Garion Thorne dives into Monday’s eight-game NBA featured slate to find three undervalued players to use in your DraftKings lineups.
Who doesn’t love a good gimmick? I know I do — and I guess the NBA does, as well. With all 30 teams in action this evening, we’re getting a staggered start time, with a tip-off every 15 minutes starting at 7:00 p.m. ET. However, this article will focus on just the first eight contests, as that is Monday’s featured slate on DraftKings.
Let’s dive in and try and find some values.
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The Wizards continue to play with the likes of Kyle Kuzma (groin), Malcolm Brogdon (thumb) and Saddiq Bey (knee) sidelined, which means plenty of opportunity for their rookie guard. In the team’s past two games, Carrington leads Washington in minutes per contest (34.9) and sits second in touches per contest (64.5) to only Jordan Poole ($7,800). Yet, despite this massive role, Carrington still sees his price tag sit in the $4K range. The former lottery pick has been a relatively low-usage option for the Wizards, but he’s already proven he doesn’t need a huge scoring output to be effective. In Saturday’s loss to the Heat, Carrington shot 2-of-9 from a the field and was limited to four points. However, Carrington also racked up a team-high eight assists, four rebounds and four steals, allowing him to finish with a respectable 29.0 FPTS. He can stuff the stat sheet in many ways.
It’s been an up-and-down couple of weeks for Edey, who remains the favorite on DraftKings Sportsbook to win Rookie of the Year at +500. The big man has been as promised in the NBA. A rebounding machine that, so far, has been forced to live within a relatively small role. Edey has started all seven games for the Grizzlies this season, yet he’s averaging just 18.3 minutes per game. Still, he’s producing 1.03 FPTS per minute logged and he’s directly on the heels of his first-career double-double, which he achieved Saturday against the 76ers. Edey’s ceiling remains sky-high, it’s simply a matter of finding a matchup to exploit him in — especially now that his salary has come down from the upper $5K range. I think we have that tonight in Brooklyn. The Nets rank 20th in the league in defensive rating (114.7) and 26th in total rebounding rate (47.8%). Edey should be able to own the glass and dominate the paint.
If you’re attempting to derive value from the Jazz on Monday, you’ll obviously have to keep an eye on the status of Lauri Markkanen ($7,800; back). The former All-Star has missed the team’s past two games and he’s listed as questionable for this evening’s meeting with the Bulls. As you would expect, Markkanen played a massive part in his first four contests, possessing a 25.2% usage rate and leading Utah with 18.0 points per game. The other big name on the Jazz’s injury report is Jordan Clarkson (heel). The microwave scorer will miss at least a week with plantar fasciitis, so there’s zero chance he suits up on Monday. That’s where Juzang comes into the picture. In Utah’s first game without Clarkson’s services on Saturday, Juzang led the team’s reserves in minutes (26.8), points (17) and field goal attempts (9). That equated out to 25.5 FPTS. If he’s going to step into the Clarkson role, Juzang has some real appeal, particularly while attached to a frugal price tag. This is a very nice matchup, too. Chicago operates at the NBA’s quickest pace (106.6), so there should be a ton of possessions in this one.
Set your DraftKings fantasy basketball lineups here: NBA $300K Fadeaway [$100K to 1st]
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All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS or DKSB contests.
