RADIO
Three WNBA games on Thursday this week.
The Wings visit the Fever in the national tv game of the night, while the Sky and Liberty face off on Twitter. Then, the Mystics close things out with a visit to the Sparks.
In this article, I'll be providing you with some daily fantasy WNBA lineup picks for DraftKings and FanDuel on 6/24/21. These lineups picks will range from elite players to mid-priced options and value plays. Want to talk more about the WNBA? I'm always available on Twitter and always down to discuss women's basketball: @juscarts.
Featured Promo: For this week only, take 50% off any full-season or yearly Premium Pass on the site! Just enter discount code THANKS when checking out. Thanks for being a reader, and Happy Holidays! Sign Up Now!
WNBA DFS Game Breakdown: Wings @ Fever
When: 7:00 PM ET
Watch: CBS Sports Network
Players of Interest: On paper, this is probably the least exciting game of the night. But hey, there are some fun storylines between these two young teams, and there should be a lot of offense happening in this game.
For Dallas, I'm all over the backcourt of Arike Ogunbowale and Marina Mabrey -- especially Mabrey, as some recent struggles have dropped her DFS salary down. You can't necessarily count on Mabrey on a daily basis, but against this Fever defense, it feels like we'll get one of her boom games. I'll also likely play a little Allisha Gray for the same reason -- her numbers lately are down, but we know she can explode and this seems like a defense she can explode against.
I'm also going to have a good bit of Satou Sabally and Kayla Thornton for similar reasons -- i.e., not thinking the Fever can slow them down. But who interests me a lot from a sleeper perspective is Bella Alarie. She's been playing more against teams with size up front, which Indiana has. She grabbed eight boards against the Lynx on the 19th after grabbing six on the 17th, plus had nine rebounds against Phoenix. This is a good matchup for Alarie.
For Indiana, I have a lot of similar thoughts. Kelsey Mitchell, Danielle Robinson, and Tiffany Mitchell can all be inconsistent, but against a Wings team that has some perimeter defense issues, all three are solid plays. I also might put Kysre Gondrezick in one lineup, as she's played double-digit minutes in three of the last four games. She hasn't been producing, but against this Wings team, there's a little upside.
Up front, Dallas's lack of size aside from Alarie means I'm going to want to play a lot of Teaira McCowan. Like much of the Fever, she struggles with consistency, but this seems like a matchup where McCowan can eat. I've also got some interest in Bernadett Hatar as a sleeper -- she played 13 minutes in her return to the team last game, but she hurt her toe and exited. If she's healthy and plays, there's some deep sleeper appeal. Some.
WNBA DFS Game Breakdown: Sky @ Liberty
When: 7:00 PM ET
Watch: Twitter
Players of Interest: We've got a rematch of Tuesday's game, one in which the Sky beat the Liberty by 20.
Will anything change this time?
Probably not much. Chicago is clearly the better of these teams. Candace Parker was unstoppable Tuesday, with 23 points, 12 rebounds, and six assists. I don't really see how New York slows her down in this one.
Same for Courtney Vandersloot, who should continue to rack up assists. She had 10 of them Tuesday, plus 10 points. Seems solid to expect something similar.
The rest of the Sky plays aren't quite as safe, mostly because there's a bunch of mouths to feed. Kahleah Copper, Diamond DeShields, and Allie Quigley are all strong plays, though they kind of cannibalize each other's ceilings a little too much. Still, this particular matchup is a good one for Chicago's offense.
In terms of bigs, I think the non-Parker bigs overlap too much. Ruthy Hebard has appeal because of her rebounding, but that's about all I'll probably play.
For New York, Betnijah Laney is the team's best scorer and even in a game where the Libs struggled, she still had 18 points, five rebounds, and five assists. Sami Whitcomb and Rebecca Allen always have upside because of how many three they take, though both shot poorly on Tuesday.
It's probably time to get Sabrina Ionescu back in your lineups. She still isn't really scoring, but she had eight rebounds and seven assists last game. She can still give you a strong fantasy line when her shot isn't falling, plus...her shot has to fall sometime, right?
WNBA DFS Game Breakdown: Mystics @ Sparks
When: 10:00 PM ET
Watch: WNBA League Pass
Players of Interest: Finally, we cap the night off with Mystics/Sparks.
Injuries have made Washington are easy team to predict. Tina Charles will take between 25 and 30 shots, plus will grab a ton of rebounds. She's almost guaranteed to post the highest fantasy score on this slate because of her usage.
If Myisha Hines-Allen remains sidelined -- and seems like she will -- then Theresa Plaisance will be a strong play again. She takes a ton of threes for a big and will play a lot of minutes.
In fact, last game all five starters played 30-plus minutes. Because of that, they're all really decent plays. Leilani Mitchell made five threes against the Storm. Ariel Atkins had 10 points and six assists. Sydney Wiese didn't do so well, but took five threes, so there's upside there.
On the Sparks side, L.A. is still without both Ogwumikes, leaving Amanda Zahui B. as the best frontcourt option. She's coming off a couple of poor showings though and foul trouble has limited some of her minutes, but she definitely has the best upside of this team's forwards.
Nia Coffey might be safer. Not the ceiling of Zahui, but she's getting more consistent minutes and should post a solid line.
But guard is where you'll make your money. Erica Wheeler has two double-doubles in the last three games and looks like she's fully embracing being L.A.'s best player. Huge ceiling here. High floor. Great play.
Brittney Sykes has 20-plus fantasy points in four consecutive games meanwhile, though her seven steals last game aided that streak. That's not super replicable. Still, Sykes is a strong floor play. Kristi Toliver has some good upside too, as she's taken 10-plus shots in four consecutive games.
