DraftKings Salary: $4,300
Both Arron Afflalo and Jonathan Isaac have been ruled out tonight, while it appears that Aaron Gordon has the green light, meaning Mario Hezonja should again see heavy minutes on the wing, but likely won't have the usage rate he carried in his last game. He will be in the starting lineup, but is not the must-play value he would have been if Gordon was out. On the other side of the ball, another missed game for Jusuf Nurkic would boost Hezonja's stock as well. The Portland Trail Blazers have allowed 1.106 points per possession with Nurkic off the floor, as opposed to 1.048 with him. His absence would mean less blowout risk for this game as well.
We saw how significant Hezonja's upside is in the right situation on Wednesday, as he dropped 41.75 DraftKings points in 35 minutes. The game before that was a display of his floor, as he put up just 21 DraftKings points, despite playing 31 minutes without Aaron Gordon. That type of production is fine at the $3,300 salary he carried into that game, but we are looking for a bit more at this price. He isn't a cash game lock, but has the potential to again sway tournaments at this salary.