After writing up only large slates the past week, it feels great to see a small four-game slate on my writing plate for the night. Even for the best fantasy analysts, the bigger slates are difficult due to the amount of options. If there’s 10 games, there’s 20 teams, there’s 100 starters and a few bench options viable as well of course. In that 100+ there will be big names that falter, players who do great out of nowhere and no matter how far into the stats you (or for these articles sake, me) look, a lot of it is just random. All we can do is trust that more often than not, the analysis wins out, and hope that you hit on enough of the good plays to at least stay in the green most nights and know that the big days will happen here and there as well.

Enough babbling on about the ups and downs of DFS, let’s get to why we’re here, breaking down this four-game NBA DFS slate on DraftKings. Below I will dish out my top plays, values and positional rankings for tonight’s slate on DraftKings. As always it’s primarily directed towards cash games, but that doesn’t mean it’s not helpful towards GPP tournaments as well and in some instances I mention strong tournament options.

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Vegas lines and totals

Cleveland (-2) @ Boston — 201
Denver (+5.5) @ Minnesota — 204
Houston (+2.5) @ Sacramento — 220
Milwaukee (-2.5) @ LA Lakers — 197.5

Well, there’s that ghastly 220 total again. If you’re not new here, you know I wouldn’t shut up or stop drooling over a 220 point total a couple of weeks back which ended very poorly. The game didn’t even reach 200 points, yeah, that bad. That said, this is a four-game slate so you definitely aren’t shying from the big number on the board, and there isn’t a truly bad line at all on the slate. So, while one shines supreme, we’re not fading any game tonight.

POINT GUARD

Darren Collison ($4,900) – If you didn’t know already, Rajon Rondo is suspended for tonight’s game for the Kings and Darren Collison will step in as the man at the point. Collison has been decent off the bench for Sacramento, albeit a bit inconsistent, but tonight he should get a boost from minutes in the mid-20s to around 40. With his reasonable price and a plus matchup, Collison will be in 100% of my lineups, and I’m ok living or dying by that.

Isaiah Thomas ($7,700) – There’s not many good options at point tonight, so yeah, I’m going with the obvious value play mentioned above and/or the top guy on the board, Isaiah Thomas. IT has been really good all season long, and the past couple games he’s really shined, one being the 2OT loss to Golden State and the other being the next night when I thought they Cs would be tired, but IT came up big once again. He’s averaging 37 fantasy points (FPs) on the year, and his price is fair, plus the upside is there against the Cavs who haven’t faired well against opposing PGs.

Cheap risk option: I usually go with players $4,200 and under here, but there are only four games tonight, so I have to extend that slightly since I am not going to force feed an answer that I have zero belief in like Ty Lawson. So, my cheap play tonight is Jameer Nelson ($4,500) who will again be drawing the start for the Nuggets with Emmanuel Mudiay sidelined. Nelson has proven valuable when given extended minutes this season and at this price he only has to get 22 FPs to hit value, and I have him projected at 30, he had a rough first half last night and still managed 25.75 DK points.

SHOOTING GUARD

James Harden ($10,800) – At 51.9, Harden is averaging the third most DK points per game this season only trailing Russell Westbrook (who really boosted while KD was out) and Stephen Curry. Those other two aren’t playing tonight and the Beard faces Sacramento who is awful against opposing shooting guards. Basically though, there’s a game with a 220 projected total, and when there’s a total like that you want to have the top scorers on your side. I wouldn’t fade.

Will Barton ($6,200) – I really like the values of Barton and Avery Bradley tonight, so much so that I couldn’t decide which of the two to write up and who to simply rank one spot lower in the positional rankings. So, I did what all of the great analytical gurus do, flipped a coin and Barton won. I do like Barton’s matchup slightly better anyways, so I think the coin was right despite the Nuggets being on the back end of a back-to-back. Barton has been the much more consistent of the two averaging 34.6 DK points over the last ten days, and he pitched in another 44 FPs in last night’s game.

Cheap risk option: Iman Shumpert ($3,700) will be playing in his second game of the season, and since the Cavs are coming off of two nights off, he should be fresh and able to play at least equal to the 25 minutes he got in their last game. In that game, Shump managed 18.75 FPs and I think that’s a realistic vicinity to expect for him again, but on a small slate like this, you can handle your punt guys contributing that just fine.

SMALL FORWARD

LeBron James ($10,000) – To slightly modify a quote from my man Omar from the show “The Wire,” you fade against the King, you best not miss. Most will have Harden as the top play of the night and I can’t argue that much, but they’ll also have Cousins as the secondary option whereas I am in the King’s court. The Celtics have been putting on quite the show lately after beating the Bulls and taking the Warriors to two overtimes, and with all of the chit chatter that they’re a legit threat in the East, don’t think Bron aint listening. King James is going to show out tonight, don’t believe me, just watch.

Giannis Antetokounmpo ($6,800) – Absolutely love the Greek Freak tonight, and I’ll try to get him in most of my lineups as Kobe Bryant and his closing in on 40 legs are not going to slow this kid one bit. Good small forwards have been dicing the Lakeshow this season, and Giannis will be no different. I see Giannis building off of his big game against the Warriors where he put up 50 FPs.

Cheap risk option: Corey Brewer ($4,200) is the cheap option I am looking at most at SF tonight. In a game with a 220 total, you usually think of the scorers, but you should also consider that both teams will want a stopper in there, and Brewer is that for the Rockets off the bench. I don’t have him projected for much (just 18 FPs) but like I said before, smaller slate, lower scores overall in DFS. Shabazz Muhammad ($3,600) is a GPP punt option, but his minutes have been FAR too inconsistent to use in cash games.

POWER FORWARD

DeMarcus Cousins ($10,200) – He’s a really good play tonight and any night, but as I said above I just prefer Harden and LeBron of the elite priced options on this slate. Still, I will have at least one lineup where I roll with DMC because, well, he’s an absolute monster who can kill the competition or your entire hopes of cashing any given night.

Kevin Love ($8,000) – Love is more the power forward that I prefer to use tonight as he’ll be looking to show out against the team who injured him in the playoffs last season and cost him the chance to play in the NBA Finals. I don’t love (no pun intended) Kevin overall but there’s not a whole lot to be excited about elsewhere at PF. The minutes for players like Kenneth Faried, Terrence Jones and Julius Randle are far too inconsistent to write up as if I have confidence in them. At least with K-Love you know he’ll play plenty and get around 12 shots, good boards and a little more here and there, but yes, you have to pay up for that.

Cheap risk option: Amir Johnson ($4,700) is not that cheap, I know, but as I said previously, I’m not going to force a cheaper play when I have zero faith in them. Amir is the cheapest guy I would look at tonight in cash games. He’s usually solid for around 24 FPs in around 25 minutes, and he’s just a bit safer than a guy slightly more expensive in Jabari Parker.

CENTER

Greg Monroe ($7,100) – Yes, this is the play at center tonight if you can get yourself to pony up for him. Monroe has had runs of highs and lows this season, he hit another high against Golden State the other night, and tonight he gets the helpless Lakers who allow centers to do whatever they please in the paint. 35 FPs is the floor for Monroe as long as Milwaukee doesn’t make this game ugly too early, which the Vegas line doesn’t project at all.

Kelly Olynyk ($4,400) – If I don’t go with Monroe at center tonight, I’m probably spending up elsewhere and going with Kelly O or my cheap risk option below. The Celtics will need the scoring ability and awkward stylings of Olynyk if they’re going to take out the Cavs tonight, and with that Kelly should play above 25 minutes which is plenty of time for him to eclipse value if Kevin Love doesn’t decide to break his arm.

Cheap risk option: Joffrey Lauvergne ($4,200) is part of an odd and confusing big man rotation for Denver, but he has played like the best of the bunch when healthy most times while Nurkic is sidelined. Lauvergne double-doubled last night in just 21 minutes, so even in a crowded situation, he’s able to get it done although it’s not reliable yet. Still, at this price on a small slate, he’s surely worth considering if you pay up at other positions.

Cash game rankings:

This isn’t necessarily an order of who will score the most DraftKings points. Rather, the rankings are aimed to find the best price, value and production combo to help you win cash games, also taking into account potential ownership levels for each player.

PG
1) Darren Collison
2) Isaiah Thomas
3) Jameer Nelson
4) Michael Carter-Williams
5) Ricky Rubio

SG
1) James Harden
2) Will Barton
3) Khris Middleton
4) Avery Bradley
5) Kevin Martin
6) Iman Shumpert

SF
1) LeBron James
2) Giannis Antetokounmpo
3) Omri Casspi
4) Trevor Ariza
5) Rudy Gay
6) Corey Brewer

PF
1) Kevin Love
2) DeMarcus Cousins
3) Amir Johnson
4) Jabari Parker
5) Kenneth Faried
6) Julius Randle

C
1) Greg Monroe
2) Kelly Olynyk
3) Karl-Anthony Towns
4) Joffrey Lauvergne
5) Jared Sullinger
6) Clint Capela (if he plays)

As always, stay locked to Twitter and Rotoworld for any late-breaking news the hour before the first game tips at 7 p.m. EST. I’ll do my best to update this article as news breaks throughout the day, but the best way to get the latest is always to follow me on Twitter @BigZack44, where I’ll do my best to break down the implications of any late scratches or lineup changes.

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