We have just four games on tonight's NBA DFS main slate but some big news already impacting our roster constructions with Jordan Clarkson, Lauri Markkanen and Zion Williamson all being ruled out already. We are also waiting to find out the status of Lebron James and Donovan Mitchell who are both questionable this evening.

NBA DFS Tools to dominate tonight's NBA DFS slate!

Make sure to check out today's NBA DFS projections and NBA DFS ownership projections before finalizing your lineups today. We also have the NBA Consistency Report to help identify players that have exceeded value based off their current price tag this season and of course our NBA DFS Lineup Generator!

 

Notable NBA Injury Updates

Questionable

Out

Teams on Back-to-Backs

First Leg

Second Leg

Pace Up Spots

Pace definition: Pace is the total number of possessions a team uses in a game.

*key* Green is elite pace of play, Blue is decent pace of play, & Red is slow pace of play.

Green = Fast Paced team

Blue = Neutral Paced team

Red = Slow Paced team

Notable NBA Game Totals

Top Tier Core Plays

Trae Young, PG ATL

Young exploded for 43 points, four rebounds and nine assists against the Nets on Wednesday and he's now averaging over 60 FP for the last two games. Today he's in a great matchup against the Wizards in a game with a slate high 249.5 game total. Sure, blowout potential is a concern here, but Young has been too good and the Hawks defense is very bad so here's to hoping the Wizards who stayed competitive with the Bucks last night show up tonight as well. 

Lebron James, SF/PF Los Angeles Lakers

Though listed as questionable with the Lakers also facing the front leg of a back-to-back it seems difficult to envision a scenario where James returns to Cleveland and does not suit up. The Lakers are 4.5-point underdogs here tonight and the Cavs could get back Donovan Mitchell but that will hopefully only mean a competitive game where we are getting the most from LBJ here tonight.

Brandon Ingram, SG New Orleans Pelicans

No Zion Williamson and no C.J. McCollum for the Pelicans tonight against a Jazz team that is without their top two scorers in Jordan Clarkson and Lauri Markkanen. We are looking at just a 5-point spread and a game total of 232.5. Ingram has gone for 40+ FP in three of the last four games and we have enough of a sample size here of Ingram not he floor without the above two mentioned Pelicans players being active to know that he averages a healthy 1.25 FP/Min with a ridiculous 36.7% usage rate.

Paul George, SG/SF Los Angeles Clippers

We've touted PG13 a lot this season and the price really continues to remain steady as does his production. George has scored at least 40 FP in 12 of the 14 games he's suited up for this season and over the last five games he is averaging close to 48 fantasy points per game. The Clippers and Mavericks are playing in a game tonight with a 234.5 game total and a two-point spread and this is also a massive pace up game for the Clippers with Dallas ranking 3rd in pace this season.

Mid-Tier Core Plays

Jordan Poole, PG/SG Washington Wizards

We've given Poole plenty of grief this season and it was more than warranted but we have to be slaves to the scoreboard and right now that scoreboard is telling us that Poole's offensive game is heating up as the Wizards guard has scored 26, 24 and 30 actual points over the last three games while averaging close to 40 fantasy points. The price tag continues to sit in a reasonable range for the current production and we are looking at a game with a close to 250 total. The Wizards are also in a huge pace up spot, ranking 20th while the Hawks rank 2nd. 

Jonas Valanciunas, C New Orleans Pelicans

While we love Brandon Ingram tonight it is actually Jonas Valanciunas that leads the team with 1.27 FP/Min with McCollum and Williamson off the floor this season. Valanciunas is also second in usage rate at 21.7%. The Jazz are getting back second-year center Walker Kessler tonight but he's had some issues with foul trouble this year and JVal is a really good offensive player.

Austin Reaves, SG/SF Los Angeles Lakers

Cam Reddish and Rui Hachimura are both ruled out tonight which will shorten the rotation for the Lakers here this evening. Reaves played 31 minutes against the Mavericks on Wednesday and returned 5x  value. He's also averaging over 30 FP over the last six games. Good spot for him to get extended run this evening against the Cavaliers. 

Value Tier Core Plays

Collin Sexton / Talen Horton-Tucker, Utah Jazz

With Lauri Markkanen and Jordan Clarkson ruled out tonight we should see a nice increase in minutes from both Sexton and THT here tonight with one of the two entering the starting lineup. My initial thoughts here are that we see THT start with Sexton coming off the bench but both present some nice ceilings and 20+ shot upside if they get close to 30 minutes tonight.

Saddiq Bey, PF Atlanta Hawks

Always a favorite value play of mine. Bey lost out to a ceiling night from DeAndre Hunter which can happen when you are the 6th man. Prior to that Hunter explosion however we've been rolling with Bey playing big minutes off the bench and giving us close to 30 FP a night. He is still far too cheap in a spot with the highest game total on the board.

Naji Marshall, PF New Orleans Pelicans

We got 27 minutes from Marshall last night and he missed every shot and yet still managed 16.5 fantasy points. Prior to last nights outing he went for 30 and 26 fantasy points. He could find himself starting tonight with Williamson ruled out and I wouldn't be afraid to go back to the well here.

Richaun Holmes, C Dallas Mavericks

Dereck Lively has been ruled out and Holmes played a season high 23 minutes against the Lakers on Wednesday. Holmes has long been a fantasy point per minute beast over the course of his career but has found himself at the end of the bench for teams over the past few seasons. If he gets the start tonight he would be my top center option but either way he likely gets another 25 or so minutes of playing time this evening.

Daniel Theis, C Los Angeles Clippers

I have no shame running back to Theis here this evening after the Clippers backup center played 21 minutes and finished with 17 and 20 FP depending on your platform. This matchup against the Dallas may actually be better for him given the front court the Mavericks roll out there and while I don't ever expect a ton of minutes here, we've now seen three straight games over 20 minutes from Theis here and in two of those three games we got 27 and 30 FP.

SHEET UPDATE! The grid below is listed as our PLAYER POOLS, not our core plays. We've switched the formatting and the players written up above are the players we're using as CORE options. Everyone in the grid are options we would use too.

Player Pool

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Stacks

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