Injuries:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MVP/Captain

 


Please, DFS gods, just give us 34 minutes from Donovan Mitchell tonight. Assuming this game plays closer than the current 13-point spread, this could be a nuclear game for Mitchell. The Lakers allow more points to shooting guards than any other team in their last 15 games. Even before considering the matchup, Mitchell has put up at least 41 fantasy points in eight of his last 10 games. 

 


Don’t look now but vintage Russell Westbrook has been back in our DFS lives for the last week and a half of the NBA season. In his last six games, Westbrook is averaging 46.8 fantasy points per night and we know he will be without LeBron James and Anthony Davis for at least one more contest. Westbrook hasn’t taken less than 14 shots in more than two weeks and he is averaging more than eight rebounds and eight assists over his last six. 

 


The top three options for MVP tonight are all tightly bunched in salary, so it’s really a game of who do you think will pop off in this seemingly lopsided matchup. Rudy Gobert has been very consistent lately, putting up between 33 and 44 fantasy points in seven of nine games, but he also gave us a 53-point game in that span and faces a horrible Lakers’ frontcourt defense. Los Angeles allows more than 60 fantasy points per game to centers in their last 15 contests. 

 

Utility

 


Of all the options for Lakers who could pick up the scoring reins with their studs out, Malik Monk was the one who stepped up in their last game. Monk gave us 42.5 fantasy points on 16 shots, while also chipping in four rebounds, two assists, one steal, and one block in 32 minutes. For just $7,200, a line like that will certainly work if he can get the minutes again. He has played more than 28 minutes every game over the last two weeks, so the role looks secure. 

 


With Mike Conley, you pretty much know exactly what you are going to get. He has scored between 20 and 36 fantasy points in seven of his last eight games. He plays 32 minutes if the game is close and 28 if it’s a blowout. On the year, the Lakers rank behind only the Rockets in fantasy points allowed to point guards, so you should feel good about locking in Conley and hoping for a 32-minute game. 

 


If the game does get out of hand, Jordan Clarkson will likely see a few extra minutes on the floor. But he is a good play regardless for the same reasons Conley and Mitchell look like they need to be in our lineups. Clarkson’s shooting touch has been off the past five games (no game over 42% from the floor), but a date with the Lakers is the exact remedy for a problem like that. 

 

Value Tier

 


Stanley Johnson is looking more and more like the value play you must have in your lineups when the Lakers are short-handed. In 35 minutes against the Mavericks on Tuesday, Johnson put up 31.25 DK points and played most of the second half, even when the game was out of hand. That marked three out of four games with at least 24 fantasy points. Johnson’s minutes have even eaten into Carmelo Anthony’s court time lately as the Lakers seem willing to use him as much as possible with all of these injuries. 

 


Juancho Hernangomez’s situation is very circumstantial tonight, but the salary is so good ($3,400) that if he can get even 24 minutes on the court, he can easily provide value. In Utah’s last game with Bojan Bogdanovic still out and before Greg Monroe arrived, he played 28 minutes and scored 24 fantasy points. He had almost identical lines in his two games prior to that one, benefiting from Bogdanovic and Hassan Whiteside missing time. Whiteside is still out and Monroe only played 10 minutes in his debut. Watch the news on Bogdanovic leading up to this one. If we get word that Hernangomez will have a big role again, fire him up in this good matchup. 

 

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