Written by LineStar Fantasy NBA Writer @GP_Landry 

5 pm EST Update:

Atlanta:

• Dwayne Dedmon will play 15 minutes so he's clearly off the radar

• Alex Len will play and start. I'm staying away from here myself.

Indiana:

• TJ Leaf will play. Yay.

Minnesota:

• Andrew Wiggins is shaping up to be a true game time decision so this will be one to monitor closer to lock. If he misses it would open up opportunity for his teammates though Wiggins has only missed one game his entire career so how that additional usage will shake out is hard to predict.

Miami:

• Derrick Jones Jr is doubtful which will make room for Justise Winslow who is making his season debut tonight.

• Wayne Ellington is doubtful which keeps Rodney McGruder on our radar particularly on FanDuel where he's very cheap.

• Justise Winslow will play but he's expected to be limited.

• Hassan Whiteside has been removed from the injury report despite missing Monday's practice.

Toronto:

• Delon Wright will play but could be limited. Either way this will cut into Fred VanFleet's value.

Chicago:

• Jabari Parker is sick and is now questionable for tonight. If he misses then Bobby Porter will get a ton of minutes with Wendell Carter Jr picking up some extra as well.

• Cameron Payne will start at point guard but it's notable that Coach Hoiberg has said he wants LaVine to run the offense until Dunn returns. I'm all in on LaVine tonight.

Sacramento:

• Iman Shumpert is questionable which may open up time for Yogi Ferrell.

Golden State:

• Klay Thompson will play as expected and Shaun Livingston is also available to play. Treat the Warriors rotation as normal.

Washington:

• Jeff Green will play and could pick up some extra minutes if Ian Mahinmi and the Wizards have to play small ball. Mahinmi is a game time decision for now. This isn't appealing on such a large slate.

Memphis:

• Dillon Brooks was ruled out and is now questionable again. I would expect him to miss based on what I've read but it's worth monitoring.

• Garrett Temple is labeled as "Probable - Game Time Decision" so....yea. I'm assuming that means he'll play but this is the NBA after all. If you have interest here keep an eye on this. If Brooks misses and Temple misses or is limited it could open up opportunity for Wayne Selden.

Philadelphia:

• Ben Simmons plans to play. Assuming he does then I'll be avoiding the 76ers on the second night of a back to back and yesterday's game going to overtime. I only wanted to go here if the value was available.

Unfortunately, there are still some question marks out there so continue to monitor the news. Everyone is pretty good about sharing info in chat so if your looking to get up to speed hop in there with the rest of us. Good luck tonight!

Half way through the week and we have a massive eleven game slate tonight. I'm running a little late so I'm going to keep the introduction very brief today. Basically, Blake Griffin broke the slate last night, so congratulations to those of you who had him (I did not) and there is a ton of injury news to watch for today, with the most impactful situations being Ben Simmons, Andrew Wiggins, and Hassan Whiteside. As of now, I'm shaping up to have some pretty concentrated ownership on only a few games with that Lakers/Suns game really standing out (we'll talk about it shortly). The link to today's freeroll is down at the bottom. Let's get to work!

Games to Target

Big slate tonight so let's take a quick look at a few games that could bring us some fantasy potential:

Lakers @ Suns (LA -2.5, 237 O/U)

As of now, the Suns slower pace that we saw in the preseason is holding steady, as they are down to 22nd in the league after finishing second last season (granted, they are playing about the same pace. It's just everyone else is playing much faster). The Lakers, meanwhile, are playing at the third fastest pace with over 110 possessions per game. They have been involved in some very high scoring games which is aided by the fact that they are 3rd in the league in scoring and 30th in the league in opponent points allowed. Neither team plays much defense, with the Suns ranking 20th in defensive rating and the Lakers ranking 25th. Despite being loaded with talent, the inexperience of the Suns is evidenced by them being 25th in the league in turnovers, averaging 17.3 per game. This has resulted in allowing 21 points per game off turnovers (26th) and 25.7 points per game off the fastbreak (last). The Lakers are currently a top ten team in steals with 7.7 per game. Expect them to take advantage of the Phoenix turnovers and turn them into easy points. As you're about to see, I like a lot of players from this game.

Hornets @ Bulls (CHA -3, 231.5 O/U)

The advantage goes to Charlotte here, probably why they are favorites despite being on the road. The Bulls are not very good at defense, ranking 27th in defensive rating and 22nd in opponent points per game allowed. The Hornets are middle of the pack, ranking 12th in defensive rating. Neither team plays particularly fast by today’s NBA standards, with Chicago ranking 20th and Charlotte ranking 16th in pace. The Hornets rely heavily on three point shooting, where 38.6% of their points scored have been via triples (4th in the NBA). The Bulls are allowing the 28th most three pointers made (15 per game) and are seeing the most three point shots attempted against them (41 per game). Look for the Hornets to exploit this with their perimeter shooters.  

Nets @ Cavs (CLE -3, 227.5 O/U)

Brooklyn is actually one of the slowest teams in the league right now, ranking 28th with 99.3 possessions per game (I can’t believe this is considered slow now) while Cleveland is on the opposite end of the spectrum, ranking 9th at 104.3 possessions per game. With Cleveland being the home team, they should be able to control the pace in this one. So I’m only giving them a slight bump down (which should impact their outlook from a fantasy perspective very little) and a big bump up to the Nets. Both teams play terrible defense, with the Nets ranking 23rd and the Cavs ranking 29th in defensive rating. They also both struggle with opponent points allowed off turnovers. So chances are, the team who wins the turnover battle will have a good chance at winning the game. The Nets are dead last in this category, averaging 20.3 turnovers per game while Cleveland is 22nd, allowing 16 turnovers per game. Advantage Cleveland.

Injury Report

Guards

Devin Booker, PHO (DK: $8.3K, FD: $8K, Yahoo: $35)

The second highest usage rate among guards in the NBA right now belongs to Devin Booker at 32.8% behind only Kemba Walker (32.9%). We were expecting big things from him this season and so far, he's not disappointing. With the Suns not making a move to acquire a true point guard and letting Booker continue to do most of the ball handling duties, it's only increased his value to this point and he is just stuffing the stat sheet. He's averaging 29.3 points per game while shooting a ridiculous 50.9% from the field. He's also adding 40% from three point range in addition to 6.7 assists per game. My assumption is Ball will matchup on Booker, which makes this a more difficult matchup. But with so much of this offense running through him, the faster pace, and the minutes in the high 30's, I'm not overly concerned with the individual matchup. Booker should be able to find his way into open space, get his shots, and distribute the ball to other members of this team who I think are in good spots to succeed as well.

Zach LaVine, CHI (DK: $7.4K, FD: $7.7K, Yahoo: $29)

After barely playing at all last season due to a torn ACL, it's easy to overlook LaVine on a team like Chicago with low expectations. But three games into the season, he is quietly top ten among guards in usage rate, at 30.7%, ahead of players like Harden (29.9%), Mitchell (29.3%), Curry (28.4%), and Lillard (28%). He's had over 40 fantasy points in all three of his games so far and played 33, 37, and 37 minutes. This has resulted in an impressive 1.26 fantasy point per minute, yet he's still priced in the mid $7K range. With Kris Dunn now out for an extended period of time, the offense should continue to flow through LaVine, which means we may not get him at this price for much longer. He gets a great matchup today in a game environment which we talked about earlier. This game has a huge total and is expected to stay close, which is helped by Chicago being the home team. Jeremy Lamb is not know for his defense after ranking 41st in DRPM last season at -0.64. Small sample size but both Rodney McGruder (42.5 fantasy points in 42 minutes) and Danny Green (34 fantasy points in 27 minutes) have had nice games already in this spot. If the Bulls are going to stay competitive in this game, it means LaVine is going to have a big game. I still think he's too cheap for the expected production.

TJ McConnell, PHI (DK: $4K, FD: $3.9K, Yahoo: $10)

For the moment, I’m operating under the assumption that Ben Simmons is not going to play. It’s early enough in the season where the 76ers don’t need to rush their star player back prematurely, so I think it makes sense to hold him out another night. After tonight, they don’t play again until Saturday, which would give Simmons several days off to rest. Philadelphia played a bit of musical chairs with their starting lineup last night with Fultz originally set to start at PG and Redick slated to start at shooting guard. Then it was McConnell set to start at the point while Fultz was going to be the starting shooting guard. Finally, just before lock, they ended up going Fultz at point guard and Landry Shamet at the shooting guard position. The funny thing though is that Fultz played just 21 minutes and Shamet played 24 while the “backups” played 32 minutes (McConnell) and 37 minutes (Redick). Basically, all of these guys are going to get extra playing time as long as Simmons is out. But if last night is an indication of anything, it's the 76ers coaching staff has the most faith in McConnell and Redick. McConnell did not disappoint, putting up 25 fantasy points including 5 of 8 shooting and eight assists. It wasn’t a great fantasy point per minute average but it was still an excellent return on his very low salary (which stayed relatively flat today depending on the site). Tonight, the matchup is pretty neutral. Point guards so far have had mixed success against this team and Eric Bledsoe is a mediocre defender with a 0.06 DRPM last season (24th). With McConnell set to be locked into another 30 minutes tonight in a game with a solid total set at 224.5, it’s hard to pass up on that value. I would much rather roster McConnell over Cameron Payne who is setting up to be a popular punt point guard tonight as well. Obviously, this changes if Simmons suits up.

Forwards

Kevin Love, CLE (DK: $8.8K, FD: $8.5K, Yahoo: $34)

You were all expecting me to go LeBron or Giannis here weren’t you? Don’t get me wrong, I love both of those guys. And with how much I like the game environment in that Phoenix/Los Angeles game, I obviously have to view James as one of the top options on the slate. Rather than stating the obvious though, let’s dive a little deeper and see what other plays are available to us. Love is thriving without being in the shadow of James on the new look Cavaliers. He’s had 32, 63, and 44 fantasy points so far and has played 34, 39, and 34 minutes. He has a massive usage rate at 27.2% and is averaging a double-double, including 20.7 points and 14.3 rebounds per game. The most impressive part of this is he’s only shooting 30.4% from the field right now and only 26.3% from three point range. This is a guy who is a career 44.3% shooter and 37% shooter from beyond the arc. I’m confident as he gets into a rhythm we’ll see him regress toward his career numbers, which means his fantasy production should only get better. He gets a great matchup today against the Nets who, historically, bleed fantasy points to all positions. They have held their own against power forwards so far but two of those three games were against Thaddeus Young and Lance Thomas, so I’m not putting much stock into that. Blake Griffin put up 45 fantasy points in 35 minutes, which is more what I think we could see here (with upside for more if his shot starts falling tonight). If you’re looking for a pivot in a game with a 227.5 total and a spread of only three points with a really strong floor/ceiling combination, then this is definitely a spot to consider. Love has a good chance of being on my main roster tonight if I can make all the pieces fit.   

Kyle Kuzma, LAL (DK: $6.9K, FD: $7.2K, Yahoo: $30)

This is a pretty big price increase, particularly on DraftKings, but I still don't think it's enough to justify considering a fade just yet. We need to take advantage of him being in the starting lineup as much as we can while it lasts. He was the clear number two in this offense behind LeBron on Monday night and he did not disappoint, scoring 37 points including four triples and racking up eight rebounds along the way. Keep in mind, he did play 45 minutes in that game due to overtime. So expectations need to be dialed back a little, but he should still be locked into heavy minutes with the Lakers shorthanded at the moment due to suspensions. He's managing a solid 23% usage rate and averaging almost exactly a fantasy point per minute. If he's going to be locked into 35 minutes per night, that's a nice value at this price even with the increase. We know we love the game environment here, as I've already discussed it and the individual matchup couldn't be any better. Ryan Anderson ranked 83rd out of 86 power forwards in DRPM last season. Kuzma should feast again tonight.

TJ Warren, PHO (DK: $4.8K, FD: $5.7K, Yahoo: $20)

On the other side of this game we have Warren, who is thriving so far in his role off the bench. With the Suns consistently struggling year to year on defense and being full of young, talented playmakers, it made all the sense in the world to bring in Trevor Ariza and add him to the starting rotation to give them more of a defensive presence. This pushes Warren to the bench where he is commanding usage as part of the second rotation (28.5%) and not fighting for opportunities alongside Devin Booker anymore. He's coming off a monster game where he scored 27 points in just 24 minutes while adding four rebounds, three assists, two steals, and a block. This lead to 45 fantasy points (FanDuel scoring). Even with coming off the bench, Warren is averaging the second most points per game and field goal attempts per game on this team behind only Booker. Even in limited time, he's finding the opportunities he needs to meet or exceed his salary expectations. With this high scoring, pace up game we are expecting tonight, I see no reason he can't continue this production, which makes him too cheap at the moment. I wouldn't do this in cash as the minutes floor is too low but I love him in tournaments today.

Centers

Joel Embiid, PHI (DK: $10.1K, FD: $10.4K, Yahoo: $44)

He puts up 64 fantasy points last night and his price drops $300 on both DraftKings and FanDuel. Hmmm, something doesn't add up here. I don't typically like to make it a habit of playing players on the second night of a back to back in a game that went to overtime but I might need to make an exception here. It's possible that Simmons sits again, which would once again give a usage bump to Embiid that he took full advantage of last night. This is also a better matchup facing off against Brook Lopez who ranked 45th out of 51 centers last year in DRPM at 0.09. Despite logging heavy minutes last night, this is where I'm leaning among the high priced options at center. There are some good choices to pick from but most are in very difficult matchups. Gobert and Capela are squaring off against one another in the battle of two centers who finished in the top ten among centers in DRPM last season (Gobert: 1st 5.06, Capela: 9th 2.88). Capela's price on DraftKings is very tempting but I just can't bring myself to roster someone against Rudy Gobert defense. Karl Anthony Towns hasn't been playing well so far, though he could become slightly more interesting if Andrew Wiggins were to miss tonight's game. This would slide some additional usage toward KAT and others on that team. Hassan Whiteside is banged up but expected to play tonight. With his minutes always in question and the potential for an in-game setback, he's too risky for me. DeAndre Jordan is a nice option, especially in cash, but with the potential for Simmons to miss and some of the other value that's available on this slate, I want to find the money for Embiid again. He's second in the league among centers in minutes per game (35.5) and points per game (29.5). He's first in shot attempts per game (20.3) and he's tenth in rebounds at 10.8 per game. He has the highest usage rate of any center at 31% and again, it will likely get a bump assuming Simmons misses another game. He's the top center on the board tonight.

DeAndre Ayton, PHO (DK: $7.3K, FD: $7.7K, Yahoo: $25)

The number one overall pick is off to a fast start in his rookie campaign and has two really strong fantasy performances of 45 points each with an ugly game of only 14 fantasy points in between. We have to remember, no matter how big the hype gets, this kid is still a rookie and there will be bumps along the way. He's averaging a double-double with 14.3 points per game and 10.7 rebounds per game. Centers so far have had a lot of success against the Lakers, with Nurkic putting up 30 fantasy points in just 18 minutes, Capela putting up 36.5 fantasy points in 34 minutes, and Aldridge putting up a monster 62 fantasy point performance in 40 minutes. JaVale McGee, who seems to be plenty heavy minutes, is a terrible defender after ranking 46th out of 56 centers in DRPM last season. The Lakers are also allowing the second most opponent rebounds (51.7 per game) and the most opponent points (131.7 per game). They especially struggle to defend the paint, as teams are averaging 52.7 points per game against them. All of this sets up really well for Ayton and the price still doesn't match the potential ceiling here. He's too risky for cash games with the inexperience but he makes for a great tournament option tonight.

JaVale McGee, LAL (DK: $5.3K, FD: $6K, Yahoo: $16)

I just finished bashing McGee's defense but that doesn't mean I can't still like him for fantasy purposes. I fully admit, I was not a part of the McGee train to start the year but it's looking like I might need to hop on before it's too late. We are still dealing with small sample sizes but his role seems real and secure. He's fitting in nicely on his new team, he's producing like crazy, and his minutes are trending up. It helps that the Lakers have some guys on suspension and are a little shorthanded at the moment but McGee is still proving very worth of consideration. He's averaging 23.2 minutes per game (and played 28 minutes last time out) with 15 points, 7.3 rebounds, and three blocks. Ayton is not a matchup we need to avoid (at least not yet) as centers have had success against the Suns early on. Nikola Jokic obviously represents the extreme scenario but it's worth noting that he had a triple-double and 82 fantasy points in this spot just a few nights ago. DeAndre Jordan also had 33 fantasy points in 31 minutes and even Damian Jones had 21 fantasy points in 21 minutes. If McGee can maintain anything close to his current level of production (1.58 fantasy points per minute) he should be in line for another solid night and once again exceed his salary expectations. Personally, I don't trust him for cash yet. I'm not quite ready to buy into this consistent minutes after only a few games but he's another guy that makes a lot of sense for tournaments, especially if you are stacking this game.

Freeroll

The NBA freeroll contests will take place on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on DraftKings during normal sized slates.

• 1st Place: $10 via PayPal

• 2nd & 3rd Places: Your choice of one-month LineStar Premium, a t-shirt, or a coffee mug

• Bonus: If you place 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the LineStar Freeroll and you are using the LineStar avatar below, you will receive 2x that prize!

Please Note - While you may enter the LineStar freeroll as often as you’d like, you can only win each prize 1 time.

Here is the link to today's contest

Good luck today! Tag me in the LineStar Chat @glandry if you have any questions or feedback on the daily newsletters and hit me up on Twitter (@GP_Landry).

Like what you read? Give us a thumbs up below!