DraftKings Price: $4,300
Portland Trail Blazers small forward Maurice Harkless continues to deal with knee injuries. He's missed six of the past seven games, and is questionable for tonight's game as well. Given that the Blazers are being extra cautious with him, that could very well mean that he misses another game tonight when the Blazers take on the New Orleans Pelicans. If he does, you once again need to consider Evan Turner in your DraftKings lineups.
Turner's stats don't look overly impressive on the surface; he averaging a mediocre 8.1 points, 4.6 boards, and 3.9 assists per game this season. Those don't exactly scream "Wow!" to many. Despite that, he's been a source of consistency when Harkless has missed time.
In 20 games that Harkless has missed, Turner is putting up 22.9 DraftKings points per game, 3.9 more than when Harkless takes the court. Again, that doesn't scream "Wow!" but it's more than acceptable for a guy who's priced at just $4,300 tonight.
Turner has scored at least 25.5 DraftKings points in three of his past four meetings against the Pelicans, including a 35.5 effort in their sole meeting this year. We currently have him projected for 20.3 DraftKings points, but that's with the assumption Harkless plays. If we get confirmation Harkless is out, expect that number to climb.