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

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NBA DFS & Props Shows w/ Tyler Wiemann

NBA DFS & Prop shows will be posted on the LineStar YouTube (linked above) later this afternoon!

DFS Main Slate Rundown 📰

Another busy NBA Monday is on deck, with seven games on the DraftKings main slate and eight over on FanDuel. DK is skipping the late Bulls/Nuggets matchup, but we’ve still got plenty to work with across the board. The injury report is pretty par for the course today, but a “standard” NBA injury report still means we’re tracking a whole lot of moving parts. Expect several key injury updates to impact the slate as we approach lock. Let’s keep things simple and jump right into it! Best of luck!

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

Today’s Key Injuries 🚑

^{Note: NBA injury reports can be fickle and often update throughout the day. Be sure to stay up-to-date on all injury news leading up to tip-off as the list below may be a bit outdated by the time you’re reading this.}

^{Additional Note: Players who have yet to play this season will be excluded from the injury report, unless they have either a probable, questionable, or doubtful injury designation, with some amount of chance to make their season debut.}

**Indicates that this would be a player’s season debut if they are active.

• Bucks: G. Antetokounmpo - Probable, K. Porter Jr. - OUT, T. Prince - OUT

• Cavs: D. Garland - OUT, J. Tyson - OUT

• Pacers: A. Nesmith - OUT, B. Mathurin - Questionable, Q. Jackson - OUT, O. Toppin - OUT, J. Furphy - OUT

• Pistons: C. Cunningham - Questionable, J. Duren - Probable, A. Thompson - Questionable, T. Harris - OUT, B. Klintman - OUT

• Clippers: K. Leonard - OUT, D. Jones Jr. - OUT, B. Bogdanovic - Questionable, J. Miller - OUT

• 76ers: J. Embiid - OUT, **P. George - Questionable (expected to make season debut), K. Oubre Jr. - OUT, A. Bona - OUT

• Hornets: B. Miller - OUT, L. McNeeley - OUT

• Raptors: J. Battle - Questionable, O. Agbaji - Questionable

• Knicks: J. Brunson - OUT, OG Anunoby - OUT

• Heat: B. Adebayo - OUT

• Mavs: A. Davis - OUT, D. Gafford - OUT, D. Lively II - OUT

• Timberwolves: T. Shannon Jr. - OUT

• Thunder: A. Wiggins - OUT, A. Caruso - Questionable

• Pelicans: Z. Williamson - Questionable, J. Poole - OUT

Late Game Injury Report (FanDuel Main Slate Only)

• Bulls: C. White - OUT, T. Jones - Doubtful, A. Dosunmu - Questionable

• Nuggets: N. Jokic - Probable, C. Johnson - Questionable, J. Strawther - Questionable, C. Braun - OUT

Top DraftKings & FanDuel DFS Plays

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.

Point Guards/Shooting Guards to Consider 🏀

SG Donovan Mitchell, CLE | DK: $9.2k, FD: $9.3k | vs. MIL

Mitchell continues to roll through a heater and has scored no fewer than 47.8 DKFP in seven straight games, scoring 28+ points in all but one of those games. He has posted 1.52 FPPM over his last five and tends to be at his best at home, where he’s averaging over 50 DKFP/gm. Mitchell’s usage rate has sat at an elite 34.6% with Darius Garland and Jaylon Tyson (both out) off the floor this season, and this should be a strong environment with both teams ranking top-12 in pace so far this season.

SG Norman Powell, MIA | DK: $7.3k, FD: $7.1k | vs. NYK

With Tyler Herro (ankle) yet to make his season debut and star big man Bam Adebayo (toe/out) sidelined for the last five games, Norman Powell has stepped up to lead the team with a 29.4% USG% in that stretch. Powell rarely offers much in the way of strong peripheral stats, but his scoring alone (29.0 PPG L5Games) has been nearly enough to return value on these low-$7k price points. The Heat also continue to play at the fastest pace in the NBA, which has been excellent for boosting Powell’s shot volume. The Heat and the Knicks just played each other three days ago, and combined for a massive 272 points (in a non-overtime game); so, it’s no surprise that this game owns a slate-leading 244.5 over/under. Powell has now averaged 49.5 DKFP/gm in two games versus the Knicks this season, and he should receive a slight bump with this game being in Miami tonight, where he has averaged 39.8 DKFP in five home games this season.

PG/SG Jordan Clarkson, NYK | DK: $5.2k, FD: $5.3k | at MIA

Popping over to the other side of this Heat/Knicks matchup, we’ll find some value on a Knicks team that is down two key starters -- Jalen Brunson (ankle) and OG Anunoby (hamstring). Brunson missed his first game of the season last Friday, and Anunoby played just five minutes before exiting the game. This led to Jordan Clarkson playing a season-high 33 minutes, resulting in a 24/5/3 stat line and 36.2 DKFP/34.5 FDFP. Clarkson will likely still play off the bench, but he’ll still project for minutes in the high-20s, with a decent chance at 30+ minutes. Considering he’s essentially been a 1.00 FPPM type of player this season, the increased minutes and usage should be enough to keep him firmly on the radar out of the low-$5k range on both sites.

Other Guards to Consider

PG James Harden, LAC at PHI

SG Anthony Edwards, MIN vs. DAL

SG Mikal Bridges, NYK at MIA

SG Cooper Flagg, DAL at MIN

PG Immanuel Quickley, TOR vs. CHA

PG Andrew Nembhard, IND at DET

PG Daniss Jenkins, DET vs. IND (Only if Cunningham & A. Thompson are both out again)

PG Brandon Williams, DAL at MIN

SG/SF Landry Shamet, NYK at MIA (Should be starting)

PG/SG Miles McBride, NYK at MIA

PG/SG Bogdan Bogdanovic, LAC at PHI (Currently questionable - Boost if starting)

FanDuel Main Slate Only

PG/SG Jamal Murray, DEN vs. CHI

SG/SF Kevin Huerter, CHI at DEN

SG/SF Tim Hardaway Jr., DEN vs. CHI (Only if starting again)

Small Forwards/Power Forwards to Consider 🏀

PF Julius Randle, MIN | DK: $8.1k, FD: $9.1k | at DAL

Randle just keeps producing highly consistent fantasy performances and has stood out as one of the most consistent high-floor players in the realm of DFS. FanDuel has started pricing him more appropriately, but DraftKings is still pinning him with a generous $8,100 price tag. That’s an enticing salary for a guy who has only gone under 42.8 DKFP once in 13 games this season. Randle has posted a couple of triple-doubles already this season and has just been stuffing the stat sheet lately, averaging 23.4 PPG, 9.2 RPG, and 7.2 APG over his last five. The T-Wolves are heavy 13.5-point home favorites tonight, but even in blowouts, Randle has routinely hit value. And he draws an excellent individual matchup versus a Mavs frontcourt that has ranked 25th versus starting power forwards this season. The Mavs are also on the second leg of a back-to-back following an overtime game versus Portland yesterday, so there’s no question which team should have the most stamina in this matchup!

SF/SG Jaime Jaquez Jr., MIA | DK: $6.9k, FD: $6.7k | vs. NYK

Jaquez has rapidly emerged as the early-season odds-on favorite for the Sixth Man of the Year Award, as he has provided a ton of production off the Miami bench. He’s been especially effective over the Heat’s last five games (all without Adebayo available) and, in that stretch, Jaquez has racked up 17.6 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 6.8 APG, 1.2 STL+BLK/gm, and has scored an excellent 1.31 FPPM. He came within earshot of a triple-double against this same Knicks team three days ago, finishing with a 23/9/7 stat line across 34 minutes. Counting on these two teams to combine for 270+ points and nearly 200 shot attempts again would be wishful thinking. But given his current versatile role, where he’s receiving starter-caliber minutes off the bench, Jacquez remains one of the stronger mid-range plays.

SF De’Andre Hunter, CLE | DK: $4.5k, FD: $6.2k | vs. MIL

Not to neglect my FanDuel folks, but this will definitely be more of a DraftKings play (although I do not hate Hunter at $6,200 on FD either). This is just a confusing price drop by DraftKings for a guy who was rightfully placed into the $6k range as his role on the Cavs steadily grew over the first month of the season. Hunter is coming off a dud, but he has recorded at least 29.5 DKFP in eight of his last 10 starts and has averaged 1.11 FPPM on the season. He should continue to play around 30 minutes, especially with Garland and Tyson unavailable. Hunter is going to be major chalk (on DraftKings), but he simply has one of the highest -- if not the highest -- chances to end the night as an optimal play. And, as if you needed more reason to roll with him on DK, the Bucks have ranked 29th versus starting small forwards on the season.

Other Forwards to Consider

PF Giannis Antetokounmpo, MIL at CLE

PF Karl-Anthony Towns, NYK at MIA

PF Evan Mobley, CLE vs. MIL

SF/PF Josh Hart, NYK at MIA

SF/SG Kon Knueppel, CHA at TOR

SF Jaden McDaniels, MIN vs. DAL

PF/C Naz Reid, MIN vs. DAL

SF/SG Javonte Green, DET vs. IND (Only if Cunningham & A. Thompson are both out again)

PF/C Dominick Barlow, PHI vs. LAC

SF Kobe Sanders, LAC at PHI (Boost if Bogdanovic is out)

FanDuel Main Slate Only

PF Aaron Gordon, DEN vs. CHI (Boost if C. Johnson is out)

PF/SF Matas Buzelis, CHI at DEN

Centers to Consider 🏀

C Andre Drummond, PHI | DK: $5.9k, FD: $5.7k | vs. LAC

Unless you’re spending up on Jokic, who is only available on the FanDuel slate, then it feels like a good slate to save some salary at center. Andre Drummond isn’t dirt cheap, and he’s not the absolute FPPM monster that he was in his prime. But, with Joel Embiid and Adem Bona both out, Drummond will continue to serve as the 76ers' primary center and represents a strong floor play. Drummond is still averaging a very respectable 1.12 FPPM on the season, and he has played 33+ minutes in three consecutive games as a starter, recording double-doubles in all three games. Paul George is expected to make his season debut today, but his workload should be limited for at least his first few games, and I wouldn’t expect his availability to have much of an impact on Drummond’s overall numbers anyway. The Clippers have also been a sneaky-good matchup for centers this season. They rank 28th versus starting centers and have allowed 1.33 FPPM to the position. Assuming he plays 32-36 minutes again this evening, Drummond sets up as a strong sub-$6k option.

C Moussa Cisse, DAL | DK: $3.6k, FD: $4k | at MIN

This will be the first game for the Mavs this season where they’ll simultaneously be without all three of their top big men -- Anthony Davis, Daniel Gafford, and Dereck Lively II have all been ruled out. That should open the door for undrafted rookie Moussa Cisse to pick up his first NBA start… but, at the very least, he should see a sizable minutes bump. Cisse has appeared off the Mavs’ bench in each of the last eight games. While that has only resulted in about 13 minutes/gm in that stretch, Cisse has averaged a solid 1.09 FPPM on the season -- that has bumped up to an even stronger 1.22 FPPM over his last five games. Now that he’ll project for mid-20s minutes, he becomes an excellent value target even in a lackluster matchup versus the Timberwolves, where the Mavs are significant underdogs. Veteran backup center Dwight Powell should also see some additional minutes, and possibly even start, but if you’ve played NBA DFS for any significant amount of time, you’ll probably realize why Cisse would be the preferred DFS option over Powell.

Other Centers to Consider

C Jalen Duren, DET vs. IND (Boost if Cunningham is out again)

C Ivica Zubac, LAC at PHI

C Rudy Gobert, MIN vs. DAL

C Kel’el Ware, MIA vs. NYK

C Jakob Poeltl, TOR vs. CHA

C Derik Queen, NOP vs. OKC (Preferred if Z. Williamson remains out)

C Moussa Diabate, CHA at TOR

C Sandro Mamukelashvili, TOR vs. CHA

FanDuel Main Slate Only

C Nikola Jokic, DEN vs. CHI

C Jalen Smith, CHI at DEN

🔥 Props AI 🔥

In LineStar’s ongoing mission to improve, innovate, and help you reel in some cash, we have rolled out Props AI for NBA – available for LineStar Premium users! This tool can help you find value and mispriced odds on player props from sportsbooks and, more specifically, for PrizePicks, UnderDog Fantasy, and other prop apps/sites!

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