If you're stuck out of a playoff spot in your season-long fantasy basketball leagues, why not change it up a bit and play daily fantasy hoops over on DraftKings.com?
DraftKings has contests going on each night where you can win real cash prizes. With tonight's 13-game NBA slate, it's the perfect chance to join and play.
Not sure who to select? Don't worry, we've got you covered with tonight's optimal lineup.
| Player | Position | Projected FP | Cost | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthony Davis | PF | 54.1 | 11200.00 | 4.83 |
| DeMarcus Cousins | C | 49.28 | 9600.00 | 5.13 |
| Damian Lillard | PG | 39.8 | 7800.00 | 5.1 |
| Josh Smith | SF | 35.88 | 6100.00 | 5.88 |
| Kentavious Caldwell-Pope | SG | 30.5 | 5200.00 | 5.87 |
| Mario Chalmers | PG | 23.9 | 3900.00 | 6.13 |
| Ryan Kelly | PF | 18.38 | 3200.00 | 5.74 |
| Udonis Haslem | PF | 23.5 | 3000.00 | 7.83 |
As we pull into the home stretch of the NBA season, we see many teams being mixing up their rotations for a number of reasons. Whether it be a team locked into the playoffs resting players to ensure health for a playoff run, or teams who have already been eliminated from contention trying to see what they have in some of their younger guys, there are a number of players on tonight's slate who will see a larger workload than we are used to.
The Houston Rockets are a team that falls under the first category. Terrence Jones, Donatas Motiejunas and Kostas Papanikolaou will all be held out of tonight's game with various injuries and, although this will be his second game back from injury, Dwight Howard will be on a minutes limit tonight. That leaves Josh Smith to fill a huge void in the frontcourt for Houston tonight in a dream matchup against the Timberwolves and their league-worst defense. Minnesota ranks dead last in points per game allowed (105.7), Defensive Rating (111) and they've allowed the eighth-most fantasy points per game to opposing power forwards this season. J-Smoove makes a spectacular play in all formats tonight.
Contrary to the Rockets, the Lakers are one of the many teams looking to mix up their rotation to see what their young guys can do. With Carlos Boozer and Jordan Hill already ruled out for tonight, one of those young guns who will see a lot more action tonight is Ryan Kelly. Kelly has become a major part of the Lakers' rotation as of late, averaging 13.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2 assists in 33 minutes per game over his last two outings. Tonight, the Lakers' forward draws a plus matchup against a Raptors squad who has allowed the seventh most fantasy points per game to opposing power forwards over the last three weeks and should see 30-plus minutes for his second consecutive game. Kelly is an absolute steal at just $3,200.
Although I'm not sure they quite fit into either of the categories I mentioned above considering they are still in the playoff hunt, Miami will likely be without Dwyane Wade, Hassan Whiteside and Chris Andersen tonight. With this in mind, our algorithms recommend you play two players that will see an increase in workload for the short-handed Heat tonight -- Udonis Haslem and Mario Chalmers.
The long time Heat veteran, Haslem, has played a somewhat minimal role this season, but has often stepped up when needed with Wednesday night being a perfect example. Haslem scored 12 points while grabbing 12 boards with 3 steals and an assists in a whopping 38 minutes against Boston on Wednesday night, and should see another heavy workload tonight considering all of the injuries in Miami's front court. Similarly, Chalmers will slide into the starting lineup tonight as Wade takes another maintenance day to rest up his ailing knee. In 37 starts this season, the Heat guard is averaging 11 points, 5 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.7 steals in 32.8 minutes per game and gets a solid matchup against the Hawks who have allowed the ninth most fantasy points per game to opposing shooting guards this season. At $3,000 and $3,900 respectively, Haslem and Chalmers both provide excellent salary relief on a night with a huge slate of games and a lot of superstars on the board.
Speaking of superstars, with our algorithms recommending you play Kelly, Haslem and Chalmers all for less than $4,000, that leaves room for two elite fantasy options -- Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins.
Davis has been virtually unguardable as of late. The Brow is averaging an absurd 28.3 points, 11.7 rebounds, 4.2 blocks and 3.7 assists in 40.9 minutes per game in the month of March and is coming off of four consecutive games with at least 20 points and 12 boards. Davis has accumulated a usage rate of 29.2% over his last ten games and should continue to be in store for another huge game tonight in a matchup with a Kings squad who has allowed the 10th-most fantasy points per game to opposing power forwards this season.
Similarly to Davis, Cousins has been playing some of his best ball of the season over the past month as well, averaging 24.2 points, 12.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.5 blocks per game with a massive 32.6% Usage Rate in March. Although he draws a somewhat tough matchup against Omer Asik tonight, Boogie is as matchup-proof as anyone in the league and should have little trouble reaching value in what is expected to be a very high-scoring game with a 205.5 over/under. Don't hesitate to plug the Kings' big man into your lineup in all formats tonight.