We have an eight game NBA DFS slate to breakdown for tonight, as injury news is giving us a ton of value to work with. The first thing we must talk about for this one is Deandre Ayton and Michael Porter JR. who have both already been ruled out for there respective teams. The Suns and Nuggets are giving us a lot of opportunity tonight with Ayton and Porter out, and we have a few priorities we will get to. We will star out with two core picks for the day, including the value play from the Suns who everyone is looking at today. We will also talk about one star that we are going to be fading for this one. In our premium content, we will get to all our priorities from the Nuggets and Suns, as well as our favorite stars on the slate. We will also give our whole strategy for handling the slate and preparing for potential injuries.
Here’s Two Core Plays For DFS Basketball 11/8/21 (using DraftKings Values)
| Point Guard | |||
| Shooting Guard | W. Barton | $5,500 | |
| Small Forward | |||
| Power Forward | |||
| Center | |||
| Guard | F. Kaminsky | $4,300 | |
| Forward | |||
| Utility |
We mentioned that we are all over the Suns and Nuggets here, and it starts with our core plays. Will Barton is always an underrated fantasy producer, as he is averaging 31.4 FPTS on the season so far. With the news that Porter is going to be out tonight for Denver, Barton should be in for a nice boost in this spot. Porter left seven minutes into the last game, and we saw Barton play a whopping 36.5 minutes. Barton saw one of his highest usage games of the season as well, as he put up 19 shot attempts. Barton ended up going for 36.75 FPTS last time out, which is what we are looking for tonight with his $5,500 price tag. Barton is too cheap for how good he has been this season, let alone the increased role he see’s when porter is off the floor.
We expect everyone to be playing Frank Kaminsky tonight, and that includes us. Kaminsky has only played in three games this year, but the Suns have had to play him major minutes in the games without Ayton. Given that we already know Ayton is going to remain out for tonight, Kaminsky stands out as the best value play on the slate at $4,300. Kaminsky played 29 and 28 minutes in the two games without Ayton, in which he scored 32 and 35.25 FPTS respectively. Kaminsky is a solid per minute FPT producer, and it seems very likely he continues to see big minutes tonight.
Here’s a Fade DFS Basketball 11/7/21 (using DraftKings Values)
People always love to chase a big game in DFS, as some might try and do tonight with Kyle Lowry. Lowry went off for a triple double last time out, leading to 57.5 FPTS. Lowry does have big upside, but we are not interested in rostering him in this one on DraftKings. We were not looking at Lowry at his price before, and that price has risen to $7,900 for this one. With all the stars we really like on this slate, we have no interest in going to guys we think are too expensive. If you are playing FanDuel however, it is a completely different story. Lowry is only $6,200 on FD, so he is just too cheap. He is priced for his floor performances, and he is a FanDuel priority for us.
Now what do you get if you sign up now for $99?
• Priorities at every position
• Some general strategy for the night, with potential injury news
• A few guys who we expect to see massive boosts tonight from Pheonix and Denver
• Two superstars who have the upside to be must plays for tonight
Point Guard
Russell Westbrook – PG ($10,400 DK) Westbrook was a massive disappointment last time out, in a situation that we expect him to the DFS holy grail. We know that LeBron James remains out, as he has missed the last few games for the Lakers. Last game, we also had Anthony Davis leave the court early dealing with stomach sickness. Davis only played seven minutes last game, so Westbrook was the only star for most of the game. Westbrook shot seven percent from the field last time out, as he hit one of thirteen attempts. He ended up going for 29.8 FPTS in a performance that felt like it was his absolute floor. We expect this performance to push a lot of people away from Westbrook, and for his ownership to be way lower than it should be tonight. Westbrook is still a top DFS producer in the NBA, and we are happy with any opportunity to play him when James is off the floor.
Shooting Guard
PJ Dozier – ($3,300 DK) We love Dozier in this spot with Porter out for the Denver Nuggets. Dozier is going to be our priority for super cheap value tonight, as we expect him to receive a lot of Porters minutes. Dozier saw 23 minutes with Porter getting hurt last game, which is about five minutes more then his per game average this season. Dozier went for 22.5 FPTS last game, and we expect him to be able to pass 20 FPTS again tonight. At this price, we really don’t need much from Dozier for him to fit in our stars and scrubs lineup.
Desmond Bane – ($4,700 DK) Bane has taken a nice step up early in his sophomore NBA season, as he is averaging 27.3 FPTS per game on the season so far. Bane looks good at first glance considering how cheap he is and how productive he has been this year, and then the easy matchup against Minnesota makes this one even more enticing. Bane has been a great producer this year, and people will be turned off by the lack of minutes he played last game. However, there last game was a 30 point blowout loss. We do not expect to see anything like that tonight, so we expect around 30 minutes from Bane.
Anthony Davis – ($10,200 DK) Davis has been questionable or probable lately with a slew small injuries, and last slate we saw him leave the game with a stomach illness. Davis is questionable again with a finger injury tonight, so we just have to wait on the news at this point. If Davis is in tonight he is a priority spend up for us, as he looks fantastic without James. Davis runs a lot more of the offence when James is off the floor, as he showed two games ago with 65 FPTS. If Davis gets ruled out, Westbrook becomes a lock for us. We also really like getting to the Lakers big men and whoever starts for the Lakers will look solid.
Nikola Jokic – ($11,000 DK) We have a lot of studs to choose from tonight, but Jokic is a guy who cannot be ignored. With Porter out, Jokic is the only guy on the Nuggets we really expect to take a ton of usage. Denver is going to need him to do everything if they want to pull out a win tonight, and we know Jokic can stuff the stat sheet like no other. The Heat are a tough matchup here, but Jokic will have to keep trying to get his. He is also a player who even Miami may struggle to slow down due to his dominance inside.
General strategy
The biggest challenge we must deal with on this slate so far is compromising on which stars we are not playing. A lot of the top end options look good today, but there is no way we can fit all of them. We are eagerly waiting on news for Davis, as he is probably our favorite stud For cash tonight if he plays. If Davis is out, Westbrook will be our first guy in for any type of contest. We also really like using Jokic for Cash games, as he has a great floor. If you are playing multiple lineups for tournaments tonight, this is a slate to try a few different players. A lot of guys have the room to go off here, so it is great if you can get exposure to all of them across a couple lineups. Make sure to keep an eye on the news here, as anything can happen with eight games.
Go win your lineup and tell us how you did. Twitter (@FantasyDFSX) is a good place for that.
