It's another large NBA slate with an equally large graveyard of injuries to run through. Let's find the players who benefit the most from these absences and apply that to our DFS/prop betting strategy!

Written By: Ryan Humphries on Twitter & LineStar chat @Ryan_Humphries

DFS Main Slate Rundown 📰

Time to dive into another loaded NBA Wednesday with 10 games on the menu. We’re not even a month into the season, but it feels like mid/late-season NBA with all of these injuries piling up. Today will be no different so, while it does bring forth additional work, be sure to take into account all of these significant injuries and how they will impact minutes/usage for relevant players! Some of the biggest names that won’t be taking the court tonight include Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, Zion Williamson, Paolo Banchero, Bam Adebayo, and Tyler Herro. A few other big-time names with "questionable" tags could be added to that list closer to lock!

Today’s Key Injuries:

Pacers: T. Haliburton - Questionable, C. Duarte - OUT

Hornets: G. Hayward - OUT, D. Smith Jr. - Questionable (trending towards doubtful)

Magic: P. Banchero - OUT, W. Carter Jr. - Questionable (did not participate in Wednesday shootaround), C. Anthony - OUT

Thunder: T. Mann - OUT, D. Bazley - OUT

Wizards: D. Wright - OUT

Heat: B. Adebayo - OUT, T. Herro - OUT, D. Dedmon - Questionable

Raptors: P. Siakam - OUT, F. VanVleet - Questionable, G. Trent Jr. - Questionable, P. Achiuwa - OUT, O. Porter Jr. - OUT

Celtics: M. Smart - OUT, M. Brogdon - OUT

Bulls: C. White - Questionable

Pelicans: Z. Williamson - OUT

Cavaliers: D. Mitchell - Questionable, J. Allen - OUT, D. Wade - Doubtful

Bucks: J. Holiday - Questionable, G. Allen - Doubtful, P. Connaughton - Questionable (could make season debut), W. Matthews - OUT

Rockets: J. Tate - OUT, B. Fernando - Questionable

Mavericks: L. Doncic - OUT, J. McGee - OUT, M. Kleber - OUT, D. Bertans - Questionable (could make season debut)

Knicks: M. Robinson - Questionable

Nuggets: N. Jokic - OUT, A. Gordon - Questionable, B. Hyland - Doubtful

Suns: C. Paul - Questionable, C. Johnson - OUT, L. Shamet - OUT

Main Slate Match-Ups w/ Game Totals & Point Spreads

Note: NBA position designations are never going to perfectly align between the major DFS sites. For the purposes of these newsletters, positional designations will default to DraftKings.

💫 = Favorite Play

Point Guards/Shooting Guards to Consider 🏀

PG LaMelo Ball, CHA | DK: $8.9k, FD: $8.3k | vs. IND | GPP Preferred

We’ll lead off the highlighted players with a somewhat risky option. After dealing with an ankle injury to begin the season, LaMelo Ball is making his third start of the 2022-23 campaign tonight and his first start in front of his home crowd. He played 34 minutes in just his second game back, which was two days ago, so it already seems as if he’s facing little to no restrictions. He has already contributed 15 assists while commanding a 30.2% USG% in those two games. He has already put up an absurd 24 three-point attempts. Ball is still shaking some rust off and has only connected on 20.8% of those 3PA. However, he shot 38.9% from deep last season so the shots will eventually begin to fall. It’s a great match-up with a fast-paced Indiana team (3rd in pace) that ranks 25th in defensive efficiency and has allowed 34.6% of opponent points come from three-point range (9th highest).

💫SG Spencer Dinwiddie, DAL | DK: $7.1k, FD: $6.8k | vs. HOU | Cash & GPP

Luka Doncic (rest) is set to miss his first game of the season, and he leaves behind a massive 38.8% USG% that must be distributed elsewhere. That leaves Dinwiddie as the most likely candidate to work as the top scoring option tonight and he’s also going to pick up some more point guard duties which leads to higher assist upside. He’ll no doubt be a popular option on this slate but it is a terrific match-up against a Rockets squad that ranks 29th in defensive efficiency and 10th in pace.

💫PG Jamal Murray, DEN | DK: $6.5k, FD: $6.4k | vs. NYK | Cash & GPP

Thanks to the absence of Nikola Jokic in the Nuggets lineup tonight, Jamal Murray will be another “chalky-but-tough-to-fade” guard option. Without Jokic on the floor, Murray’s usage has skyrocketed +10.1% to a 36.7% USG%. For some comparison, Jayson Tatum has a 32.1% USG%, and Trae Young owns a 35.0% USG%. We’ll have to see how that pans out over the course of a full game (Jokic has yet to miss a game this season), but we could definitely see Jamal Murray chuck up 25+ shots in this game. The Knicks have also represented a plus match-up this season -- they rank 9th in pace and 22nd in defensive efficiency.

Other Guards to Consider:

💫PG Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC | DK: $9.4k, FD: $10.4k | @ WAS | Cash & GPP

SG Zach LaVine, CHI | DK: $7.4k, FD: $7.4k | @ NOP | Cash & GPP

PG Kyle Lowry, MIA | DK: $6.8k, FD: $6.7k | @ TOR | GPP Preferred

PG D’Angelo Russell, MIN | DK: $6.2k, FD: $6.4k | @ ORL | GPP Preferred

💫PG/SF Bruce Brown, DEN | DK; $5.1k, FD: $5.1k | vs. NYK | Cash & GPP

PG/SG Derrick White, BOS | DK: $4.9k, FD: $5k | @ ATL | Cash & GPP

SG/SF Tim Hardaway Jr., DAL | DK: $4k, FD: $4.5k | vs. HOU | GPP Preferred

PG Goran Dragic, CHI | DK: $3.8k, FD: $3.8k | @ NOP | GPP Preferred

Small Forwards/Power Forwards to Consider 🏀

💫PF Jimmy Butler, MIA | DK: $9k, FD: $9.4k | @ TOR | Cash & GPP

This Heat/Raptors game does not carry a super sexy total (215.5 O/U), nor a fast projected pace (MIA: 26th in pace, TOR: 22nd in pace), and both previous match-ups between these two teams this season have led to fairly low-scoring atmospheres. But with Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo both out tonight, Jimmy Butler is going to see a major workload increase. He has only seen a slight +0.26% usage bump in 80 minutes played with both Herro and Adebayo off the court this season. However, thanks to a major boost to his assist and rebound numbers, he has averaged an additional +17.94 FP (per 48 min) with those guys off the court. You get a fairly strong 35-ish fantasy point floor on a nightly basis with Jimmy Buckets, but he’s a legit triple-double candidate tonight.

💫SF Michael Porter Jr., DEN | DK: $5.9k, FD: $6.2k | vs. NYK | Cash & GPP

MPJ’s usage hasn’t seen a massive uptick with Jokic off the floor, but what we’re really hoping for here is a minutes bump. Porter has averaged 1.07 DKFPPM but he has played 30 minutes or fewer in 9-of-12 games this season. In Denver’s last game on Sunday, Porter put up a 42.25 DKFP/41.2 FDFP performance, despite playing only 24 minutes. As mentioned above with J. Murray, this is a strong match-up against the Rockets who rank 29th in defensive efficiency and 10th in pace. So, if we can get a game where MPJ plays around 35 minutes, it’s quite easy to see how he could return 6x value or better at these DFS salaries.

PF/C Larry Nance Jr., NOP | DK: $4.2k, FD: $4.9k | vs. CHI | GPP Preferred

As we saw last night, Nance can benefit from extra minutes when Jonas Valanciunas gets into some foul trouble, but the absence of Zion Williamson from the lineup tonight could lead to some extra run for Nance at the four as well. Nance tied a season-high with 31 minutes last night and contributed 19 points, seven rebounds, two assists, and two blocks -- good for 35.25 DKFP/36.4 FDFP. He is not the most consistent fantasy performer when he’s on the floor, but when he picks up steam, he can really pour in the points, boards, and blocks. The potential opportunity for 25-30 minutes tonight makes Nance a highly intriguing GPP play at under $5k on both sites.

Other Forwards to Consider:

PF/C Giannis Antetokounmpo, MIL | DK: $12.6k, FD: $11.8k | vs. CLE | GPP Preferred

💫SF/PF Jayson Tatum, BOS | DK: $10.9k, FD: $10.6k | @ ATL | Cash & GPP

SF/SG Buddy Hield, IND | DK: $6.8k, FD: $7.1k | @ CHA | GPP Preferred

SF Trey Murphy III, NOP | DK: $4.4k, FD: $4.8k | vs. CHI | GPP Preferred

💫SF/PF Patrick Williams, CHI | DK: $4.3k, FD: $4k | @ NOP | Cash & GPP

SF/SG Jalen Williams, OKC | DK: $3.9k, FD: $4.7k | @ WAS | GPP Preferred

SF/SG Cam Reddish, NYK | DK: $3.6k, FD: $3.5k | @ DEN | GPP Preferred

Centers to Consider 🏀

💫C Myles Turner, IND | DK: $6.8k, FD: $7.1k | @ CHA | Cash & GPP

Turner has averaged an impressive 1.37 DKFPPM this season and he is perhaps the best shot blocker in the league, averaging 3.1 BLK/gm. He draws an absolute smash match-up against the Hornets who have been getting destroyed by opposing centers. Charlotte is also allowing 6.8 blocked shots per game, which is the 2nd highest opponent BPG allowed in the NBA. Turner’s DFS salaries are on the rise and he’s not always a safe bet to play 30+ minutes. However, given his elite production when he is on the court, there is still some meat left of the bone here.

C DeAndre Jordan, DEN | DK: $3.3k, FD: $4k | vs. NYK | Cash & GPP

I see there is plenty of turmoil in the DeAndre Jordan player comments on LineStar. That is to be expected. Jordan is well past his prime and has looked completely lost on the court at times this season. However, if he’s going to pick up 20-ish minutes tonight, he’s going to be difficult to completely ignore. Jordan is still averaging 1.02 DKFPPM, and in the lone game where he played over 20 minutes this season (21 min. on 10/28), he put up 12 points and corralled 13 rebounds. If you want to fade his high ownership in tournaments, that is completely understandable. But, even this current version of DeAndre Jordan should be able to return 5x to 6x value fairly easily (assuming the minutes are there).

Other Centers to Consider:

💫PF/C Karl Anthony-Towns, MIN | DK: $9.1k, FD: $9k | @ ORL | Cash & GPP

C Clint Capela, ATL | DK: $6.4k, FD: $6.2k | vs. BOS | GPP Preferred

C Deandre Ayton, PHX | DK: $6.1k, FD: $6.8k | vs. GSW | GPP Preferred

PF/C Kevin Love, CLE | DK: $5.6k, FD: $4.9k | @ MIL | GPP Preferred

PF/C Jeff Green, DEN | DK: $3.5k, FD: $3.5k | vs. NYK | GPP Preferred

NBA Player Props 📊

Player Prop or Bet | Odds | Unit Bet Size

Jimmy Butler OVER 13.5 Rebounds + Assists | -120 (PointsBet) | 2.25 Units

Butler already owns some great peripheral stats and has averaged 15.6 Rebounds + Assists over his last five games. Now he’ll play without Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro for the first time this season (Herro has missed the last four games, but this is Adebayo’s first absence). With those two guys off of the court, Butler has averaged an additional +5.25 rebounds and +4.73 assists per 48 minutes. A lot of responsibility rests on Butler’s shoulders tonight so I believe he can blow by this 13.5 REB+AST total fairly easily.

Spencer Dinwiddie OVER 6.5 Assists | -150 (DraftKings) | 2.75 Units

We’ll continue to try to take advantage of some of the notable injuries tonight. The current prop odds are clearly factoring in Luka’s absence from this game so it’s not like we’re pulling a fast one on the sportsbooks. But it is worth noting that Dinwiddie has averaged 5.6 assists per game over his last five starts despite Luka sharing the floor with him for most of those games and dishing out 6.6 APG of his own. Without Luka, Dinwiddie will need to pick up a primary point guard role on many more possessions throughout the game. The Rockets have allowed 26.8 assists/gm this season (6th most) and rank 29th in defensive efficiency. Dinwiddie over 6.5 assists, let’s do it!

PrizePicks Two-Pick Power Play ⚡

Here is a two-pick “Power Play” I’m liking for today's NBA action over on PrizePicks! Nothing is ever a guarantee to hit but I put my own money on these bets so I don't just lightly throw these out there without believing they'll cash! If it hits, it will return 3x the wager.

Jimmy Butler MORE than 6.0 Assists

Spencer Dinwiddie MORE than 30.5 PTS + ASTS

🆕 Props Edge+ 🆕

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That will wrap us up with today’s “Daily Dribble” edition! Once again, you can find me on Twitter or in LineStar chat @Ryan_Humphries. Good luck everyone!