RADIO
It's the final big preseason slate! Like last night, we have seven games on this Friday night slate. The core was solid last night as Vucevic and Curry went off and Luka did his thing. For today's core I am giving you three duos to consider rolling out together as a different little wrinkle. I'm not sure if I'll have anything for tomorrow's three-gamer as we have NFL action on a Saturday and today is my beautiful wife's birthday!
Today's games will all be the final preseason games for every team involved. I suspect we won't know which teams are going to rest guys and which teams are going to approach their final game as a "tune-up" or "dress rehearsal." The safe way to approach things tonight will be to roster some young players and guys who have seen solid minutes throughout the preseason.
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.
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In this article, I will be providing you with my daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for FanDuel and DraftKings on 12/18/20. 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:
Matthew Dellavedova, Larry Nance Jr., Kemba Walker, Tristan Thompson, Wenyen Gabriel, Denzel Valentine, Thaddeus Young, Garrett Temple, Tomas Satoransky, JaMychal Green, Dario Saric
DOUBTFUL:
Patrick McCaw, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Frank Ntilikina, Alec Burks, Nerlens Noel, Austin Rivers, Trevor Ariza,
QUESTIONABLE:
Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry, Andre Iguodala, Charles Matthews, JaVale McGee, Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman, Kevin Porter Jr., Kevin Love, Anfernee Simons, Dennis Schroder, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Abdel Nader,
SITUATIONS TO AVOID
Just speculation here, but I don't really trust the Lakers to play LeBron or AD more than half like they did in their last game - if they play at all.
I don't have Giannis in the core because I have a weird feeling they rest him or limit his minutes tonight. He's played decent minutes in the Bucks' first two games already, but just call it a sneaking suspicion. Obviously, if he does play any type of normal minutes he's a smash play even at 9k.
The Thunder haven't played any of their main guys any real minutes yet, so while guys like SGA, Horford, and Bazley are all really tempting at their prices, I'm really not sure we can go there unless we get something definitive from their coach.
The Suns are playing their fourth game of the preseason, so I wouldn't be surprised to see Chris Paul sit out or to see Booker and Ayton have their minutes limited either.
The Nuggets are another team with a coach that makes me nervous. Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic are great plays if they're going to approach this game the same way they did Wednesday's game but I am a bit skeptical.
Preseason NBA DFS Core Plays
Brandon Ingram - SF/PF ($7,900) and Zion Williamson - PF/C ($7,200)
The Pelicans are definitely a team to target tonight. They're only playing two games this preseason and new coach Stan Van Gundy was true to his word in the opener when he played the starters heavy minutes (over 30 for four of the starters). Both Ingram and Williamson had big games and stuffed the stat sheet. This game should play fast with the Pelicans and Bucks both being top-5 in pace last season.
Coby White - PG ($7,200) and Zach LaVine - SG ($7,600)
This duo should be chalky tonight, but it's hard to argue against using them unless we know their minutes will be restricted. They've both been great so far in the Bulls' first three games and are showing they can coexist nicely in the starting lineup together. The Thunder offered very little resistance on Wednesday and if these two play the minutes we should expect them to fill up the box score.
Kyrie Irving - PG ($8,500) and Kevin Durant - PF ($8,700)
Nets' coach Steve Nash says he wants to get closer to a normal game rotation tonight against the Celtics in the final tune-up for Brooklyn before their opening night game against the Warriors on Tuesday. Kyrie was ultra-efficient in their first game, scoring 18 points in 17 minutes while KD had a solid return to action after over a year off and played 23 minutes. If we are going to get minutes in the high 20's from this duo they could do some real damage tonight.
Preseason NBA DFS Top Plays
Kyle Kuzma - PG ($6,200) and Talen Horton-Tucker ($4,500)
Kuzma continues to get minutes whether LeBron and AD are playing or not. He started alongside the studs on Wednesday and had a very serviceable line of 23-3-2. Meanwhile, THT was able to still make value in only 24 minutes with an 18-5-2 line as he went off in the second half as I had predicted. Again, I think the Lakers will rest or limit the big two's minutes tonight giving these two preseason heroes another chance to shine.
Julius Randle - PF/C ($6,400), RJ Barrett - SG/SF ($4,800), Mitchell Robinson - C ($4,600)
The Knicks continue to run their core players solid minutes this preseason and somehow these guys all got price decreases despite facing off against the Cavs again tonight. Robinson might be my favorite of the group as he flashed his ceiling on Wednesday with 13-10-1 and 4 blocks and Nerlens Noel is likely going to miss tonight's game.
Patrick Williams - SF/PF ($5,500)
I will admit that I was off Williams on Wednesday when he started and I played Otto Porter instead of the bench. But Williams still logged 27 minutes and put up 13-7 with two blocks. His price came down 500 bucks and now I'll jump back on and hope he moves back to the bench and that others will forget about him.
Preseason NBA DFS Value Plays
My favorite 5k or cheaper plays on DK, listed in the order of my preference (favorites first).
Spencer Dinwiddie - PG ($4,900)
Bobby Portis - PF/C ($4,600)
Jeff Teague - PG ($4,600)
Robert Williams - C ($4,500)
Malachi Flynn - PG ($4,300)
Nickeil Alexander-Walker - PG/SG ($4,300)
Cameron Payne - PG ($4,700)
Check back later today for updates and follow me on Twitter where I will tweet out anything interesting I come across. Good luck on this slate and let's crush the competition in NBA DFS this year!
