RADIO
So, Tuesday's games were fun! The Chicago Sky showed that they might be a title contender. The Mystics continued to not slow down without Elena Delle Donne. And Sylvia Fowles became the league's all-time leading rebounder! Now, we move on to Wednesday's three-game slate, which features a lot of younger teams playing, including all four of last year's lottery squads.
In this article, I'll be providing you with some daily fantasy WNBA lineup picks for DraftKings and FanDuel on 7/29/20. 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
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WNBA - DFS Guards
Chennedy Carter (G, Atlanta Dream) – vs Las Vegas Aces (DK: $10,000, FD: $6,300)
Well, it didn't take long for Chennedy Carter to shoot up near the top of the DFS pricing.
It's too early to really get a great grasp on opposing defenses, but the Aces struggled to slow down the Sky on Sunday, with Chicago putting up 88 points. And Atlanta's offense was on fire in their game, putting up 105.
Carter had 18 points, eight assists, five rebounds, a steal, and a block in that game. The Dream remain short handed, missing three of their key players and relying very heavily on their starting five, which should mean that until Courtney Williams returns to the lineup, Chennedy Carter is going to be shooting a lot. She had 16 shot attempts and nine free throw attempts on Sunday; if she can convert her shots at a sightly more efficient rate, Carter should have some monster games until the Dream get back to full health.
Sabrina Ionescu (G, New York Liberty) – vs Dallas Wings (DK: $8,100, FD: $6,100)
Dallas is the defense that allowed 105 points to Atlanta, and New York is built to just pour on the shot attempts. This has a chance to be an incredibly high-scoring affair.
With Kia Nurse (ankle) out, I like both Layshia Clarendon and Sabrina Ionescu, and I think which I play might depend on the DFS site I'm using, as Ionescu is cheaper on DraftKings and Clarendon on FanDuel.
I highlight Ionescu, though, because she's coming off a fairly good WNBA debut in which she also just couldn't shoot. 12 points, six rebounds, four assists, and a steal is solid, but she was just 4-for-17 from the field and 0-for-8 from three.
Ionescu's a better shooter than that. Connect on even two of those threes, and suddenly she had 18 points on Saturday. The volume she's going to get all year is going to be wild, especially from downtown, and I think she'll be a good play most of the times that she faces a bad defensive team.
Lindsay Allen (G, Las Vegas Aces) – vs Atlanta Dream (DK: $4,900, FD: $4,100)
Here's my low cost sleeper of the day who you are more than fine ignoring, because I know this is a risky pick. But I'm probably going to have some shares of Allen today, and here's why:
The Las Vegas Aces don't shoot threes. They attempted just five in the first game, connecting on zero of those attempts. That's not good!
If you look at Allen's brief WNBA career, you'd think she was a terrible long-range shooter, but she's shown some big improvement when playing internationally and was a fine shooter in college.
The Aces are going to have to attempt more threes, and Allen is one of the players that would benefit from that, and Allen's going to be lightly guarded when she takes them because of all the other weapons on this team.
Additional Notes: Shekinna Stricklen interest me against an Aces defense that gave up a lot of threes last time out, but I think her ceiling is fairly limited by her only being used as a catch-and-shoot option in Atlanta. Victoria Vivians should play better than she did in the opener, but I'm willing to wait on playing her again until we see for sure if she's back on track to play like she did late in her rookie year. And if you want to take a bigger value swing, Katie Lou Samuelson did get a lot of playing time for the Wings last game. She didn't do anything with it, but as one of the cheaper options on both platforms, you could take a swing at her producing against a bad Liberty defense.
WNBA - DFS Forwards
Brittney Griner (F, Phoenix Mercury) – vs Indiana Fever (DK: $10,500 FD: $7,500)
I think there was some reactionary pricing among top players, like how expensive Monique Billings suddenly is and how Angel McCoughtry had one really good game and became the third-most expensive forward on this slate. (Though I think McCoughtry could definitely sustain some of her production, she also hit a LOT of mid-range jumpers in that first game.)
If I'm going with an expensive forward, I'm getting someone I trust -- Brittney Griner. The veteran had just eight points in Phoenix's first game -- she's averaged at least 20 per season for three years in a row -- but added nine rebounds, three assists, and a pair of blocks, still enabling her to have a not-terrible day in fantasy.
The thing with Griner is that she's going to get her shot attempts, she's going to shoot around 55 percent on them, and most nights she's going to be one of the league's top fantasy performers.
Indiana has one center -- Teaira McCowan -- who could offer some real resistance to Griner, but McCowan didn't look to be in game shape yet after the Fever's first game, when she came off the bench. The other front court options have no chance of stopping Griner. This is one of those games where she could really eat up the opposing defense.
Amanda Zahui B (F, New York Liberty) – vs Dallas Wings (DK: $9,100, FD: $6,000)
The Liberty are built around shooting threes, which is a problem when they don't have a lot of experienced shooters.
Enter Zahui B, who just might be the player that ends up leading this team in three-point attempts. She had seven of them against Seattle, making a pair. In that game, Zahui B had 10 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and a pair of blocks.
Essentially a three-and-D center at this point, Zahui B is capable of firing up threes as a spot-up shooter, and is also dangerous if the Liberty get the pick-and-pop game going. And tonight's opponent -- Dallas -- is significantly easier to score against than Seattle, who this team faced in their first game. I'm expecting a big night from Zahui B.
Satou Sabally (F, Dallas Wings) – vs New York Liberty (DK: $8,600, FD: $5,100)
Sabally is still a fairly well-priced option after a confusing WNBA debut. She got off to an incredibly slow start, but then began to fill up the stat sheet and would have done even more if she hadn't fouled out in the fourth quarter. She wound up with 11 points, five boards, five assists, and two steals.
She did that without looking comfortable for much of the game. With her first-game jitters gone, a more confident Sabally has a chance to be a 15/5/5 player for the Wings, with the occasional upside to explode for more. Against the Liberty and their six rookies could be one of those moments for the Oregon product. If her pricing remains where it is for awhile, I'll probably target her against weaker defenses.
Additional Notes: I want to root for a Teaira McCowan bounce back, especially with her price depressed some, but against Brittney Griner and with how bad McCowan looked in the first game? Tentative pass. Brianna Turner had a good first game, but I'm worried a larger output from Griner would hurt her. Leaonna Odom is expected to step into a bigger role for New York with Kia Nurse out, but will her boundless energy convert in fantasy production? And hey, Vegas seems intent on playing Carolyn Swords a lot more than expected, and while her ceiling is limited, you could throw her into a lineup as a cheap option and hope she continues to get some easy looks near the basket.
