Tastefully curated M-F by LineStar fantasy experts.

5:15 PM EST UPDATE: Welp, we didn't get the news I was expecting as it looks like James Harden is going to play. My gut says to stay away as the Rockets are now 12.5 favorites with him in the lineup. This definitely has blowup potential and we could see Harden sit later in the game. As for the rest of the Rockets Chris Paul and Luc Mbah a Moute are confirmed out along with Ryan Anderson. Eric Gordon will start once again and you can also give a bump to Clint Capela. The Celtics ruled out Marcus Morris but also confirmed Jaylen Brown will return from his concussion. Expect Brown to regain his starting role and slide Tatum back to small forward. What concerns me is whether Brown will get his full amount of minutes or if they will ease him back in. Al Horford is the biggest beneficiary of Morris being out and you can also give a bump to Greg Monroe as he should see some extra minutes off the bench. On the other side of that matchup, Zach Randolph will miss another game with an illness. Give a bump to Skal Labissiere but it's not a great spot against a tough Celtics defense. The Knicks have made some news as they finally announced that Trey Burke will start over Emmanuel Mudiay. I was a big fan of Burke when he was at Michigan I'm excited to see him get some playing time. The Wizards are not as scary against point guards without John Wall. Frank Ntilikina is also likely to start and finds himself in a good matchup too. Washington is 26th against opposing shooting guards over the last ten games. Don't go crazy with Knicks players because, well, they're they Knicks but both of these guys make excellent value plays. The downside here is Lance Thomas is now available to play so I'm staying away from Michael Beasley as I have no idea what this will do to his minutes. Draymond Green was surprisingly ruled out with flu-like symptoms. The Warriors are going full backup squad today. We already liked the Jazz and now we should like them more. Give a bump to Derrick Favors who is one of my favorite plays of the day now. Good luck today and feel free to tag me on chat @glandry if you have questions or feedback!

Today we have a slate full of injured studs which should open up value all over the place. Kyrie Irving will miss in Boston, John Wall is getting closer but is still out today for Washington, I fully expect the Rockets to rest players including James Harden in a meaningless game against the Hawks on the second night of a back to back, and Golden State will be without Steph Curry and Kevin Durant among others. As usual, we will focus only on players that are part of the main slate tonight on both sites. Grab your Sunday morning cup of coffee and let's get to work!

Remember lock is at 6pm EST so we'll plan to post an update about an hour beforehand with anything newsworthy. Feel free to tag me on the LineStar chat @glandry with any questions or feedback!

Guards

Kyle Lowry, TOR [vs. LAC] (DK: $8.3K, FD: $8.3K)

Lowry is on an absolute tear right now scoring over 40 fantasy points in four straight games including 62 fantasy points last time out. Tonight, Toronto has the highest implied total on this slate against a Clippers team that is 21st in average fantasy points allowed to opposing point guards. I think he goes overlooked today as well on a slate that already includes Westbrook and Lillard. If you look at the image below it shows a comparison of today's matchups between Lillard and Lowry. Their matchup and projections are nearly identical yet Lowry is significantly cheaper on both sites. I'm going to ride his hot streak and save some salary in the process.

Bradley Beal, WAS [vs. NYK] (DK: $8.1K, FD: $7.7K)

John Wall practiced on Saturday without restrictions but it sounds like they will hold him out for one more game. This could be our last opportunity for Bradley Beal to soak up all the extra usage. He has owned the Knicks this season putting up 48 and 63 fantasy points in their last two meetings. His price has dropped significantly in the past week on both sites ($1100 on DraftKings and $800 on FanDuel). It's nothing new since Wall has been out for a while but Beal has the highest usage on this team at 28%. I like several Wizards players today but Beal is a cut above the rest.

Eric Gordon, HOU [vs. ATL] (DK: 7.6K, FD: $5.2K)

If you read this article yesterday I said that I liked Gordon's chances to flirt with 30 fantasy points and that he was criminally underpriced on FanDuel at $5.2K. What happened? He scored 34 DraftKings points and 32 FanDuel points. DraftKings raised his price another $800 but somehow FanDuel left his price exactly the same at $5.2K. He is $2400 cheaper on FanDuel than he is on DraftKings. As I mentioned earlier I'm expecting Houston to rest multiple players tonight after a nice win over the Pelicans yesterday. This is the second night of a back to back in a meaningless game against the tanking Atlanta Hawks. If Chris Paul plays I'm guessing he's on a strict minute restriction to ease him back in and I think Harden sits for sure. Gordon put up 40 fantasy points against these same Hawks earlier this season in 30 minutes as the starter. You basically have to take the free square on FanDuel. On DraftKings you can definitely argue the price is too high but it's not out of the question he reaches value there as well.

Forwards

Jayson Tatum, BOS [@SAC] (DK: $6.5K, FD: $6.5K)

As you've probably heard by now Kyrie Irving went under the knife recently and will miss the end of the regular season. Marcus Smart is also out until at least may after his thumb injury. This leaves the shorthanded Celtics with Al Horford and the young tandem of Tatum and Brown to carry the load for the next few weeks. Brown, who has missed several games, is currently listed as a game-time decision. If he plays, it's a slight downgrade to Tatum and I think you could even consider Brown as an option. If Brown is out then I like Tatum to take over this matchup against the Kings. Sacramento is middle of the pack against opposing small forwards. We currently list Tatum as one of the better values at forward today, particularly on FanDuel where small forward is extremely thin. 

Derrick Favors, UTA [@GS] (DK: $5.5K, FD: $5.8K)

I'll admit on paper this doesn't look like a great spot for Favors as the Warriors have been tough on opposing power forwards. Draymond Green, who is expected to play today, is one of the better individual defenders in the league. This is an important game for the Jazz who are fighting to keep their playoff spot in the west. Currently, they are favored in this game with all the injuries to Golden State. They also get the largest pace increase of any team on today's slate. Favors has had success against them in the past scoring 39 and 33 fantasy points in their last two meetings. A lot of people will lean on the Golden State value today which is a mistake in my opinion. The Warriors have an implied total of 99.8, nearly 15 points below their season average. I'm looking for Jazz players to come through today in a must-win game against the Golden State backups.

Michael Beasley, NYK [@WAS] (DK: $5.6K, FD: $5.7K)

Forward is ugly today. Nobody is really jumping off the page for me so we are going to have to dive a little deeper and perhaps roster some players we don't feel as confident about as we like but the numbers indicate big games are possible. Washington is very difficult defensively but for some reason, Beasley loves to play them. In his last two games against the Wizards, he put up 35 and 43 fantasy points. The 43 point performance came from the bench in only 25 minutes. His price has also dropped slightly on both sites giving him a little extra value to work with. I think he goes overlooked today as people will see the surface numbers and immediately cross him off their list. He's shown in the past though that he has the upside in this matchup.

Centers

Rudy Gobert, UTH [@GS] (DK: $7.9K, FD: $8.4K)

Gobert has had three difficult matchups in a row for centers which has resulted in a sharp price decrease of $800 on DraftKings and $1700 on FanDuel over the past week. Today is the perfect day to jump back on against a Warriors team who is 21st against opposing centers over their last ten games. In the last two weeks Golden State has given up 57 fantasy points to LaMarcus Aldridge and 46 fantasy points to Brook Lopez. I like Gobert to exceed 40 fantasy points tonight in an important game for Utah.

DeAndre Jordan, LAC [@LAC] (DK: $8K, FD: $8.3K)

We are going with higher priced centers today because I believe roster construction will lead us to save salary on forwards and pay up for guards and centers. The game between the Clippers and Raptors has the highest total on the main slate but should stay relatively competitive with an eight-point spread. The Raptors are 20th against opposing centers on FanDuel and 22nd on DraftKings over the last 10 games. When these teams last met Jordan put up 48 fantasy points including 17 rebounds. Similar to Gobert I like him to reach 40 fantasy points today. If choosing between the two I'm leaning Gobert. The prices and projections are almost identical but Gobert should be lower owned.

Dwayne Dedmon, ATL [@HOU] (DK: $5.6K, FD: $5.7K)

Dedmon has a juicy matchup tonight against a Rockets team that struggles with opposing centers. In the last 10 games, Houston ranks 28th in average fantasy points allowed to centers including four straight games of at least 45 points. This is prime double-double territory for Dedmon as Houston allows an average of 10 rebounds per game to starting centers. As if the matchup wasn't enough, Dedmon has been playing well himself scoring at least 30 fantasy points in four straight games including a 46 point performance against a very difficult Utah team. Assuming multiple key players for the Rockets rest today look for this to be a somewhat competitive game which should allow Dedmon to put up big numbers.

Injuries 🤕

Boston at Sacramento

Boston:

• OUT: Marcus Smart - PG/SG

• OUT: Kyrie Irving - PG

• OUT: Daniel Theis - PF

• OUT: Jaylen Brown - SG/SF

• UPGRADE: Terry Rozier PG/SG, Jason Tatum - SF/PF, Marcus Morris - SF/PF

Sacramento:

• OUT: Garrett Temple - SG/SF

• OUT: Iman Shumpert - SG/SF

• UPGRADE: Justin Jackson - SG/SF

New York at Washington

New York:

• DTD: Lance Thomas - SF/PF

• OUT: Kristaps Porzingis - PF/C

• OUT: Ron Baker - PG/SG

• OUT: Kyle O'Quinn PF/C

• UPGRADE: Michael Beasley - SF/PF, Luke Kornet - PF/C

Washington:

• OUT: John Wall - PG

• UPGRADE: Bradley Beal - PG/SG, Tomas Satoransky - PG/SG

LA Clippers at Toronto

LA Clippers:

• OUT: Danilo Gallinari - SF/PF

• OUT: Avery Bradley - PG/SG

• OUT: Patrick Beverley - SG

• UPGRADE: Austin Rivers - PG/SG, Lou Williams - PG/SG

• DTD: C.J. Miles - SG/SF

• UPGRADE: Fred VanFleet - PG/SG

Portland at Oklahoma City

Portland

• PROB: Ed Davis - PF/C

• PROB: Jusuf Nurkic - C

• QUEST: Shabazz Napier - PG/SG

• UPGRADE: Al-Farouq Aminu - SF/PF

• OUT: Andre Roberson - SF/PF

• UPGRADE: N/A

I'm not going to lie to you this is not my favorite slate. It's really slim pickings at forward today but there are some good options at guard and center. Be really careful with which value players you choose to roster. I'm not a fan of all the cheap Golden State options today it's a really poor matchup. Keep an eye on the news especially surrounding Houston. If you have any questions or feedback on the article feel free to tag me in the LineStar chat @glandry. Good luck today and check back for an update!

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