Preseason NBA DFS Primer for 12/17 - Daily Fantasy Basketball Advice for FanDuel, DraftKings

Welcome back my fellow preseason DFS degenerates! We have two big slates left this preseason with seven games tonight and then eight games on Friday. Then we are looking at only three games on Saturday and a few days off until opening night next Tuesday!

We have a few rematches tonight as the Spurs and Rockets faced off already on Tuesday as well as the Warriors and Kings. The Hornets and Magic will face off again on Saturday along with the Pistons/Wizards and Hawks/Grizzlies. All of the other teams in action tonight will be playing their final preseason game so figuring out how each of those coaches will approach their rotations will be paramount (heck, maybe they will even just tell us!)

I highly encourage you to follow me on Twitter and check out the list of beat writers that I follow to keep informed on the latest up-to-date information about each team and their plans for minutes and rotations.

I really hope you consider our NBA DFS Premium membership this season. We will be covering every regular season and postseason slate with our all-inclusive NBA Cheat Sheet and you'll have access to tools such as our NBA Research Station, Matchup Ratings, and Optimizer! Our NBA team brings years of DFS experience and knowledge to the table every day and all premium members have access to our slack chat where we have live Q + A sessions every slate an hour before lineups lock! Use promo code THUNDERDAN to save 10% off your membership!

In this article, I will be providing you with my daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for FanDuel and DraftKings on 12/17/20. You can find me in the RotoBaller Premium NBA Chat Room or @ThunderDanDFS on Twitter.

Preseason NBA Overview

The first thing you need to know is that building lineups on FanDuel and DraftKings this preseason is going to be very different. FanDuel has decided to keep their prices low (no one priced over 6,000) and therefore, you can build a lineup with any nine players you want as long as you roster two PG, SG, SF, PF, and one C. We can leverage that on FanDuel by rostering some lesser-known players since we should expect the well-known players to be more highly-rostered, especially amongst more casual players and fans. All prices listed in the article are DraftKings prices since the FD prices simply don't matter.

DraftKings has priced guys as they would on a normal slate for the most part, but we do get discounts on superstars if we want to cram some into lineups. I like to use a balance of younger players with some veterans that we can project for solid minutes and, honestly, every slate is different to some degree. With only a few days of practice before the first preseason games, I would expect we don't see any big minutes for starters in the first few games with most teams easing their guys into action.

Preseason NBA DFS Injuries/Rest

Knowing who is playing on any NBA slate is half the battle. Getting injury info on preseason slates is a tad harder than in the regular season but here's what we know right now.

ALREADY RULED OUT: 

Gordon Hayward, D'Angelo Russell, Derrick White, Keldon Johnson, Keita Bates-Diop, Killian Tillie, Kris Dunn, Tony Snell, Justise Winslow, Jaren Jackson Jr., Naz Reid, Draymond Green, Jabari Parker, Cory Joseph, James Wiseman, Daquan Jeffries, Jay Scrubb, Udoka Azubuike, Shaquille Harrison

DOUBTFUL:

James Ennis III, Mohamed Bamba, Deividas Sirvydis, Davis Bertans, Jontay Porter, Rajon Rondo

QUESTIONABLE:

Russell Westbrook, Terrence Ross, Jerome Robinson, Rui Hachimura, Ish Smith, Christian Wood, Onyeka Okongwu, Sterling Brown, Cam Reddish, Kevin Huerter, Brandon Clarke, Clint Capela, Eric Paschall, Alen Smailagic, Royce O'Neale, Marcus Morris Sr.

SITUATIONS TO AVOID

Stay tuned here but I have a feeling that the Clippers could sit their stars in their finale. I'll be trying to tweet out updates if we get some more soundbites from coaches during the day.

Preseason NBA DFS Core Plays

Luka Doncic - PG ($9,000) SG on FanDuel

Mavs coach Rick Carlisle hinted that today could be a "dress rehearsal" (that phrase is annoying, but we may hear it a lot the next few days) which would mean Luka could play close to 30 minutes again. He could be the top raw points play on the slate with 30 or more minutes and the matchup is excellent as the Mavs face a poor defensive team in Minnesota.

Stephen Curry - PG ($8,100)

Maybe Steve Kerr will give us an indication of Curry's minutes, but we at least know that he will play in this game based on Kerr's comments last week. He played 28 minutes against the Kings on Tuesday and was his usual awesome self, scoring 29 points with ease. He should be popular, but I would still play him in all formats he's simply too good to pass up on at this price against a poor defender like De'Aaron Fox.

Nikola Vucevic - C ($8,000)

This slate has some solid big men to consider, but I am going to go with the Magic center here in a prime matchup against a Charlotte team that lacks size on the interior. He played 33 minutes in Orlando's second preseason game and it's fairly reasonable to assume that these teams playing their third of four preseason games run fairly normal rotations tonight, but definitely stay tuned on that front.

Preseason NBA DFS Top Plays

Ja Morant - PG ($8,500)

In a battle with another young superstar Trae Young, Morant is very appealing here if he continues to get his minutes increased. Targeting Atlanta with scoring guards has been a profitable strategy in the last two years and this Memphis-Atlanta game oozes with fantasy potential.

John Collins - PF/C ($7,400)

Collins is one of my favorite plays from the Atlanta side of that game. Trae Young will be popular, but athletic bigs like Collins really hurt the Grizzlies last year and they could be without both Jackson Jr. and Clarke again inside. Collins and the starters played close to 30 minutes last game and this is the next-to-last game of the preseason for them here, too, so dress rehearsal?

Josh Richardson - SG/SF ($5,700)

J-Rich has looked great next to Luka this season and is a fantastic fantasy player when he's making shots. He's coming off a 23-7-2 performance in his last game and is a really valuable piece on DK with his eligibility at SG and SF at this price. Don't hesitate to run him and Luka in the same lineups either.

Troy Brown Jr. - SG/SF ($6,400)

I think we can roster TBJ at fairly low ownership tonight as he should be flying under the radar for a few reasons. Yes, Beal and Westbrook are likely to play for the Wizards tonight, but neither of them is expected to play all that many minutes. Troy Brown Jr. is a stat stuffer who can do a little of everything and his minutes should be safe. I'd rather see him come off the bench where he often acts as the de-facto point guard and he could be their main scorer and facilitator in the second half once Beal and Westy are finished for the night.

Preseason NBA DFS Value Plays

My favorite 5k or cheaper plays on DK, listed in the order of my preference (favorites first).

Rudy Gay - SF/P ($5,000)

Devin Vassell - SF/PF ($4,400)

Ricky Rubio - PG ($4,700)

Malik Beasley - SG/SF ($4,500)

Kyle Anderson - SF/PF ($4,900)

Bogdan Bogdanovic - SG ($4,800)

Dwayne Bacon - SG/SF ($4,500)

Dorian Finney-Smith - SF/PF ($4,500)

Lonnie Walker IV - SG ($4,500)

Jordan Clarkson - PG/SG($4,700)

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