RADIO
We have finally reached the NBA Finals. How many of you thought it would be the Suns vs. Bucks? Put your hands down! The Bucks were a solid and trendy pick, but Phoenix? It's a great story, but will it end here or will Chris Paul finally get the gold ball? We'll find out sometime in the next fortnight. It's going to be a fun ride. A ride that Giannis wont be on tonight. He will join Donte DiVincenzo on the sidelines.
For those of you that aren't familiar with how the single-game contests work on FanDuel, it's fairly simple. You get a MVP slot which scores at 2x actual points and Star slot that scores at 1.5x. You then get a Pro slot that scores at 1.2x and two utility slots that score at actual points. You have a $60,000 salary cap for the five slots.
Here are my favorite plays from tonight's game for the FanDuel single-game slate that locks at 8 PM ET.
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Milwaukee Bucks at Phoenix Suns (-6) (218.5 total)
Ideally, you want to have the guy with the highest ceiling scoring double the points. With Giannis still out, that has to be Khris Middleton or Jrue Holiday. Middelton and Holiday have flopped back and forth over who has been the highest scorer as far as FanDuel points with Giannis out. Holiday has now taken that crown two games in a row, but he'll have to deal with Chris Paul tonight. That has me leaning towards Middleton at MVP with Holiday at the star slot if you want to cover all of the bases for the Bucks.
What about the Suns? Chris Paul likely has the highest upside and both he and Booker had strong games against the Bucks during the season. I just can't wrap my head around Paul being more expensive than Middleton. That alone is enough for me to pull the full fade and rely on Devin Booker instead. We can't run all four tonight, so we have some tough decisions to make.
In cash games, Booker has to be the last one out. That leaves $17,000 to fill the two utility slots. With all of the nice value including Bobby Portis, Cameron Johnson, and P.J. Tucker, there are ways to make that work. If going that route, I'm still running Middleton at MVP in all formats. The toughest decision is whether to use Paul or Holiday at Star.
I can see a CP3 fade in GPP's for either Booker or Deandre Ayton. Ayton has been a force in the playoffs, but I feel Booker has far more upside. Choosing Booker over Paul leaves you $19,000 for the two utility slots, which is more than enough. One of those has to go to Bobby Portis. That's not even a question. In fact, I can see using Portis at the Pro slot trying to get leverage in GPP's. He put up 70.9 FanDuel points in the two games starting for Giannis.
Brook Lopez may kind of be the forgotten man, but his ceiling is also raised considerably with Giannis on the sidelines. He's harder to make fit than Portis. That's the difference between having $9,500 for the last utility slot or $7,500. If you want to run BroLo and not have to rely on P.J. Tucker, you will have to run Lopez in place of Booker. he has been good, but not that good.
You can build a nicely balanced GPP lineup if you're willing to fade Chris Paul. I would still use Middleton at MVP and any two of Booker, Holiday, Ayton, and Lopez to fill out the Star and Pro lines. That leaves you anywhere from $19,000 to $21,500 to spend on the two utility slots. If you're willing to punt with Tucker, you can run any four that you want with him besides Paul.
Good luck to all of you out there!
