Hey all, it’s Lindy! In this series of articles, I’ll walk you through the essential elements of the main NBA DFS slate every night. Remember, unforeseen events might impact the slate, so consider this information more as guidance than absolute gospel. I’ll spotlight some key decision-making moments for the current slate, aiding you in anticipating changes and fine-tuning your lineups accordingly. Let’s get into today’s NBA DFS lineup advice! For additional NBA DFS lineup suggestions, check out our NBA DFS lineup generator or our industry-leading NBA DFS simulation tools.
NBA DFS Lineup Questions: Key Decisions for Today
NBA DFS Lineup Advice: The Knicks Again? Seriously?
In case you weren’t aware, Tom Thibodeau has no regard for human life. With Julius Randle out for the foreseeable future and O.G. Anunoby plus Miles McBride on the shelf of late as well, the Knicks head coach has been running playoff-esque rotations like they’re going out of style, running his main dudes into the ground in the name of their potential Eastern Conference seeding.
Just look at this masterpiece from Saturday night’s game against the Lakers courtesy of PopcornMachine.net:
Basically a seven-man rotation! Four starters with minutes in the 40s! No bench player reaching the 20-minute mark! Now, maybe Thibs knew he had two days of rest on the horizon and wanted to really let it rip in primetime against LeBron James and Company. And as a basketball fan in general, it certainly is refreshing to see a coach let his main guys go the distance in marquee matchups no matter what.
But the question for our purposes becomes this: Does this insanity continue to ensue against lower-end competition? The Knicks are nearly 15-point favorites at home facing a Grizzlies team that is the definition of the walking wounded, and yet all five Knicks starters are within the top 8 most-owned plays on DraftKings because of how insanely secure their minutes have been of late.
Let’s head over at the Stokastic/Boom Bust tool to start formulating some thoughts:
Upon a first glance, frontcourt mates Isaiah Hartenstein and Precious Achiuwa appear to be the most under-represented starters. The two can cannibalize one another a bit on the boards, but since both will be out there for infinity minutes, playing them in lineups together is of little concern to me. But the power forward eligibility for Achiuwa plus the SG/SF eligibility for Donte DiVincenzo makes complete sense to me that they’re the most owned of the bunch.
But pay close attention to the Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson ownership throughout the day. They’re currently over-owned as is right now, but even more value opening up might flock more people to Brunson than is warranted. I doubt the same is true of Hart in the mid-range, and with the SF/PF eligibility, I’m more inclined to go overweight there than with Brunson.
Now, to the main event for me: What the heck to do with the one viable Knicks bench player in McBride. I am convinced he is one of the best tournament plays of today’s slate, and the optimal percentage in the boom/bust tool echoes that sentiment.
Back to PopcornMachine.net to pull up the Knicks previous box score against the Pacers last Thursday:
Twenty-nine minutes for McBride off the bench! It is possible! Plus, he averages 0.84 DraftKings points per minute on the season and could take over some usage if this game gets out of hand. So as crazy as this feels to say, it’s the non-starting McBride who may be the best tournament play relative to current ownership, and I see very little chance of his ownership rising as more value gets infused into this slate.
NBA DFS Lineup Advice: Nuke of the Night
Amen Thompson ($4,100 DraftKings) is rightfully getting insane ownership as the presumed starter for the Rockets against the Pacers. But man oh man, am I going to be shoveling his teammate Cam Whitmore ($4,600) into lineups if the ownership holds.
Whitmore is the thing DFS dreams are made of: An unbelievable 1.17 DraftKings points per minute, volatile playing time to keep the ownership in check, the most advantageous positional eligibility one can have (SG/SF) and — get this, I had to double-check it twice — he’s the highest-usage player on the entire Rockets team at 29.5%. Get ready for more Whitmore in the very near future.
