DraftKings Salary: $4,700
Kent Bazemore might not be a terrific real-life basketball player, but that doesn't always matter when it comes to daily fantasy. With Dennis Schroder out tonight, the Atlanta Hawks will need to replace a 34.1% usage rate and roughly 23 shot attempts per game. While Malcolm Delaney ($3,000) is the likely replacement in the starting lineup and Marco Belinelli ($3,900) has had a strong start to the season, we have an entire season's worth of data from last year to pull from that suggets Bazemore will be the biggest beneficiary.
Bazemore saw a 3.8% increase in usage and a healthy 0.18 increase in DraftKings points per minute without Schroder on the floor last year, and that was with the likes of Paul Millsap, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Dwight Howard still around to take usage from Bazemore. With this new-look Hawks squad, the offense should run through Bazemore.
He also should benefit from the fact that Hassan Whiteside will miss this game, as his rim protecting ability will most often be replaced by Kelly Olynyk, a huge downgrade. Bazemore's game is centered around mid-range pull ups and getting all the way to the cup, as evidenced by the fact that 35.7% of his shot attempts and 50% of his made field goals have come from within five feet of the basket this season. His game has a lot of volatility to it, so if you're a risk-averse player, he's probably best left off of your cash game lineups. But his price and increase in role make him at least worth consideration in that format.