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Charlotte Hornets @ Los Angeles Lakers
Spread: 224.5
Over/Under: LAL -7
Injuries
Hornets
None
Lakers
LeBron James - PROB
Anthony Davis - OUT
Markieff Morris - PROB
Marc Gasol - OUT
Jared Dudley - OUT
Kostas Antetokounmpo - OUT
MVP/CPT
James is coming off two straight triple-doubles and has an elite match-up against a Hornets squad ranking 17th in DRtg this season. James has a 33.8% USG rate and 1.52 FP/min without Anthony Davis and Marc Gasol this season. The Hornets rank 29th against the small-forward position. James is a shoe in for another big night.
He didn’t look great on Wednesday night, but nobody for Charlotte did as they were blown out and all the starters were rested in the fourth quarter. Of any Charlotte player, Ball has the most upside because he’s a triple-double threat. Ball paces Charlotte in both usage rate (24.4%) and FP/min (1.25 FP/min).
Y’all wanna win, put Montrezl in, watch Montrezl spin. That was in reference to the great Boobie Miles, but no truer words have even been spoken. Harrell has been incredible now that he’s getting all this run putting up 34+ DKP in four straight games, 24+ actual in three-of-four. Harrell has a 22.8% USG and averages 1.12 FP/min with Davis and Gasol off the floor. If you want to fit LBJ and Ball in your lineup comfortably, using Harrell at CPT is a good way to do so.
Mid-Tier
It’s been an up and down year for Rozier but we’ve gotten some really big performances out of him this year but the high’s have been extremely high. He’s coming off back-to-back games of 37 DKP and he’s accomplished that feat four times in six days. Rozier hs a very respectable 23.7% USG and 1.06 FP/min average on the year.
With the emergence of Montrezl Harrell , Schroder has realistically fallen back into that third man role that he’s in when it’s LeBron James and Anthony Davis as the top two options for LAL. Schroder continues to play 30+ minutes a night and has put up 27+ DKP in four-of-five and six of his last eight games. He’s second on the team in USG rate with Anthony Davis on the floor and Charlotte ranks 25th against point-guards.
Although Kuzma took a small step back last time out, the game was well in hand and he still scored 16 actual, just didn’t do much else. He’s been a beast though, scoring 16+ actual in four straight and before last game, had three straight 34+ DKP performances. This match-up with Charlotte is elite as they rank 25th against the power-forward position.
Value Tier
Although his minutes have cut drastically with the return of Devonte’ Graham, Monk is still getting it done when he’s on the floor. He’s put up 18.5+ DKP in three straight, twice scoring 16 actual and twice topping 23 DKP. He can fill it up in a hurry but he can also shoot himself off the floor, so if you roster him just know you’re taking a big risk.
The minutes aren’t great lately, but the Lakers have been involved in back-to-back blowouts and this figures to be a bit more competitive. Morris still has been productive even with his minutes cut back putting up 21+ DKP in 5-of-6 games. He should see the minutes creep back into the 20’s in a close game tonight.
Devonte' Graham
So Graham played the fewest minutes and had his worst outing since returning from injury on Wednesday night, but it was a blow out. He should see his minutes begin to creep back up into the mid-to-upper 20’s sooner rather than later and that could start tonight. That said, we saw he doesn’t need a lot of time to fill up the stat sheet as he put up 17 actual and 27.5 DKP on the 13th.