It's tournament Tuesday in the NBA with eight games on tonight's NBA DFS main slate but some big news already impacting our roster constructions with Jimmy Butler, LaMelo Ball and Kristaps Porzingis being ruled out and Jrue Holiday, Zach LaVine and Khris Middleton listed as 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!

 

Check out today's NBA DFS Playbook Preview Show

Notable NBA Injury Updates

Out

Questionable

Teams on Back-to-Backs

  • None

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

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, PG Oklahoma City Thunder

I know on the preview show we talked about not really loving this spot for SGA but the line has moved in the direction of the Thunder here this evening and the game has a 228.5 game total. All the top priced players are coming into this slate with less than 10% rostership but you are getting SGA cheaper than Doncic and Giannis here by more than $1,000 on DraftKings. On FanDuel he's similarly priced and may lean more into Luka there.

Jayson Tatum, PF Boston Celtics

Kristaps Porzingis has been ruled out and Jrue Holiday is questionable. The Celtics are in a very unique situation where in order to advance in the tournament they not only need to win but they need to win by 23 or more points tonight while having the Nets win by no more than 15 points. You got that math? What it means to me is that Tatum is staying on the floor to ensure that the Celtics handle business against the Bulls.

Anthony Edwards, SG Minnesota Timberwolves 

While we've been touting a lot of Karl-Anthony Towns of late, Edwards has started to get hot again, averaging 47 FP over his last five games. In a matchup, at home, with a total sitting at 228.5 and just a 2.5-point spread I envision Edwards and Gilgeous-Alexander having quite the battle here this evening in what could be a preview of a very fun NBA Western Conference playoff matchup.

Alperen Sengun, C Houston Rockets

If you watched the preview show then you know we like a lot of Rockets here this evening, starting with center Alperen Sengun who is averaging nearly 46 FP over the last five games and is coming off a 57 FP effort against the Nuggets. This is a massive pace up spot for the Rockets and the Mavericks do not have a great front court. The offense is flowing through Sengun and Fred VanVleet and with a close spread and high total this should be another good spot for the Rockets big man.

Mid-Tier Core Plays

Cleveland Cavaliers

I really want to get exposure to the Cavaliers tonight in their matchup against the Atlanta Hawks. Darius Garland, Max Strus and Jarrett Allen are all on my radar and in my player pool this evening, especially at their price tags. This is a big pace up spot for Cleveland with Atlanta ranking 3rd in pace and this game has the second highest total on the board with just a 4.5-point spread.

Duncan Robinson & Jaime Jaquez, Miami Heat

With Jimmy Butler ruled out we have Ducan Robinson expected to return to the Heat lineup after missing the past few games with a thumb injury and Jaime Jaquez who replaced Jimmy Butler in the starting lineup over the weekend and is now averaging nearly 31 minutes a game over the past five games. The Bucks are currently one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA and with Butler off the floor there is going to be extra usage to go about this Heat lineup.

Terry Rozier, PG Charlotte Hornets

Charlotte is a double-digit road underdog here tonight which isn't great from an optics level but what we know about Charlotte head coach Steve Clifford is that he will play his starters regardless of the score so Rozier should still be locked into 30-to-35 minutes as a low end projection. With LaMelo Ball out of the lineup we should see 20+ shots from Rozier here in this matchup against the Knicks.

Atlanta Hawks

With Jalen Johnson out of the lineup for Atlanta we take a look at their current wing rotation which includes De'Andre Hunter, Sadiq Bey and Bogdan Bogdanovic. All three players are nicely priced and all three have shown very good upside of late. Again, this is a game with a high game total and Atlanta plays as the third fastest pace taam in the NBA. While a lot of love will be going to the guards in this matchup, we shouldn't be sleeping here on the Atlanta forwards.

Value Tier Core Plays

Kyle Lowry, PG Miami Heat

Lowry has been the starting point guard and he's actually been pretty productive of late, averaging 27 FP over the last five games while playing 30 minutes a night. Damian Lillard is a terrible defensive guard and one of the reasons the Bucks are also not a good defensive team this season. We need just 25 FP from Lowry tonight on both platforms to get us the 5x we are looking for.

Caleb Martin, SG/SF Miami Heat

So, Martin is coming off a season high 31 minutes where he scored 22 points against the Nets. Jimmy Butler is again out of the lineup but Duncan Robinson is returning. There is still a good chance that with Butler out we see Martin play 25-to-30 minutes here and this is a pretty good matchup if that ends up being the case for him to crush his price tag on both DraftKings and FanDuel

Georges Niang, SF/PF Cleveland Cavaliers

Niang is going to see somewhere between 18-to-22 minutes tonight off the bench as a low end and could see more if that shot gets going here today. Like I said, I want exposure to the Cavaliers here tonight in this great pace up spot against the Hawks and if this one turns into a shootout we may see Evan Mobley take over as the center and Niang getting more playing time with Jarrett Allen on the bench.

Ish Smith, PG Charlotte Hornets

Another play that may get 18-to-20 minutes here off the bench but a player that we've seen be fairly productive in limited playing time in the past. With LaMelo Ball playing only 15 minutes due to injury last game we saw Ish Smith play 17 minutes as the backup point guard role over Theo Maledon. In those 17 minutes he scored four points with two rebounds, four asists and one steal. 

Neemias Queta, C Boston Celtics

The Celtics fan in me can't let this one go without at least a mention of what Queta did the other night. With Porzingis out we saw Queta act as the primary backup to Al Horford, playing 15 minutes off the bench. In those 15 minutes he took eight shots, scored seven points and pulled down 10 rebounds. With Porzingis out again and the potential for a huge blowout, I could see the Celtics not wanting to put a ton of unnecessary minutes onto Horford here and maybe we get 15-to-18 minutes from Queta here once again. Now, he's not a one lineup core play for me but if making 20 lineups he would be in 1 or 2.

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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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