Only six teams take the court tonight and all of the action is cornered off in the West Coast!

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

DFS Main Slate Rundown 📰

It’s an odd slate set up today, with all three games tipping off in the 10:00 pm ET window. It’s a very friendly setup for our West Coast folks, no doubt! There is some injury news that may not be clarified until later this evening. On such a small slate, one key injury downgrade can make a major difference. Be sure to stay flexible with your lineups all the way up to lock! Since this NBA newsletter is coming out later than usual, we’ll keep things short and sweet. Good luck tonight!

Today’s Key Injury News:

Spurs: K. Johnson - Questionable, Z. Collins - OUT, D. McDermott - Questionable

Kings: K. Murray - Doubtful

Nets: K. Irving - OUT, K. Durant’s Respect for His Teammates - Doubtful

Trailblazers: J. Nurkic - Questionable, J. Winslow - Questionable, K. Johnson - Questionable

Pistons: C. Cunningham - OUT, I. Stewart - OUT

Clippers: P. George - Questionable, K. Leonard - Questionable, L. Kennard - 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 De’Aaron Fox, SAC | DK: $9k, FD: $9.6k | vs. SAS | Cash & GPP

After obliterating the Nets with a 153-point performance two nights ago, the Kings step onto their home court once again with a slate-high 122 implied point total. Due to the Tuesday blowout win, the Kings starters received some rest and should come into this match-up ready to roll against another bad defense in the Spurs (29th in defensive efficiency). Both of these teams rank top 10 in pace, and Fox is averaging 50.4 FPPG in up-pace games (+20%). He’s been a steady commanding presence of this Kings backcourt and should continue to excel in another juicy match-up… we just have to hope for no super early blowout (Kings -7.5) like the one we saw on Tuesday.

💫SG Jaden Ivey, DET | DK: $6.9k, FD: $6.8k | @ LAC | Cash & GPP

The Pistons will be without PG Cade Cunningham for the fourth consecutive game while PF/C Isaiah Stewart will be missing his first game of the year. When those two guys have been off the court this season, Jaden Ivey (23.1% USG%) has seen a +10.8% boost to his USG%, and he has averaged +12.7 FP per 48 minutes. This is a pace-down game for the Pistons against a strong Clippers defense (2nd in defensive efficiency) which leads to a slate-low 103.8 implied point total for Detroit. Despite that, Ivey should put up plenty of shots, and he has racked up between 35.5 and 49.25 DKFP in four of his last five games.

SG/SF Terence Davis, SAC | DK: $4.3k, FD: $4.3k | vs. SAS | GPP Preferred

Tuesday night belonged to Terence Davis. Even though he continued to come off the bench, Davis was a major spark to the Kings’ blowout victory against the Nets. He had a career night with 31 points on 12-of-16 shooting (seven 3PM), nine rebounds, four assists, three steals, and a block. The man was everywhere and did everything. Now, Davis has only averaged 13.5 Min/Gm and Tuesday was just the second time he played more than 18 minutes this season. Expectations should most definitely be tempered, but he may have earned himself some extra playing time with that insane performance. Still, only a GPP play for this slate. If Davis enters the starting lineup in place of Keegan Murray (back/doubtful) then he’ll become much more of a safe cash-viable play.

Other Guards to Consider:

PG Damian Lillard, POR | DK: $10k, FD: $9k | vs. BKN | GPP/FD Preferred

💫SG/SF Kevin Huerter, SAC | DK: $6k, FD: $6.1k | vs. SAS | Cash & GPP

PG Killian Hayes, DET | DK: $5k, FD: $5.3k | @ LAC | GPP Preferred

PG/SF Edmond Sumner, BKN | DK: $4k, FD: $4.2k | @ POR | Cash & GPP

Small Forwards/Power Forwards to Consider 🏀

💫PF Jerami Grant, POR | DK: $7.6k, FD: $8.4k | vs. BKN | Cash & GPP

Grant’s upside receives a sizable boost if Nurkic and/or Winslow are eventually ruled out. Even if those guys suit up, I believe we have to keep Grant in the player pool given how well he has played recently. Grant’s last three games have produced fantasy totals of 44.5 DKFP (37 min, 15 FGA), 53.0 DKFP (39 min, 22 FGA), and 54.0 DKFP (42 min, 20 FGA). It’s sensible to take a shot on Grant going up against this deflated Nets team that is coming off of a demoralizing blowout loss (and KD just threw his teammates under the bus in the media).

SF Keldon Johnson, SAS | DK: $7.4k, FD: $7.1k | @ SAC | Cash & GPP

We will have to monitor Johnson’s status leading up to tip-off since he picked up a late questionable tag as he’s dealing with some apparent ankle soreness. Assuming he is cleared for tonight’s game, he represents a strong small forward option and a slate that features few viable SFs that we can feel good about. Johnson is San Antonio’s top scorer this season, averaging 22.7 PPG on a 27.7% USG%. This game is poised to be the highest-scoring and fastest-paced game on the docket so we’ll definitely want exposure to the high-usage guys on both sides. If Johnson is ruled out, we can give a significant bump to SG Devin Vassell’s (DK: $7k, FD: $6.8k) projection.

💫SF/SG Royce O’Neale, BKN | DK: $5.3k, FD: $5.1k | @ POR | Cash & GPP

When it comes to Nets players tonight, we should probably just toss aside their last game since none of the starters played their routine minutes and no one outside of Kevin Durant really made a major impact. Most nights, O’Neale is going to play as many minutes as he can handle and he’s averaging 35.3 Min/Gm this season. Now, he’s not overly effective when he’s out there (0.72 DKFPPM) but simply being on the court for such big minutes can often lead to some decent stat padding. At O’Neale’s current DFS salaries, there is some reasonable 6x upside to be had.

Other Forwards to Consider:

PF Kevin Durant, BKN | DK: $11.6k, FD: $11.5k | @ POR | GPP Preferred

PF Marcus Morris Sr., LAC | DK: $6.3k, FD: $5.5k | vs. DET | GPP Preferred

SF/PF Bojan Bogdanavic, DET | DK: $6.2k, FD: $5.8k | @ LAC | GPP Preferred

💫SF/PF Harrison Barnes, SAC | DK: $4.9k, FD: $5.5k | vs. SAS | Cash & GPP

SF/PF Yuta Watanabe, BKN | DK: $3.4k, FD: $4.4k | @ POR | GPP/DK Preferred

Centers to Consider 🏀

💫C Jakob Poeltl, SAS | DK: $7.2k, FD: $7.8k | @ SAC | Cash & GPP

Poeltl enters off his best performance of the season on Tuesday where he loaded up 31 points on 14-of-17 shooting and brought in 14 rebounds -- good for 57.5 DKFP! He’ll come back down to earth a bit tonight but Poeltl has been playing well in general lately and has averaged an impressive 1.30 DKFPPM over his last five games. As long as he plays 30+ minutes, he is usually going to return nice value at these salaries. So, let’s hope the Spurs keep this game competitive and Pop gives him that sort of 30+ minute run.

💫C Nicolas Claxton, BKN | DK: $5.5k, FD: $6.4k | @ POR | GPP/DK Preferred

A blowout in the last game and an eye injury (after playing 16 minutes) in the game prior have led to back-to-back dud performances for Claxton. But he has been extremely productive at times, particularly since Kyrie Irving has been out of the lineup, so I believe we keep Claxton squarely in play now that his DFS salaries have dropped a bit recently. The Trailblazers have been vulnerable against opposing centers this season and that aforementioned 31-point, 14-rebound game that Poeltl had on Tuesday was against this Portland squad.

Other Centers to Consider:

💫C Domantas Sabonis, SAC | DK: $9.4k, FD: $10.2k | vs. SAS | Cash & GPP

C Ivica Zubac, LAC | DK: $6.4k, FD: $6k | vs. DET | GPP Preferred

C Drew Eubanks, POR | DK: $3.9k, FD: $4.3k | vs. BKN | GPP Preferred (Cash viable if Nurkic is out)

NBA Player Props 📊

Player Prop or Bet | Odds | Unit Bet Size

Short slate so let’s just highlight a single prop tonight.

Kevin Huerter OVER 2.5 Three-Pointers Made | -150 (DraftKings | 3.0 Units

Huerter has been one of the most lethal shooters from deep this season. He’s putting up 7.3 3PA/Gm and has connected on 52.6% of shots from beyond the arc. He has poured in at least three three-pointers in 10-of-13 games this season. The Spurs have allowed 12.7 three-pointers per game (10th most) and rank 29th in overall defensive efficiency. In my opinion, these odds should be closer to -200 if we’re being realistic. So, let’s throw down a heavier three-unit bet on this prop and look to turn a quick and hopefully stress-free two-unit profit!

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.

Kevin Huerter MORE than 25.5 Fantasy Score

Tre Jones MORE than 0.5 3-PT Made

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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!