t hurt owners as much in DFS as in traditional formats.
Plays of the Day
The Early $30K Sharpshooter is just a $3 buy-in (FREE to new depositors at DK) that pays the top 2,302 finishers from up to 11,495 teams. First place wins $2,000. Enter before the noon ET deadline; you can make unlimited lineup changes until the 3:30 game begins.
The largest player pool is five games, closing at 5:00. That’s our focus in today’s sample lineup (left) and Short List. At 6:00, DK offers Turbo action spanning Utah at Atlanta — unlikely to be a shootout — and a highly-stackable game where choosing the maximum seven players from the Thunder and Celtics is not so easy.
Russell Westbrook $12200 had a monster triple-double (21 PTS, 17 REB, 11 AST, 3 STL) and deserves his astronomical salary for as long as Kevin Durant (hamstring) is out. Serge Ibaka $6700 and Enes Kanter $5400 match up well with Boston’s big men. Anthony Morrow $3000 got a bigger boost than Dion Waiters $4400 on Friday and remains ultra-cheap.
Isaiah Thomas $7000 is a mini-Russ in size, talent and price. Expect Jared Sullinger $5700 and Kelly Olynyk $3900 to get extra minutes if the visitors are trailing. Amir Johnson $4100 exploded last game (47 FPTS in 36 minutes) after playing for a week on a sore ankle. Jae Crowder $5300 is another possible bargain.
There’s a third Turbo pool at 7:00 that also features BOS @ OKC, and a sixth DFS start time is Late (9:00) covering the two west-coast tilts, which are full of possibilities.
The Raptors begin five road games in the next seven days as slight favorites in Sacramento. Kyle Lowry $8200 and Rajon Rondo $8500 are both playing extremely well; DeMar DeRozan $7100 will be a tough cover for the Kings. If a motivated DeMarcus Cousins $10200 gets Jonas Valanciunas $6000 in foul trouble, offensively-challenged Bismack Biyombo $3100 could rack up REB, BLK and the odd putback. Assuming Rudy Gay $6800 (illness) returns, Marco Belinelli $4400 loses a bit of value.
Andre Drummond $9700 averages closer to 20-20 than a mere double-double. Unless Roy Hibbert $4800 is up to that difficult assignment, Detroit should beat the 1-8 Lakers. It’s the sixth straight road game for the Pistons, who at least didn’t travel after a tough loss to the Clippers last night. Reggie Jackson $7600 and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope $5200 are better than the L.A. guards, Ersan Ilyasova $3800 and Marcus Morris $6500 stretch the floor while rookie Stanley Johnson $3400 is a talented sixth man.
It’s mathematically possible to use Westbrook, Cousins and Drummond, leaving $14900 to fill five spots. Picking two of the big three allows for a considerably better supporting cast.
The seven names in bold below are in most of my lineups; Ed Davis $4300 is “best available” in the Util spot with the remaining salary. I’m also considering Hibbert at C, which leaves just enough at Util for Johnson, Biyombo or the suddenly relevant Chris Kaman $3000.
| Pos | Premium | Midrange | Bargain |
| PG | Russell Westbrook $12200 | Isaiah Thomas $7000 | Cory Joseph $3800 |
| SG | DeMar DeRozan $7100 | K. Caldwell-Pope $5200 | Anthony Morrow $3000 |
| SF | Nicolas Batum $6600 | Jae Crowder $5300 | Stanley Johnson $3400 |
| PF | DeMarcus Cousins $10200 | Serge Ibaka $6700 | Amir Johnson $4100 |
| C | Andre Drummond $9700 | Enes Kanter $5400 | Kelly Olynyk $3900 |
The Fantasy Spin features DFS advice every day of the NBA season. Follow Kent Williams @SheridanFantasy for updates.