RADIO
Today is the last official day of NBA games before the All-Star Break. With only two games scheduled, I won't be playing. I recommend you don't play as well. However, if you're really jones-ing for some NBA action before the break, and you want to play this tiny slate, I'll provide a few thoughts on each team.
In this article, I will be providing you with my daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for DraftKings on 2/15/18. With just two games on Thursday night, I'll break them down in a general, team-by-team fashion.
As always, feel free to hit me up on Twitter @BellRoto. Have a relaxing NBA All-Star Break everyone!
Denver Nuggets at Milwaukee Bucks
The Denver Nuggets are currently implied to score about 105 points, which is average for them. The matchup sets up well for the bigs rather than the guards, as the Bucks have been stingy against ball-handlers the past few seasons. The two players I might target for Denver are Nikola Jokic and Gary Harris. Big men have had dominant outings against Milwaukee at times, and Jokic has more upside than anyone on this slate. Active shooting guards have also had success against Tony Snell and company, so I like his chances to hit value as well. If you want a cheap play, you can go with Wilson Chandler and hope that this recent resurgence is for real.
Milwaukee gets a nice pace up game, as they are implied to score about 108 points. I don't see anyone on Denver that should be able to contain Giannis Antetokounmpo. He's the highest priced player on the slate, and the raw points should be there. The only other Buck that I'll mention is Eric Bledsoe. Point guards have excelled against Denver all season, and Bledsoe has been on a tear lately. I'm fine with him on Thursday night.
Los Angeles Lakers at Minnesota Timberwolves
The Lakers are a little more predictable now with Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance out of the picture. The players that I would be interested in targeting in this spot are Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Julius Randle, and Brook Lopez. The first three are the building blocks for the future, so they'll get minutes and have been producing well with increased usage. As for Lopez, I think his size will be needed to matchup with the T Wolves, and he can step out and hit jumpers in Karl-Anthony Towns' eyes. That's probably as far as I'll go for Lakers players on Thursday.
The Timberwolves are implied to score a slate-high 111 points. That bodes really well for the entire starting lineup, but my two favorites are Karl-Anthony Towns and Jeff Teague. Andrew Wiggins seems to have really taken a usage hit with everyone healthy, and Jimmy Butler is simply too expensive most nights. I'll go with the other two in what should be great spots for their respective positions. Taj Gibson could hit value, but he would have to be super efficient in his limited offensive role to do so.
