Welcome back to the Fantasy Alarm NBA DFS Value Vault! Today, we have a five-game slate on tap starting at 4 PM ET, so let’s see what kind of value we have on the board today!
DraftKings
1.) Bogdan Bogdanovic ($5,100) – Fresh off a 35 actual, four rebounds, three dimes, and one steal effort against the Pelicans, Bogdan gets my first seal of approval for our Value Vault today on DraftKings. That effort also secured him a near 50 DK fantasy point total. Bogdan was scorching hot on the day, shooting 13-of-20 from the field, while going an astounding six-of-nine from three-point land. We are talking about a guy that is hit-or-miss usually, so we are hoping to catch him with the hot hand going into today’s match against the Nets. He has averaged 16 FGA’s over the King’s last four games, has exceeded value in three of the four games as well, as well as averaging a smidge over 30 minutes a game and seeing a modest usage rate of 22.1%.
2.) Alec Burks ($3,700) – You may be thinking, no way, right? Well, yes way. As we all saw in the Sixers last game, Ben Simmons went down with what they called a “dislocated kneecap,” and will continue to sit until treatment has been deemed and he is re-evaluated. This is going to free up a lot of space and usage on this Sixer’s team. Most will look at Joel Embiid , and Tobias Harris , and yes, I agree, those are the easy ones. What folks are not seeing is that over a 228-minute sample without Simmons on the floor for this season, Alec Burks sees an overall usage rate of 23.6%, and when Simmons went down the other night around halftime, Burks saw 20 minutes in that game. Burks was the plug earlier this year when the Sixers were without Simmons, and I highly believe he will be the guy once again. They will need that scoring spark for their second unit, so I could obviously see a guy like Furkan Korkmaz or even Al Horford getting slotted into the starting role with Simmons down, but I think Burks will be in line for some heavy usage on the second unit.
3.) Khem Birch ($3,000) – Another injury that we saw was Aaron Gordon for the Magic. This vacated not only a hefty usage rate, but over 30-minutes a game as well for the starting PF spot for the Magic. We know that Khem has some really nice upside when he is given the minutes, and I truly feel this will be that spot once again for him here tonight against Philly. They are down Jon Issac, Michael Carter-Williams , Aaron Gordon , and all they really have left to fill the starting PF spot is Khem….or Wes Iwundu . I am going to take my chances on Khem getting plenty of time on the floor tonight as they deal with Embiid and likely Horford in the front-court for the Sixers. Khem is minimum price, and we saw him torch the Nets (yes, not a great example, but it is a fact) in the Magic’s first game to restart the season in the bubble for 30 DK fantasy points in just 17 minutes on the floor with 12 points, four rebounds, five assists, two blocks, and a steal, and not to fail to mention he only shot the ball SIX times. Kid has upside.
FanDuel
1.) Tobias Harris ($6,800) – This is just a no-brainer, especially on FanDuel where he is roughly $1.2K cheaper or so. Tobias sees almost a 26% overall usage with Ben Simmons off the floor, second only to Embiid. He will be one of the main go-tos for the Sixers tonight against the Magic, and I shouldn’t really have to go into detail on this one. The price is silly on FanDuel.
2.) Kemba Walker ($4,800) – Another price that literally made my jaw drop for tonight is Kemba Walker ’s. He is also $1.2K cheaper on FanDuel compared to DraftKings, and this should be an easy lock-button for those on FD tonight. Kemba is fresh off a day of rest, and let’s not forget he played 27 minutes in the previous game. I would highly expect him to play at *LEAST* 28 minutes, and with the Celtics facing the Raptors for seeding in the East, we can safely predict that he could see more like 30 minutes or so. This is a ball-dropper by FanDuel in terms of pricing, even though the matchup isn’t the best against TOR, its just one you have to plug at this price.
3.) Cory Joseph ($4,000) – The cheaper value on FanDuel is pretty hard to come by for today’s slate, but I think CoJo has been an excellent value over the Kings last two games. He got inserted into the starting lineup two games ago against the Mavericks, where he played a whopping 42 minutes on the day, putting up nine points, four boards, and eight dimes, good for 26 FD points. He was taken back out of the starting lineup against the Pelicans yesterday, but still saw 27 minutes on the floor in route to 10 points, five boards, four dimes, and a steal, which was good for 25 FD points. Two good outings for CoJo, and I think he has another plus matchup against the beaten-and-battered Nets tonight.