I’ll be the first to admit if I have an off night and I definitely showed a little post-vacation rust yesterday (especially on my value guys), although I had some good calls as well. John Wall definitely showed up big for the second straight game as I projected, but Klay Thompson was surprisingly a letdown (still managed 29 DK points but Kobe who I didn’t even acknowledge, crushed him). It’s important to understand that sometimes unforeseen things happen and it doesn’t mean that you had the wrong idea, it simply just didn’t work out for one reason or another. Trust the process and keep grinding. I still managed to break even last night, even though I had at least one lineup killer in each lineup it seemed.

Today, we’ll be breaking down the six-game Thursday night slate on DraftKings. I’ll dish out my top plays, values and positional rankings to help you (and myself) finish in the green. Let’s get right to it.

Editor’s Note: If you haven’t deposited at DraftKings yet, we’ll help you get started & give you access to our #FrontOffice for free if you use this link.

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Vegas lines and totals

Oklahoma City (-2) @ Miami — 200.5
Denver (+10.5) @ Toronto — 196.5
Orlando (+5) @ Utah — 189.5
San Antonio (-1.5) @ Memphis — 186.5
Boston (-2) @ Sacramento — 215
Indiana (-2) @ Portland — 201.5

The Magic/Jazz and Spurs/Grizzlies games really stick out with ugly low projected totals, and the Celtics/Kings game screams “stack city bit–, stack stack city bit–!” I will more than likely predominantly fade the two aforementioned low scoring games, aside from maybe a value play or two. I’ll be targeting a lot of the top scorers in the Celtics/Kings game mixing in players from the other non-low totaled matchups. Let’s now look at my top plays for tonight.

POINT GUARD

Kyle Lowry ($8,500) – Even though Derrick Rose didn’t live up to what I thought he could do last night against the Nuggets, doesn’t mean that I am going to stop targeting point guards against Denver. Kyle Lowry has been outstanding this season and the pace that this Raptors/Nuggets game shapes up to be, fits his playing style to a T. Lowry will dice up rookie Emmanuel Mudiay and crew and return fantasy points in the high-40s or maybe even hit fiddy.

Isaiah Thomas ($7,500) – I’m not always big on the whole “revenge game” narrative, but in this case, ALL THE REVENGE! Isaiah Thomas is a guy who carries around a chip on his shoulder for all the times he’s been dissed one way or another and by now, he’s got a full on rock collection. He was the last pick in the second round (aka Mr. Irrelevant), he was told he wasn’t a franchise PG and dealt away by these Sacramento Kings, and while I could keep going, the rest isn’t relevant tonight. Zeke is going to be out for blood tonight in Mexico City, showing them again just how big of a mistake letting him go was. At $7,500 and in a game with a projected total of 215, I am going to be on IT heavy tonight.

Cheap risk option: Cory Joseph ($3,900) should see plenty of run again tonight both backing up Lowry and playing some two guard. Mills has played over 33 minutes the past two games and should see around 30 again tonight when the Raptors play some small ball. Don’t expect any huge output, but fantasy points in the low-20s at this price for a six-game slate is good by me.

SHOOTING GUARD

Dwyane Wade ($6,800) – There are six shooting guards from $7,100-$6,000 tonight, so that’s a lot of options at similar dollar amounts and similar upsides. You can flip a coin if you feel like it, but I am leaning to Wade of the bunch who is coming off a huge game against a tough defensive Boston unit. Wade loves to show out in big games and this one will be against the Thunder on TNT, so Wade will be ready to light it up in front of the home crowd as the nation watches on. I am not expecting another 48 DK point night, but right around the low-40s is more what I’m hoping for.

Will Barton ($5,800) – With Gary Harris out, I’m looking for Barton to continue seeing an increase in minutes and usage, and tonight the Nuggets are going to need him to step it up like he did last night. Yesterday in Chicago, Barton reeled off 30 DK points in 30 minutes of play and he sees an even easier defensive matchup tonight than he did the last.

Cheap risk option: Rodney Stuckey ($3,900) is one of the very few cheap SGs I will consider tonight if needed, because he’s got upside in his 27 minutes a night, but he also has a floor we don’t even want to speak of. Stuckey is more of a GPP option for me, but I feel decently safe saying he should at least get you 15-20 DK points.

SMALL FORWARD

Kevin Durant ($10,100) – I absolutely have to have KD tonight. Not sure I’ll have a lineup without him honestly. He’s been magnificent lately and the Heat have nobody that is going to have a chance to slow him down. Pending an unlikely brutal shooting night, KD should easily surpass 50 fantasy points tonight just as he has in the last three OKC games.

Rudy Gay ($7,000) – As mentioned earlier, I want the top scoring players in this high totaled game, and Rudy Gay is just that. Rudy can be inconsistent, as some nights he’s taking 20 shots and others 12, some nights he can’t miss and some nights he can’t buy a bucket. Everyone knows how Rudy is a risk/reward guy, but tonight I feel like he can’t possibly do worse than 30 DK points with an upside near 50.

Cheap risk option: 30, 21, 32, 29, 19, 37 and 25, those are the DK point totals for Matt Barnes ($4,300) over the last seven games. It seems as though Barnes is locked in for 27 minutes a night where he’ll take around 11 shots, grab a handful of boards and get a steal or so. He’s been really reliable recently, and at this price, I’m all for that.

POWER FORWARD

DeMarcus Cousins ($10,600) – He’s DeMarcus Cousins, what more do I need to say? The Celtics have nobody capable of stopping DMC (does anyone?) and the Kings will continue to ride their big man until the wheels fall off. The only real question is if Boogie stops around 50 DK points or pushes to 60+. I’m going to try for a GPP lineup with both DMC and KD if I can find the values to make it work.

Serge Ibaka ($6,200) – If I don’t go with Cousins at PF, I will likely save a chunk of money and drop to a solid player like Ibaka. Serge matches up well with Chris Bosh and should be able to definitely put up above his season DK point average of 29.5 by a little bit. Let’s all hope that he bumps up the rebounding numbers to go along with his quality points and blocks.

Cheap risk option: Trevor Booker ($4,000) will likely be over 50% owned tonight in both GPP and cash lineups, but I am still going to be a part of that high owner’s percentage. With Rudy Gobert sidelined for a while, Booker should see a good boost in minutes and when he gets extra PT he tends to use it well. In the same game, Andrew Nicholson ($3,700) has averaged 25 minutes the last five games and while it’s never safe to assume a trend will continue with Scott Skiles, Nicholson has been good enough lately that you’d expect it to at least continue for the time being. Nicholson will benefit from Gobert being out and should hit over 20 fantasy points.

CENTER

Nikola Vucevic ($6,600) – Vucci mane is a tough one to risk in cash games, but when he sees over 30 minutes of court time, he delivers nicely to his DFS owners. Magic coach Scott Skiles though is totally unpredictable game-to-game, but Vooch has played 32+ minutes in three of the last four games and with Rudy Gobert out, Nikola should have a better opportunity to put up big fantasy numbers. With Gobert out and playing just 29 minutes against the Jazz a couple weeks back, Vooch still put up 38 fantasy points. I like the value at this price tonight for Vucci.

Bismack Biyombo ($4,900) – He’s not a sexy name, but Biyombo has been a rebounding machine since Jonas Valanciunas became sidelined. Biymobo will be going at the mostly under-sized bigs tonight and that should lead to more boards and some blocks. Bismack has eight blocks in just the last two games, so regardless of his lack of scoring, he should hit above value.

Cheap risk option: Joffrey Lauvergne ($3,900) is really the only big fella below $4K that I am using at all tonight. Joffrey has looked good in his most recent two games since returning from injury, and I think he’s a really good play at this price tonight. With 16 and 25 DK points over the last two games and looking better each night, if they allow him to play this back-to-back (I expect him to play) then he should hit around 25 or so fantasy points again against the Raptors tonight.

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) Isaiah Thomas
2) Kyle Lowry
3) Mike Conley
4) Russell Westbrook
5) Cory Joseph
6) Damian Lillard
7) Rajon Rondo

SG
1) Dwyane Wade
2) Will Barton
3) Avery Bradley
4) DeMar DeRozan
5) Rodney Hood
6) Monta Ellis

SF
1) Kevin Durant
2) Matt Barnes
3) Rudy Gay
4) Gordon Hayward
5) DeMarre Carroll

PF
1) DeMarcus Cousins
2) Trevor Booker
3) Serge Ibaka
4) Andrew Nicholson
5) Derrick Favors
6) Ed Davis
7) Chris Bosh

C
1) Nikola Vucevic
2) Joffrey Lauvergne
3) Bismack Biyombo
4) Marc Gasol
5) Tim Duncan
6) Jared Sullinger

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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