Optimal: Antetokounmpo, Young, Bridges (FD), Kuzma (DK). Olynyk (FD), K. Johnson (DK), Alvarado (FD), B. Brown. Rollins, Bona (DK), Trent Jr. (FD), Nurkic
GPP: Towns (FD), Durant, Booker, Sengun, Hart (FD), Bridges (FD), Anunoby (FD), Simons (FD), Camara (FD), Sochan, LeVert, Robinson, Simpson, Mogbo, Krecji
Pending Injury News: Simons (FD), Olynyk, Yabusele, Hawkins, LeVert
We end our week with a split slate. FD has included the earlier tip-off for 7 games, and DK is starting an hour later, giving them 6 games. It’s a Sunday, so keep an eye on injury updates since with no shootaround and some teams trying to hold it together until the end of the season, we get less information early. Let’s get to it!
Our FD exclusive game has the Portland Trail Blazers visiting the New York Knicks. For the Blazers, there’s not a ton to stand out, and Anfernee Simons has been on a cold streak but is seeing the court a ton. This is a nice get right spot for him if he ends up playing. Toumani Camara scores great on FD with his stock upside and is a very nice midrange option. For the Knicks, Delon Wright is one of the top pt/$ plays as he started and played the last game. He’s probably not going to blow you away with the options on this team, but he is a reliable salary saver that should be safe from single-digit points. The trio of OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, and Mikal Bridges all went off last game, but we’d stick to playing no more than 2 of them. OG has been the hottest of the group, scoring over 40 fantasy points in four of his last five. Bridges usually scores the most, but does have the lowest floor since peripherals aren’t his thing. Hart is the opposite, where he stuffs the stat sheet, and we just need to hope he is proactive in shooting the ball so his scoring can carry him to his ceiling. Karl Anthony-Towns is always going to be one of the top center options, and Portland is not a great defensive rebounding team, so this spot sets up nicely for him.
We have a glut of games that tip-off at 7 PM ET, starting with the Golden State Warriors and the San Antonio Spurs. This is our only game with a double-digit spread at 12 points, and it does carry some blowout risk. For the Warriors, nothing much stands out. With the blowout concern Butler at his ownership on FD isn’t great, and they have been playing 9 and 10 guys in the rotation again, so we just don’t feel confident in the minutes. For the Spurs, Jeremy Sochan started again in the last game and played 31 minutes. He’s too cheap if he starts again and is a great play, since whoever starts is getting the most minutes there. Keldon Johnson is the only bench guy getting anything consistent, and while we don’t expect him to hit 34 minutes like last game, he should be in the high 20s at a minimum.
Up next, we have the Charlotte Hornets visiting the New Orleans Pelicans. These teams are both bottom to in offensive efficiency and pace in March, so this could be a snoozer. For the Hornets, though, guys are cheap enough that there are some interesting plays. We’ll need to keep an eye on the starting lineup, as that will probably differentiate whether Jusuf Nurkic or Moussa Diabate ends up the better center play. Right now, projections are assuming Nurkic starts, hence the massive difference in ownership projections, but whoever starts here is one of the best values on the slate since the Pelicans have next to nothing inside. Miles Bridges is going to have a ton of usage with Ball out, but with how slow the game could be, his ownership projection makes us a bit leery in GPPs. KJ Simpson is projected for 31 minutes, but he and Nick Smith Jr. basically shared the guard minutes, and they each got 25 in the first game sans Ball. We wouldn’t play them together, and they’re both cheap enough that they are viable.Jjust know we see a pretty viable path to both coming in under their minutes projection. For the Pelicans, they are pretty shorthanded, which is causing a lot of guys to look good. We like Jose Alvarado to challenge for 30 minutes with this game anticipated to be close, and he’s been pretty productive when getting those kinds of minutes. Bruce Brown is in a similar spot, where the price just doesn’t match his current role. If Kelly Olynyk plays, he makes a great cash play, but he would be lower on the totem pole for us in GPPs for this team. No one else looks like they have steady enough minutes to count on here, but there are some injuries we are monitoring that could change things closer to tip, but with the cheap pricetags, you can play multiple Pelicans.
We go from the lowest total of the night to the highest when the Atlanta Hawks play the Milwaukee Bucks. For the Hawks, Trae Young is the kind of guard who routinely gives the Bucks fits and is in an awesome spot. He’ll be pretty popular, but it’s for a good reason, and it isn’t quite high enough in projections to scare us off. Caris LeVert has been closing at times for this team and will benefit from the pace here, and he is a nice option if he plays. If he misses, Terance Mann becomes viable, but we’d only prefer him if LeVert misses. Vit Krecji started the last game and played 26 minutes because they needed someone who could shoot in the starting lineup. If he starts again, he becomes a viable low-owned value. For the Bucks, there is a lot of value on this slate and not a lot of places to spend, so Giannis Antetokounmpo has some crazy projected ownership. As much as we like to say you can always find merit to fade at those levels, he just has a chance to score 15 more points than the next person on this slate. We prefer just putting him in with Dame out and playing the Hawks and getting different in a value spot or two. Ryan Rollins started and played 34 minutes last game, and the Hawks are similar in having no one to really stop guards (or anyone really), so we anticipate he should get the bulk of the minutes over Porter here. Gary Trent Jr. has been on the court at least 31 minutes in his last four games and scored well in each. This is a case of the price not reflecting the role, and he’s viable in all formats. The same can be said for Kyle Kuzma, as he’s another guy that will benefit from the pace here.
We get back to the slower games next, as the Detroit Pistons play the Minnesota Timberwolves. Both these teams are top 5 this month in defensive efficiency, so not a lot is standing out. For the Pistons, being without Cade makes it even worse. Dennis Schroder will be on the ball a lot, but the T-Wolves are just a brutal matchup for guards. We would just pass on this team. For the T-Wolves, Mike Conley is a bit too cheap on DK at $3.4k, as he’s been starting and even closed the last game, too. He’s getting to the mid-20s in minutes, so that makes him viable as a value piece. Outside that, it gets pretty icky, like it does for Detroit. Just too much defense here.
Our biggest tank-off game this evening takes place when the Toronto Raptors visit the Philadelphia 76ers. For the Raptors, Ja’Kobe Walter has scored in double figures in three straight games. His perpehirals aren’t usually great, making him more of a floor play than ceiling as his price comes up. He’s the only guy whose minutes aren’t getting yanked around a ton right now, and while guys like Johnathan Mobgo and Orlando Robinson project well and do put up numbers when getting the minutes, they aren’t always able to count on seeing the court over 20-22 minutes. For the Sixers, Adem Bona started and got 30 minutes last game. This is another case where if he starts, we feel pretty secure about his time, otherwise, it gets dicey. With Toronto being 1st in defensive efficiency for March, we can’t get behind anything else here for the Sixers, as they’ve been consistently holding guys to bad fantasy outings this month.
Our last game for the evening features the Houston Rockets and the Phoenix Suns. For the Rockets, they are healthy for the first time in a while, with guys like VanVleet and Thompson back in the lineup after missing some time. With this, their prices are mostly all too high for their current roles. The only ones we’d consider is Dillon Brooks on FD, where he’s still sub-$5k, but more as a last piece than someone who should be a priority. The other one is Alperen Sengun, who has his best games in matchups like this against smaller frontcourts. For Phoenix, both Devin Booker and Kevin Durant are barely leaving the floor as they push for a playoff spot, and while we wouldn’t play them together, both of them are places we can spend our salary from the amount of value we have. Outside of them, it’s been a lot of mixing and matching, and no one is regularly seeing over 25 minutes, so we’d just stick to these two. Good luck to everyone this evening!