There are nine games on tonight’s NBA DFS slate, so there is a lot for us to talk about going into this one. This slate has less obvious value then you would expect for a slate this size, but there are still some great plays if you know where to look. The first thing we must mention with a nine gamer is that it is very likely we get some massive news in the hours before lock. With that said, we have a great core of players that we are building around as of now. Our core includes guys from different at different price points, who either stand our for value or raw FPTS. In our premium plays tonight, we will give you a few directions to take your lineup with some studs at different price points. At first glance a lot of guys seem pretty expensive tonight, so we are also focused on talking about some guys who are too cheap.
Here’s a balanced core For DFS Basketball 11/1/21 (using DraftKings Values)
Point Guard | D. Schroder | $5,600 | |
Shooting Guard | S. Milton | $3,600 | |
Small Forward | |||
Power Forward | |||
Center | N. Jokic | $11,000 | |
Guard | S. Gilgeous-Alexander | $7,800 | |
Forward | |||
Utility |
The wild contract situation for Dennis Schroder this offseason led to the Boston Celtics getting the point guard the desperately needed. Schroder has had a nice season for the Celtics last season, and it is not surprising that he has seen a ton of floor time for them. Schroder has played well over 30 minutes in each of his past four outings, and he has scored 30 or more FPTS in every game in that span. Schroder has only gone under 30 FPTS once this season, in a blowout loss against Toronto. Schroder looks good here at $5,600, as he has massive upside as the primary point guard for this team. We like getting to a more balanced lineup for tonight, so we can get to some of high value midrange options like Schroder.
The guy who is really standing out to us right now for value is Shake Milton. There is a lot to like about Milton tonight. Firstly, his $3,600 price tag allows for us to get to a lot of the other high upside options we like. Although there are nine games tonight, we don’t have a ton of great plays under $4,000 so Milton really works well. Milton was dealing with injuries to start the season, so the last two games were his first of the year. He played 16 minutes his first game back and 19 minutes last game. We saw Milton playing around 23 minutes a night last year when Ben Simmons was active for the Sixers. We expect Milton playing closer to 30 minutes once his injury fully clears up, so the price tag will just rise form here. Milton has scored over 20 FPTS in both of his games despite the limited minutes, so the value he offers at this price is fantastic. We expect his floor time to rise closer to 25 minutes for tonight, which would make him a smash play at this price.
The number one superstar we are looking to roster for tonight’s slate is going to be Nikola Jokic, who stands out above the rest of the spend up options here. Without some of our other favorite superstar options playing tonight, Jokic gives us a much better floor then anyone else available. Jokic is $11,000 here, but we feel a lot better about paying that for him then some of the other guys in that price range. Jokic has been averaging over 55 FPTS per game so far this year, which is no surprise as he averaged nearly 60 FPTS per game last season. With a solid matchup against the Grizzlies, Jokic is the guy we are building around for Cash games.
We mentioned in the introduction that a lot of the guys on this slate seem a little too expensive here, this is noticeable in the $8,000-10,000 studs. However, one price tag really stands out in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at $7,800. SGA had his minutes limited by a blowout loss against the Golden State Warriors in the Thunder’s last game. However, he still took on a huge offensive role and went for just under 30 FPTS. Gilgeous-Alexander has looked great in the past four and we really like him here at this price point.
Here’s a balanced core For DFS Basketball 11/1/21 (using FanDuel Values)
Point Guard | S. Gilgeous-Alexander | $7,200 | |
Point Guard | S. Milton | $4,500 | |
Shooting Guard | F. VanVleet | $8,000 | |
Shooting Guard | |||
Small Forward | |||
Small Forward | |||
Power Forward | |||
Power Forward | |||
Center | N. Jokic | $11,200 |
Now what do you get if you sign up now for $99?
• Priorities at every position
• Some general strategy for the night
• A few spend up options who bring great tournament upside
• Some potential news we are keeping an eye on
Point Guard
T.J. McConnell – PG ($4,800 DK) Malcolm Brogdon is currently listed as questionable for tonight from Indiana, and we have no interest in McConnell if Brogdon ends up playing. However, if Brogdon remains out we like getting to McConnell at this price, even though he has not been great in the last two. McConnell has been a bit disappointing in two the games Indiana played without Brogdon; however his role has been fantastic. He has played well over 30 minutes both games and dominated the ball in one of the games. If we are going to get that kind of floor time from McConnell again tonight, he looks nice here for value.
Shooting Guard
Gary Trent Jr. – ($4,800 DK) Trent only played 23 minutes last time out on the second half of a back to back, but he has been playing a massive role outside of that. Trent played well over 30 minutes five games in a row before last game, and he always gets a lot of shots up for the Raptors. Trent has some solid upside, as he can go for big games if he his shooting well from three, If Trent continues to start for Toronto tonight, we really like him at any price under $5,000. With the news that Scottie Barnes is doubtful, we really like Trent for value as he should be in for a lot of floor time here.
Desmond Bane – (5,300 DK) Bane has been fantastic early in his sophomore campaign, and what is most impressive has been his consistency. Where he is priced tonight, Bane has given us good value every game this season. He has scored over 32 FPTS in four of six games this season, with 26 and 29 FPTS in the other two. Bane feels like a great midrange value for Cash here, as he has been on a great streak of solid games.
Svi Mykhailiuk – ($3,600 Dk) Mykhailiuk is not a guy we get to every day for DFS, as he usually is deep down a teams bench. However, there is a nice opportunity for him to step up tonight for the Raptors. Toronto already has a gutted roster with Pascal Siakam out to start the season, and tonight they will be missing about 40 minutes from Barnes. Mykhailiuk could start here, but we probably see him come off the bench. Regardless, he is one of the raptors only forwards tonight and he could be in for closer to 30 minutes. We saw him score 24.5 FPTS in over 21 minutes last time out, so we are interested to see what he can do tonight.
OG Anunoby – (7,400 DK) Anunoby has taken a lot of field goal attempts so far this year for the Raptors out of necessity. He has shown great upside with a few games around 45 FPTS, and he has a solid floor from peripheral stats. The Raptors are likely to be without another high usage guy tonight in Barnes, so we would not be surprised to see Anunoby take on a crazy load. He has great upside here, and we really think this guy is $8,000 by the end of the year.
Joel Embiid – ($10,200 DK) Embiid has been dealing with some lingering injury issues so far this season, which has made his DFS production quite inconsistent. We like getting to Jokic more here as he looks a lot safer, especially in Cash games. However, we also do like getting to Embiid in tournaments here, Embiid has a lot more upside than some studs who are more expensive then he is tonight. If Embiid can play a lot of minutes against Portland here, he could be a winning play.
General strategy
When we have a slate with this many teams taking the court, it is common that we get a lot of injury news as the day progresses. It is likely that we get some more big names ruled out tonight, which could always open up more value that out priorities the guys we are currently looking at. It is really important that you keep an eye on the news leading up to lock and check the starting lineups once they are announced. We feel good about Jokic for Cash games tonight, and we want to match him with Milton and some Toronto value. If Barnes does end up out tonight, there is a huge gap in the rotation for the Raptors that we do not really know what they will do with. There is a ton of opportunity for cheap guys like Mykhailiuk and Goran Dragic to see a ton of floor time and put out a good performance here. Good luck tonight, and make sure to watch for what other news breaks.
Go win your lineup and tell us how you did. Twitter (@FantasyDFSX) is a good place for that.