RADIO
Happy Thursday! We've got a pair of WNBA games tonight, which both feature teams fighting for a playoff spot taking on teams that are fighting for a top seed. The Mercury will visit the Sun in the first game of the night, followed by the Wings hosting the Aces.
If you're new here, this is our (mostly) daily look at the WNBA from a DFS perspective. Each day, I recommend three forwards and three guards who you should be considering for your daily fantasy lineups. Why listen to RotoBaller over the other sites? Because I live and breathe women's hoops. This isn't just something I'm doing because the NBA isn't in season.
In this article, I'll be providing you with some daily fantasy WNBA lineup picks for DraftKings and FanDuel on 8/4/22. These lineups picks will range from elite players to mid-priced options and value plays. The slates lock on 8/4/2022 at 7:00 p.m. ET. 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 Picks: Forward
Note: FanDuel only has a one-game contest for Aces/Wings up right now and not a main slate. So, I'm leaving off FanDuel prices today because of that. If a main slate appears and you have questions about it, hit me up on Twitter.
Alyssa Thomas (Connecticut Sun) - vs PHO - DK: $10,800
This is an obvious play with the way Thomas has been playing.
Triple doubles are rare in the WNBA, so it's unprecedented that Thomas now has two of them in the last five games. That includes Tuesday against the Mercury, when she had 10 points on 5-for-13 shooting with 12 rebounds and 10 assists. She added a steal as well.
Thomas is capable of doing pretty much everything when she's on the floor (aside from making threes, as she's 0-for-1 from downtown this season). The Mercury already showed us this week that they couldn't stop her, so why would we expect that to change on Thursday?
If anything, we should expect better numbers. She shot 38.5% on Tuesday, her lowest shooting percentage in a game since July 17.
Teaira McCowan (Dallas Wings) - vs LV - DK: $9,600
The Wings have found their center.
Teaira McCowan has scored in double figures in five consecutive games, with a pair of games with 20-plus points in that span.
She also has three double-doubles in a row, including Tuesday's 20 points and 12 rebounds against the Sky.
McCowan's size makes it easy for her to get inside and a) make easy shots in the paint and b) get easy rebounds in the paint. Dallas has been playing really well since it started giving her these heavier minutes, so I see no reason to think she won't remain a key part of this team on Thursday night. I know coach Vickie Johnson is known for some weird rotation choices, but that shouldn't impact McCowan.
Kayla Thornton (Dallas Wings) - vs LV - DK: $8,000
With Satou Sabally still out, Thornton has a reliable role on this team, especially with Dallas essentially phasing Isabelle Harrison out of the rotation...for some reason.
Thornton had 11 points and eight rebounds last game against the Sky. She's scored 11 points exactly in four of the last seven games and has either seven or eight rebounds in the last four games. You can basically predict what Thornton will do in those categories—or, at least, can predict her floor, because there's been games where she get more involved, like when she scored 21 against the Dream last week.
WNBA DFS Picks: Guard
Courtney Williams (Connecticut Sun) - vs PHO - DK: $7,900
On Tuesday against the Mercury, Williams had 12 points on 4-for-11 shooting, four rebounds, one assist and one block. You'd like to see a little more efficiency from Williams, but the volume she's been getting is nice and can easily pay off against a defense with as many holes as Phoenix.
And...that's really all I have to say about Williams. She's inconsistent but has a plus matchup on Thursday. And even though she only had 20.5 DraftKings points on Tuesday in this same matchup, I see a path to her scoring 30-plus fantasy points.
Shey Peddy (Phoenix Mercury) - @ CON - DK: $7,400
The Mercury have Diamond DeShields back, but Diana Taurasi is questionable so we might still see Peddy in the starting lineup on Thursday.
If Taurasi is out, Peddy intrigues me. The Sun defense is pretty good, but the Mercury rotation has a pretty high floor. I think playing the cheapest of the Mercury rotation players gives you the exposure you want to this team, but also gives you some wiggle room if the Sun defense shuts them down so that you don't have your entire salary dedicated to Skylar Diggins-Smith. Will this strategy work? Guess we'll see tonight.
Veronica Burton (Dallas Wings) - vs LV - DK: $5,800
This play is all about Arike Ogunbowale's availability.
With Arike out last game with injury, Burton stepped into the starting lineup and played 29 minutes, filling up the stat sheet. She was 2-for-6 from the floor with eight points and also added two rebounds, nine assists, one block and three steals.
Her scoring is tough to predict, but if she's on the floor with a starter's workload, she'll put up good assist numbers and will get at least one steal.
The issue here is finding value if Arike does play, because then Burton's off my radar. Dijonai Carrington has played some good basketball lately but even with a spike in everything last game, she finished with 19.5 fantasy points, so she's risky. Maybe you look at forward for value with someone like Jennie Simms? IDK. If Arike plays, that messes up a lot of roster building.
