NBA DFS Playbook: February 26

Between the All-Star break and his inability to suit up at home, it has been two weeks since we last saw Irving so he should be well rested for tonight. It is a playoff rematch against Milwaukee, but for tonight, Irving is the last star standing and Brooklyn will likely be heavily reliant on him offensively. 

Despite the fact that Morant did return to action after briefly exiting Thursday’s game, there still has to be some concern as he wasn’t himself. At this point, we do have to monitor Morant’s health, but he should be good to go after making just seven 25 field goals as a rebound is almost expected here. I would tread carefully from a exposure perspective though just in case he does reaggravate his issue mid game. 

Young ended the first half of the season shooting poorly (five of 13 from the field) and we saw more of the same from him on Thursday as he made just three of 17 shots. The good news is that Young did finish with 10 assists and he generally isn’t down for too long offensively. 

Milwaukee is suddenly thin in the backcourt and that bodes well for Holiday in a favorable matchup against Brooklyn tonight.  Holiday broke the 20-point mark in three of his last five games prior to the All-Star break and that should continue tonight. 

The rookie continues to log heavy minutes in Chicago’s backcourt but we are also now paying fair market price for Dosunmu. For the fourth straight game, he scored 12 points on Thursday while averaging just under six rebounds and 5.5 assists per game over that stretch. It figures to be a high scoring game against Memphis tonight and Dosunmu should have plenty of opportunity to rack up production as gets close to 40 minutes of playing time once again. 

There was a lot to like from Morris on Thursday as he made seven of nine shots from the field on the way to a 19 point, four assist performance against the Kings. Tonight, Morris gets to face those same Kings once again, and we should see a similar performance. 

Melton isn’t going to jump off the page here, but he has a steady role off the bench for Memphis and generally does enough to finish with about a 5x return. While he is averaging 10 points per game this season, Melton does have the offensive upside to go a little past that if everything goes right.

After scoring 15 points in 24 minutes against the Pistons on Thursday while also handing out five assists and grabbing four rebounds, Goodwin should be back for more tonight against Washington. The Wizards played a double-overtime game last night so this is a situation to target and the playing time will be there for Goodwin. 

Walker comes off a 23-point performance last night against Washington, and tonight he gets to do it again. This time though, Dejounte Murray will be watching from the bench, and Walker will likely be even busier tonight. Yes, the matchup isn’t great against Miami, but, even with Walker potentially coming off the bench, the volume will be there. 

With Dejounte Murray out tonight, Jones elevates into the starting lineup, but I’m not sure it’s worth rushing out to insert him into every lineup. Jones does offer salary relief, but the matchup against Miami is a tough one. When Jones does play around 25 to 30 minutes, like he should tonight, he is generally good around a fantasy point per minute, so the value is there.

It’s clear that LaVine’s knee is going to be an issue, and the 20 points he scored on Thursday against Atlanta aren’t going to cut it. We aren’t getting a discount here, and we know that LaVine can get hot quickly so getting minimal GPP exposure isn’t the worth thing here, but I don’t trust him enough to build my core lineup around him. 

Middleton didn’t close out the first half of the season on the best note as he made just six of 20 shots from the field. The price isn’t too prohibitive tonight and it’s hard to expect Brooklyn to offer up much in the way of defensive resistance which should Middleton in position to have a strong performance. 

Nothing went right for Toronto last night as Charlotte blew them out of the gym. Trent was not immune as he finished with just 12 points on five of 12 shooting from the field. He is a one-dimensional player so we need the shot to fall, and I would expect that to be the case tonight against Atlanta as the Raptors look to bounce back. 

Barton went off against the Kings on Thursday scoring 31 points on 11 of 17 shooting, and while we don’t want to chase a full repeat, a similar performance against Sacramento again tonight is very possible. He will also chip in a few rebounds and assists which gives us a solid floor on top of the offense. 

Brooklyn does get Irving back tonight, but someone still has to score for them. With the Nets likely trailing all night, Curry should be busy trying to keep up with the Bucks as was the case on Thursday when he made 10 of 19 shots from the field against Boston on the way to 22 points. 

Someone has to score tonight for San Antonio, and I expect Vassell to be busy from the field. Last night he was cold from three-point land, making just one of seven attempts, but the Spurs will lean heavily on him tonight. 

The playing time is there for Holiday, but he only took four shots in 28 minutes on Thursday so there is some risk involved. We need Holiday to score as he isn’t going to do much more than pick up a couple of rebounds and assists. 

Williams couldn’t have started off his second half much better than what we saw on Thursday. I’m not sure that we can expect him to shoot seven of 11 from the field again, but 21 points and four rebounds are certainly going to get our attention. The swingman should finish with around 25 minutes of playing time tonight, and that should be enough time for him to get to at least 5x. 

Relatively speaking, it was a quiet game for Butler on Friday as he scored 23 points in 35 minutes of action against the Knicks, but he only added two rebounds and two assists. Butler doesn’t come cheap tonight, but I do like the matchup against San Antonio. 

Barnes is the third option on Sacramento but he has carved out a solid role for the price. It is concerning that Barnes only took seven shots against Denver on Thursday in such a high scoring game, but he consistently finishes in the mid-30’s as far as minutes go. Either way, 14 points, seven rebounds, and four assists isn’t a bad stat line. 

Markkanen came out of the All-Star break shooting on Thursday, and even though he made just six of 16 shots, the forward still finished with 22 points and six rebounds. With Cleveland shorthanded offensively again tonight, there should be plenty of opportunity for Markkanen to get involved, and I feel good about targeting Washington. 

The rookie was the lone bright spot for Toronto last night as he made 13 of 18 shots from the field against Charlotte. Barnes will be back at it tonight, but while we can’t expect a true repeat, the rookie should benefit from OG Anunoby’s injury. 

Brown filled the stat sheet against Boston on Thursday with a complete performance as he scored 15 points while grabbing seven rebounds to go along with five assists. His offense has been consistent as of late, and with Brooklyn still shorthanded, Brown will continue to log heavy minutes and get his shots. 

Lamb jumped right into things with his new team as he scored 11 points in 20 minutes while filling out the stat sheet with a few rebounds, assists, and blocks. It projects to be another high scoring game against Denver and Lamb has a solid role in Sacramento’s rotation. 

Green should start again for Denver, but the hope is that he does better than his three of nine-shooting effort on Thursday. At the price though, the path to 5x isn’t too steep.

Quite simply, Antetokounmpo is a beast, and he should be quite motivated tonight on national television against the Nets to kick off the second half for Milwaukee. He shouldn’t find much resistance against Brooklyn as Antetokounmpo is averaging 29.4 points, 11.2 rebounds, and six assists per game. 

While I don’t want to be the one to jinx Derozan, there are signs suggesting that he is on the verge of slowing down. He is currently working on a streak of eight straight games with at least 35 points, and in a game tonight that sports an over/under of 236, there’s no reason why Derozan won’t bring that streak to nine. He also hasn’t let the rebounding or play making aspects of his game slip and 50 to 55 fantasy points are a nice baseline. 

Sabonis is now shooting 58.2% from the field this season and to say that he is acclimating nicely to his new home would be an understatement. He came out firing from the All-Star break as Sabonis went for 33 points, 14 rebounds and five assists on Thursday against the same Denver team he faces tonight. With an over/under of 236, another high scoring game is expected, and performances like this are what we have come to expect from Sabonis. 

With Washington coming off a double-overtime game last night, there is some concern as Kuzma played 46 minutes last night. Kuzma shot 13 of 27 from the field as he had a monster night with 36 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists after a rough game to close out the first half. He did have some pretty big games before the break as he is, by default, the number one option in Washington, but we also don’t want to get caught chasing last night’s production either. 

Jackson didn’t have the best shooting night on Thursday, six of 15 from the field, but he did finish with 21 points thanks to making nine of his 11 free throw attempts. More importantly, Jackson pulled down 11 rebounds while blocking three shots, and tonight he faces Chicago in a favorable matchup. 

With John Collins still sidelined and Gallinari taking advantage of the increased opportunity, it’s no surprise that his DK price jumped $700 after Thursday’s game. After Gallinari shot 10 of 18 from the field and scored 26 points to go along with nine rebounds, the increase was warranted, but the price is also still fair against a Toronto team that got blown out last night. 

You aren’t going to pay much for Young tonight, and that might be the best thing we can say about him. Last night, Young finished with five points and five rebounds in 21 minutes of action, and we can play on similar playing time tonight. Young has shown the ability to give us more than that in the past from a production standpoint, but this is really a GPP dart to save some salary cap space. 

Last night, Bates-Diop scored six points and grabbed two rebounds in 13 minutes of action. Tonight, he likely moves in the starting lineup, and likely double the playing time. Based on the price, he is worth a GPP look. 

Jokic isn’t going to come cheap tonight, far from it in fact, but once again he should feast against Sacramento and you are pretty much getting a guaranteed double-double with a fairly good chance of Jokic coming close to a triple-double. It’s more about lineup construction than anything else here. 

Had Vucevic made more than four of his 13 field goal attempts on Thursday we would be looking a lot differently at the Chicago center. With 12 points and 10 rebounds we still got another double-double, but Vucevic did leave some production on the table. 

In 35 minutes of action, Adebayo is coming off a monster game against New York last night in which he scored 16 points while grabbing 16 rebounds and blocking four shots. He gets another favorable matchup tonight against San Antonio and represents a solid mid-tier option. 

Portis has emerged as a solid option with a little upside as Milwaukee’s center, and if there is any game that will allow him to flash that upside, it will be tonight against Brooklyn. There are going to be some shooting nights that are better than others, but we don’t have to worry about volume. 

The trade to Brooklyn has opened up more playing for Drummond but he still needs to work on his stamina to fully take advantage of it. On Thursday the result of that was just nine points and six rebounds in 20 minutes, but even in limited playing time, he has proven to be capable of more.

Memphis doesn’t really feature Adams offensively, but his price reflects that. When given the chance, Adams has produced on that end, but what provides the nice cash game floor are his double-digit rebounds. 

Achiuwa has a steady role off the bench for Toronto getting about 20 minutes of playing time per night, and that makes him a fine GPP value option. Last night that translated into nine points and five rebounds and a roughly 6x return.