Tastefully curated today by LineStar Fantasy Expert @GLandry on NBA chat.

5:30 PM EST UPDATE: Let's jump right in. A lot going on. We'll start with the Rockets. Eric Gordon is questionable while Ryan Anderson and Luc Mbah a Moute have both been ruled out. The remaining starters are expected to see limited minutes. Gerald Green is in play and you could take a shot at Joe Johnson. They've been limiting him as well but with the starters playing fewer minutes and BOTH Anderson and Moute out it wouldn't shock me to see Johnson see more time. For the Jazz, Dante Exum is questionable. If he were to miss Raul Neto would get the backup point guard minutes. This is a meaningful game so I would still expect Rubio to play the majority. In LA, the Clippers have ruled out Lou Williams so expect Tyrone Wallace to play plenty of minutes. Montrezl Harrell is questionable and Austin Rivers is likely to play. So, unfortunately, we won't get another shot a Sindarius Thornwell. For the Lakers, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, and Brandon Ingram are all out. Josh Hart will start for Kuzma and get the biggest boost. In Boston, Terry Rozier and Al Horford are both out. Jaylen Brown sees the biggest usage bump with Greg Monroe behind him. I'm still hesitant to play those guys though as they could wind up being limited. I'm more interested in Shane Larkin. For the 76ers, Dario Saric is probable to play. This will knock Ersan Ilyasova to the bench. I have interest in both of them. Without Embiid there are still a lot of minutes to go around. For Milwaukee, Shabazz Muhammad is listed as questionable, Giannis Antetokounmpo will play but will "have his minutes monitored" and Matthew Dellavedova has also been cleared to play. I'm staying away from this situation. The rotation will be difficult to predict. In Detroit, Andre Drummond is out as expected. Eric Moreland is in play on DraftKings only. He got a major price increase on FanDuel. In Minnesota, Taj Gibson is on track to play. This isn't very exciting from a DFS standpoint but worth mentioning. For the Heat, Goran Dragic is doubtful. The last time Dragic missed Rodney McGruder started and had 21 fantasy points in 21 minutes. The Heat could also slide Tyler Johnson to the point guard spot and move Wayne Ellington into the starting role. Coach Spoelstra has said the rest of the rotation would play as usual. For the Nets, Caris LeVert is available to play. DeMarre Carroll, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Joe Harris are all out. Allen Crabbe, coming off a career night, should see heavy minutes again. Nik Stauskas should also get some extended time. For the Knicks, Courtney Lee has been downgraded to questionable while Enes Kanter, Emmanuel Mudiay, and Tim Hardaway Jr are all out. Jarrett Jack has been picking up the backup point guard minutes recently with Frank Ntilikina starting at shooting guard and Damyean Dotson getting extra minutes off the bench. Kyle O'Quinn will start at center. For Cleveland, Rodney Hood is out. Kyle Korver will likely start but is still on a minutes restriction as far as I know so expect J.R. Smith to be the biggest beneficiary in this. For Washington, John Wall and Otto Porter Jr are both "unlikely to play" tonight. Kelly Oubre and Tomas Satoransky would both start and Bradley Beal sees the biggest usage increase. For Sacramento, Frank Mason, Garrett Temple, and Skal Labissiere are all out. Jakar Sampson should get the start at power forward. Buddy Hield will continue to get extra minutes off the bench. De'Aaron Fox will play plenty at point guard. Fox is the only potential option here as he's the only point guard on the roster and will play a ton of minutes. For Orlando, Aaron Gordon, Nikola Vucevic, and D.J. Augustin will all see limited minutes. Lastly, for the Raptors, Fred VanFleet and Lucas Nogueira are both questionable. There is no news on if the Raptors plan to rest players. That's everything we have at the moment. I still think more news will happen before lock so stay alert. See you over on the baseball page tomorrow. Good luck tonight!

We made it! Well, sort of, we still need to survive today. The last regular season games of the season. There is still a ton on the line tonight so before we try to figure out possible players we could use for rosters let's first do a quick game by game look at what's at stake. This should help us narrow down our player pool as tonight is a huge slate.

Brooklyn at Boston: Meaningless. Brooklyn is out and Boston is locked into the 2nd seed in the east. I incorrectly predicted that Boston's starters would rest last night. Almost all of them played over 30 minutes despite Coach Stevens saying they would be on minute limits. I'm still staying away from the regular rotation guys here. They could sit tonight altogether or potentially take a seat in the 4th quarter.

San Antonio at New Orleans: The Pelicans would clinch fifth with a win AND a Utah win over Portland AND an Oklahoma City win (against Memphis). Clinches sixth with a win AND a Portland win AND an Oklahoma City win. Clinches eighth with a loss. San Antonio clinches fifth with a win AND a Utah win over Portland AND an Oklahoma City win (against Memphis). Clinches sixth with a win AND a Portland win AND an Oklahoma City win. Clinches seventh with a loss AND a Minnesota win over Denver. Clinches eighth with a loss AND a Denver win over Minnesota. Important game. All the regular guys are in play here.

New York at Cleveland: The Knicks are out. Cleveland does not control their own destiny. They clinch third with a win AND by Philadelphia losing its final game (against the Bucks). The regular guys are in play for Cleveland. The Knicks have some injuries so they could present some value.

Washington at Orlando: Washington clinches sixth with a win AND a Milwaukee loss (against the 76ers) AND a Miami loss (against the Raptors). Clinches seventh with a win AND a Milwaukee loss AND a Miami win. Clinches eighth with a loss OR a Milwaukee win AND a Miami win. They are my favorite team tonight which I'll get to in a minute. Orlando is out. I would stick to their reserve players as most of their regular guys have been playing limited minutes recently.

Denver at Minnesota: Game of the night. Win or go home. Minnesota clinches seventh with a win AND an Oklahoma City win (against Memphis) AND a San Antonio win (against New Orleans). Clinches eighth with a win AND an Oklahoma City win AND a New Orleans win. Misses the playoffs with a loss to Denver. Denver clinches seventh with a win over the Timberwolves. Starters are obviously in play.

Detroit at Chicago: Meaningless. Most of Chicago's regulars are out and Detroit is expected to be without Andre Drummond again in addition to some other guys who've been out for a couple of weeks. Reserve players here.

Memphis at OKC: Memphis is out. They have a rotation of reserve players who have been playing regular minutes for a couple of weeks. You could look to them for value. Oklahoma City clinches sixth with a win AND a Utah win over Portland. Clinches fourth with a win AND a Portland win over Utah. I think I'm avoiding the Thunder tonight. This game will get ugly and the Thunder could sit guys in the 4th with a big lead.

Milwaukee at Philadelphia: Milwaukee clinches sixth with a win. Clinches seventh with a loss AND a Miami win (against the Raptors) AND a Washington loss (against the Orlando Magic) OR a Miami loss AND a Washington win. Clinches eighth with a loss AND a Miami win AND a Washington win. Philadelphia clinches third with a win OR by the Cleveland Cavaliers losing (against the New York Knicks). Everyone is in play.

Toronto at Miami: Toronto is locked into the top seed in the east. It wouldn't shock me to see players get rested. The only thing here is the outcome of this game (and a couple others) will determine the Raptors' first-round opponent which makes things interesting. Miami clinches sixth with a win AND a Milwaukee loss (against the Sixers). Clinches seventh with a win AND a Milwaukee win OR a loss AND a Washington loss (against the Magic). Clinches eighth with a loss AND a Washington win. Their regular guys are in play.

LA Lakers at LA Clippers: Meaningless. The Lakers have had a regular rotation of some starters and reserved guys for a week or so that you can play if you like them. The Clippers had a bunch of starters suddenly hurt once they were eliminated and offered some value in their last game. We'll have to watch the news here throughout the day.

Utah at Portland: Utah clinches third with a win. Clinches fifth with a loss AND an Oklahoma City win in its final game (against Memphis). Portland clinches third with a win. Clinches fourth if it loses its final game (against Utah). Can’t finish lower than fourth. All the regular guys are in play.

Houston at Sacramento: Houston is locked into the top seed in the west. I expected guys to rest last night and that did not happen. I would expect guys to rest tonight but no guarantee. The Kings are a mess and even their value plays don't interest me. 

The pre-lock update will be posted between 5:30 pm EST and 6 pm EST so keep an eye out for that. As always you can feel free to tag me in the NBA chat @glandry. I'm always up for talking DFS and would love any feedback about the daily articles so we can be sure they are adding value to your research process.

Guards

Bradley Beal, WAS [@ORL] (DK: $7.8K, FD: $8.7K)

As we highlighted above Washington can still improve its playoff seeding with a win today and some help in other games. Despite this, John Wall is expected to sit as he's still coming back from his knee injury and this is the second night of a back to back in which he played 37 minutes. It's also worth noting that Otto Porter Jr. left last night's game early and is questionable for today. With both of those guys missing Beal sees a 4.76% usage increase. This is a game the Wizards want to win and can still do so even with a couple of starters missing. The Magic are pretty terrible, but still, the Wizards will need a nice game from Beal. The combination of having increased usage and a game with meaning make him one of my favorite players on the board today. He's especially interesting on DraftKings where he's $900 cheaper.

Jeff Teague, MIN (vs. DEN) (DK: $7.2K, FD: $7.4K)

You're going to want exposure to this game. In their three meetings this season the largest margin of victory is only eight points. The second game, on December 27th, went to overtime and finished with 253 total points. Obviously, we can't predict something like the overtime game will happen again but we know this will be competitive. Teague has played well against Denver this season with fantasy point totals of 37, 38 and 26. He's also been hot in the Timberwolves' last two games with 47 and 48 fantasy points. In the last week, he's averaged 21.3 points per game and 7.3 assists per game. We know Denver's struggles with guarding the point guard position. Jamal Murray is not a good defensive player. They are 26th in defensive efficiency and give up an average of 34.1 fantasy points per game to point guards. Teague is a guy I don't find myself rostering often. He never seems to stand out on slates and his price is always in the middle of nowhere and you either wind up paying up at the position or paying down below him. He definitely stands out today and I'm looking for him to keep this hot streak going and put up another big night in a win or go home situation.

Luke Kennard, DET [@CHI] (DK: $4.3K, FD: $6.1K)

I'll start off by saying this is DraftKings only. The Detroit player's prices went through the roof on FanDuel. Kennard and Eric Moreland both increased over $2K after their last game. I don't like them enough to pull the trigger after that kind of price increase. There's a lot of studs in meaningful games on this slate. You're going to have to find some salary relief somewhere. A few of these meaningless games should provide us with just that. Kennard has been playing well recently with 34 and 35 fantasy points in his last two games. He's also had success, from the bench, against the Bulls with performances of 23, 25 and, 30 fantasy points. Kennard is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the recent Pistons' injuries. Assuming Andre Drummond misses tonight alongside Reggie Bullock and Blake Griffin, Kennard sees a 3.84% usage increase which equals about 12 additional fantasy points per game. On top of the increased usage, the Bulls are 24th in average fantasy points allowed to opposing shooting guards. FanDuel's price takes him off the table for me but he's firmly in play tonight on DraftKings.

Forwards

Jimmy Butler, MIN [vs. DEN] (DK: $7.4K, FD: $7.8K)

It's time. I mean it has to be right? If they don't win tonight they don't play anymore so what could you possibly be saving him for? I've avoided Jimmy this week as he eases his way back from a knee injury. But, with two games under his belt playing only 23 minutes each time we should see the restrictions removed tonight as the Timberwolves look to make the postseason. Since coming back from his injury, his price has dropped significantly so now is the perfect time to jump aboard. Assuming we get 30 minutes from him under $8K on both sites is just way too cheap. In their last game against Denver in which Butler played, he had 53 fantasy points. He'll be chalk, I would think, so you could potentially pivot elsewhere in tournaments if you're not convinced he'll get the minutes today. If he wasn't just coming back from injury he'd be mid $9K on both sites in this spot.

Ersan Ilyasova, PHI [vs. MIL] (DK: $6.3K, $6.1K)

I'm interested in Ilyasova regardless of the status of Dario Saric.  In case you missed it Saric got clocked in the face at the very beginning of last night's game and suffered a broken tooth and cut lip. He'll be visiting the dentist this morning and that should determine his status for tonight. If he plays, I have interest in both players. As we know by now, Milwaukee is one of the worst teams defending the frontcourt. They rank 29th in average fantasy points allowed per game to opposing power forwards over their last ten games. I actually prefer Ilyasova off the bench as he commands more usage when he's with the second unit. But, if he ends up starting it's still a great spot and the extra minutes will obviously help. The 76ers want this game badly so they will be all in. They control their own destiny and a win secures the 3rd seed regardless of what happens to Cleveland. A win also means they wouldn't get matched up with this same team in the first round of the playoffs. If I'm Philadelphia I would much rather play the Heat or the Wizards in the first round then Giannis Antekounmpo's Milwaukee Bucks. I'll have exposure to the 76ers tonight with Ilyasova likely being my highest owned player on the team. Let's also not forget, the winning streak is still alive.

Kelly Oubre, WAS [@ORL] (DK: $5.2K, FD: $4.8K)

The Wizards are my favorite team to target tonight. With Wall expected to rest and Porter Jr. likely to miss to give himself extra time to recover before the playoffs, there is plenty of minutes and usage to go around in a game they still want to win. Similar to Beal, Oubre sees a nice usage bump with those guys off the court. We currently have him listed as one of the top values on both sites, particularly FanDuel where he's priced under $5K. The Magic are ranked 20th on the season in average fantasy points allowed to opposing small forwards. Oubre typically averages minutes in the mid-20s but I like him to get over 30 minutes tonight and break 30 fantasy points as well.

Centers

Nikola Jokic, DEN [@MIN] (DK: $10.6K, $11.5K)

We know what's at stake in this game so there's no need to repeat it. The Nuggets will need a big game from their star center to extend their season. On Monday, I wrote about Jokic in this article and mentioned how his increased price made me uneasy as his performances can fluctuate quite a bit. But, I had confidence in him because of how important that game was. Even in a tough matchup against Portland, he came through with yet another triple-double including 20 rebounds and 11 assists resulting in 63 fantasy points. Tonight, in an equally important game, with two nights to rest if they win before the playoffs start, Jokic will go all out. This is a much easier matchup than Portland as Karl Anthony-Towns is not a great defender and the Timberwolves rank 22nd on the season in average fantasy points allowed to centers. If you look at the daily matchup tool today don't worry about it saying that Minnesota is 12th against centers in their last ten games. They didn't suddenly get good at defense they've just had a bunch of starting centers play limited minutes against them recently which has driven down their fantasy points against numbers. It's difficult to predict triple-doubles but I'll go out on a limb and say Jokic does it again tonight.

Karl Anthony-Towns, MIN [vs. DEN] (DK: $10.1K, FD: $10.6K)

It should be a war down low between Jokic and Towns. The motivation in this game will be highest of any other game tonight so it makes these players the safest to target. Jokic has the higher ceiling but also the lower floor. I'm assuming, based on recent play, Jokic will be more popular though we know Towns is capable of putting up big games himself. He won't exactly be sneaky but I do think he could carry less ownership than Jokic. The Nuggets rank 27th in average fantasy points allowed to opposing centers over their last ten games. When these teams played earlier this month Towns put up a respectable 48 fantasy points. Ideally, we are going to want more than that given his salary but the floor is certainly strong enough that he won't kill your lineup. It wouldn't shock me to see him play over 40 minutes tonight. He'll need to be on the floor as often as possible for them to have a chance in this game.

Pau Gasol, SA [@NOP] (DK: $4.9K, FD: $4.5K)

This game will get less attention then Denver and Minnesota since both teams have already clinched the playoffs but it has pretty serious seeding implications. As I highlighted earlier a New Orleans loss automatically means they fall all the way to the eighth seed and would have to travel to Houston for round one. San Antonio could also fall to the eighth seed with a loss and a couple other things that would need to happen. There is no easy out in the western conference but I believe both of these teams would rather start the postseason avoiding both Houston and Golden State if they could. We've highlighted Gasol before and pointed out that his minutes haven't been at a level you would want for DFS purposes. After a couple of games with increased minutes and productivity (32 fantasy points in 29 minutes and 26 fantasy points in 26 minutes), he came back down again in their last game scoring 19 fantasy points in 20 minutes. My assumption is they gave him a break assuming they could beat the Kings and save him for tonight where he can go all out and then get a couple nights off again before the postseason starts. I would expect him to get over 25 minutes tonight. The best part is his salary also dropped. The decrease is only $300 on DraftKings but $1200 on Fanduel making him a rare value play in one of the more meaningful games of the day. It's worth noting Aldridge also had a $700 decrease on FanDuel (how is it that these guys dropped this much in a huge game but the Detroit backup players prices shot up by $2K?) He's also had success this season against the Pelicans putting up 40 fantasy points in just 25 minutes back on November 22nd. If you want to be different in your lineups, Gasol could be viewed as a pivot off of Jokic and Towns that comes with significant salary savings you can spend elsewhere.

Injuries 🤕

Brooklyn at Boston

Brooklyn:

• PROB: Caris LeVert - PG/SG

• OUT: Joe Harris - SG/SF

• OUT: DeMarre Carroll - SF

• OUT: Isaiah Whitehead - PG

• UPGRADE: Dante Cunningham - PF/C, Allen Crabbe - SG/SF

Boston:

• DTD: Guerschon Yabusele - SF/PF

• OUT: Marcus Smart - PG/SG

• OUT: Kyrie Irving - PG

• OUT: Daniel Theis - PF/C

• UPGRADE: Terry Rozier - PG/SG, Jabari Bird - SG, Semi Ojeleye - SG/SF

San Antonio at New Orleans

San Antonio:

• OUT: Kawhi Leonard - SF

• UPGRADE: N/A

New Orleans:

• OUT: DeMarcus Cousins - PF/C

• UPGRADE: N/A

New York at Cleveland

New York:

• DOUBT: Tim Hardaway Jr - SG/SF

• DOUBT: Enes Kanter - C

• OUT: Emmanuel Mudiay - PG

• OUT: Troy Williams - SF/PF

• UPGRADE: Kyle O'Quinn - PF/C, Damyean Dotson - SG/SF, Lance Thomas - SF/PF, Jarrett Jack - PG, Trey Burke - PG

Cleveland:

• QUEST: Rodney Hood - SG/SF

• UPGRADE: J.R. Smith - SG/SF

Tonight will be a lot of fun with so much still at stake. I would expect a heavy news day as the case has been all week so be sure to check back for the pre-lock update. As far as attacking this slate, the sites are tempting us a bit with some of the pricing. For example, Jaylen Brown stood out to me almost immediately at only $5.1K on FanDuel. That's incredibly inexpensive for him in a great matchup against Brooklyn. But, do we think he plays a full game tonight? I don't so I'm not sure I can use him. But it's tempting. Plus, I was way off on Boston last night so we'll have to see if we get any clarification. For me, I'm going to stick to the teams still fighting for position and mix in value reserves from the teams who are eliminated and giving their younger guys run. Teams like Toronto, Boston, Houston, and Golden State are all off my list completely with nothing to gain or lose. I'm also crossing off the Thunder even though the game is meaningful to them as they should completely destroy the Grizzlies and I would highly doubt their starters play late in the game. That helps us narrow down the player pool quite a bit right off the bat.

Tomorrow and Friday I'll be covering the MLB slates so make sure to find me over there. Then we'll be back to basketball this weekend to kick off NBA playoffs DFS starting Saturday! Tag me on chat @glandry with any questions or feedback! Thank you for reading!

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