RADIO
It's Day Two of Preseason NBA DFS and we have a much smaller slate tonight with only four games. I hope you did well last night, and I was really happy to see most of my picks pay off yesterday. There were some big performances from Drummond, Jordan Poole, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker and definitely a few misses as I guessed wrong on minutes for Bledsoe and Ayton. Let's get back at it tonight and I think there are few nice situations we can target in these games.
This is my general disclaimer. Preseason rotations are never easy to figure out and there's a lot of guessing that goes on for these slates. If you can't stomach the variance, then just sit back and let the rest of us sweat these slates out. I do my best to find some of the best spots, but even I have fairly limited information to work with here so I'll just warn everyone beforehand that things can go a lot differently than we expect quite often.
I highly encourage you to follow me on Twitter and check out the list of beat writers that I follow to keep informed on the latest up-to-date information about each team and their plans for minutes and rotations. In this article, I will be providing you with my daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for DraftKings on 10/5/21. You can always find me in the RotoBaller Premium NBA Chat Room or @ThunderDanDFS on Twitter.
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Preseason NBA Overview
The first thing you need to know is that building lineups on FanDuel and DraftKings this preseason is going to be very different. FanDuel has decided to keep their prices the same (everyone is priced at 6,000) and therefore, you can build a lineup with any nine players you want as long as you roster two PG, SG, SF, PF, and one C. We can leverage that on FanDuel by rostering some lesser-known players since we should expect the well-known players to be more highly-rostered, especially amongst more casual players and fans. All prices listed in the article are DraftKings prices since the FD prices simply don't matter and you can play anyone you want.
DraftKings has priced guys as they would on a normal slate for the most part, but we do get discounts on superstars if we want to cram some into lineups. I like to use a balance of younger players with some veterans that we can project for solid minutes and, honestly, every slate is different to some degree. With only a few days of practice before the first preseason games, I would expect we don't see any big minutes for starters in the first few games with most teams easing their guys into action.
Preseason NBA DFS Injuries/Rest
Knowing who is playing on any NBA slate is half the battle. Getting injury info on preseason slates is a tad harder than in the regular season but here's what we know right now.
ALREADY RULED OUT:
Caris LeVert, T.J. Warren, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Donte DiVincenzo, Bobby Portis, Semi Ojeleye, Mitchell Robinson, Rokas Jokubaitis, Thomas Bryant, Edmond Sumner, Goga Bitadze, Coby White, Patrick Williams, John Wall, Dillon Brooks, Sam Merrill, Sean McDermott, Rodney Hood, Killian Tillie, Deni Avdija
DOUBTFUL/QUESTIONABLE:
Isaac Okoro, Jarrett Allen, Rui Hachimura,
SITUATIONS TO AVOID
I wouldn't say there is a specific game or team to totally avoid tonight. Of all the situations, I think there's the most certainty with Chicago based on the sound byte we have. Of all the uncertain spots, I think Memphis is the one I trust the least as they have been known to really spread out their minutes among all their young players - even in the regular season let alone the preseason. Cleveland also is a team that I could see playing a lot of their young guys about even minutes, so I am not as interested in them as some other teams.
NBA DFS Games to Target
Cleveland vs. Chicago
Not because of the total, but because we think we might get some decent minutes for Chicago's big four as their coach said he'd like them to get time together on the floor and preseason is already so short. I'm bigger on the Chicago side here than the Cleveland side.
Washington vs. Houston
This is a game that could go totally crazy if ends up kind of like a summer league game. It has that feel to it as both teams are rebuilding teams with mainly young guys who wanna run up and down the floor. Bradley Beal might be an avoid for me if he's going to be popular because he's one guy that they likely don't want to push big minutes, but the rest of the guys on both sides (and benches) are going to be in play here.
DraftKings DFS Top Plays
Let's go rapid fire here, I won't go into too much detail with each player because it's a big slate with a lot of viable options!
Billy Donovan on his approach for starters’ minutes for Tues exhibition opener vs. Cavs:”My feeling is to try to make sure those guys get a good run just because 4 preseason games is not a lot and it’s a new group. So them playing together a good portion of the game is important”
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) October 4, 2021
Zach LaVine - PG/SG ($9,500) and Nikola Vucevic - C ($9,100)
The quote from Donovan is all we really have to go off so far at this point in the morning and that's enough for me to elevate the Bulls' starters to the top of the list on a short slate. LaVine and Vuc will probably do most of the heavy lifting on offense, but Lonzo Ball is a stat stuffer even without scoring and DeMar DeRozan is probably going to find a way to get his. If we get 25 minutes out of that core of players in a good matchup against the Cavs, there's a good chance 2-3 of these guys put up some big scores.
Jrue Holiday - PG ($7,100)
With both Giannis and Middleton out, it's just Jrue and Brook Lopez in the starting lineup of the regulars and we know Jrue can ball out when he's the lead dog. Obviously, there is a risk here that he's pulled early but that risk exists with a lot of guys tonight unless we get some more concrete info from coaches later.
UPDATE: Jrue has now been ruled out, which makes some sense since Milwaukee is resting their other vets. That just means even more potential value on Milwaukee tonight (see value plays section).
Julius Randle - PF ($9,400) and RJ Barrett - SG ($8,500)
DK was wise to price up the Knicks because we know that Coach Thibs like to play his starters big minutes and both of these guys logged quite a few minutes last preseason, too. You could add Kemba Walker in here, but I don't think they'll push his minutes with his injury history. No Mitchell Robinson tonight can only mean good things for Randle's rebounding numbers.
Kevin Porter Jr. - SG ($5,600)
How can we not love KPJ here at this price and in an elite game environment and matchup? The dude went off the second half of last season and Houston is sitting John Wall tonight so expect KPJ to run this fast-paced Houston attack.
Spencer Dinwiddie - PG/SG ($6,600)
He's coming off a major injury which is the only thing that really gives me pause, but Dinwiddie is going to be given the keys to this offense that played super fast last year and has a chance to put up solid numbers this season if he's healthy. I'm intrigued here to see what he does with this team.
Christian Wood - PF/C ($8,900)
I've long been a fan of Wood as a fantasy producer and he's shown the ability to dominate in the NBA at times. I will definitely have some exposure to him in this game as he could really put on a show against a poor Washington defense.
Evan Mobley - C ($5,400) and Lauri Markkanen - PF ($5,900)
We have to see what's up with Jarrett Allen's status, but if he sits then you would figure a few more minutes for both Mobley and Markannen as Tacko Fall is never really going to play all that many minutes. Markkanen is back at the United Center where he's very comfortable playing after spending his first years in Chicago and Mobley was one of the top picks in the draft who could smash that price tag with his well-rounded game.
DraftKings DFS Value Plays
My favorite 5k or cheaper plays on DK, listed in the order of my preference (favorites first).
Thanasis Antetokounmpo - SF ($4,000)
Georgios Kalaitzakis - SF ($4,200)
Sandro Mamukelashvili - C ($5,400)
Jordan Nwora - SF ($4,100)
Pat Connaughton - SF ($4,300)
D.J. Augustin - PG - ($5,000)
Isaiah Hartenstein - C ($4,900)
Khyri Thomas - SG ($4,800)
