Welcome to your daily NBA DFS digest at FakeTeams, gents. Every day I’m here with a handful of pro-tips to roster a winning team just a few hours from now. And on top of that, I’ll bring you some statistical trends from the past week of games!
Gotta Win The Day: Best/Worst DraftKings plays for tonight’s slate
- Love: Domantas Sabonis (PF/C). Sabonis came back to the court a couple of days ago after missing a couple of weeks, and oh boy did he look awesome. Facing the Tanking Thunder, Sab put up a massive 26-19-14-1 line, hit 2 treys, shot 77% on 13 FGA, and although he committed 5 TOs on the day that didn’t keep Sabonis from finishing as a top-2 fantasy player with a spicy 76 DKFP. The plus/minus was absolutely insane at 49 in that game. LOL. This guy didn’t miss a beat, Indiana needs all it can get off Dom to finish the season in the best possible position and potentially snatch the no. 8 seed from Charlotte, and Sabonis is the only player I’m projecting to 50+ DKFP tonight while priced below $10K. This will be a toughie between a fighting-against-each-other Pacers and Wiz, so there will be no resting time for Sab or anyone. Good for Indy, Washington has between zero and no interior presence and the fourth-worst overall fantasy D.
- Hate: Ben Simmons (PF). How the hell did Benny go from averaging a very tasty 41 FP before the break to a ridiculous 33 FP after the AS? How the hell has this guy topped 30 FP just four times in the last eight games, averaging a silly 31 FP in that span? Man, it sucks. Lonzo Ball was always Benny Lite for me, but right now it looks more like Ben is Zo Lite. How things change, folks. The Sixers are one game ahead of Brooklyn for the lead in the East, and that gives them some room to load-manage both Simmons (who has played 26 or fewer minutes in three of his last four) and JoJo (also fewer than 26 minutes in four of his last five). Philly is playing on back-to-back nights, and although Chicago shouldn’t be that tough of an opponent, Simmons’s current performing trends aren’t any good, even less for someone above $7.5K.
- Love: Brandon Ingram (SF). Disappointing Pelicans season… has me sad. Zion deserves better, but Ingram playing as he has of late isn’t going to help Thanos in any possible way. See, BI is good, but he’s been far from great or postseason-deserving through the past two weeks. Going back to Apr. 18 and from that game vs. New York on, Ingram has reached 40 FP just twice in eight games played and has averaged a rather putrid 37 FP. Sure, some players would kill for that average, but we’re talking about a fool tagged north of $8.5K more often than not, which just doesn’t cut it in any shape, form, or way. Ingram keeps hitting pops with gusto dropping almost 23 PPG, but sadly that’s all he’s doing nowadays with very limited contributions on all other fronts and sky-high turnovers 3+ TOPG in that same eight-game span.
- Hate: Clint Capela (C). Captain Cap has been all around the place of late. He’s gone from 27 to 36, 22, 34, and lastly 39 FP against Chicago on Saturday. The ROI marks Capela is posting are worse than atrocious, but the salaries are not going down a bit and Clint is losing all of his appeal these days. The minutes are fluctuating from 17 to 34, and although as a biggie boy he will keep putting up numbers on both the points and boards cats, he’s far from great and has missed on dub-dubbing twice in the past five games; in fact, he finished 9-8 against Philly on Apr. 28. Ugh. Capela was great until he was no more, it seems. The Hawks are 5th in the East but tied with Miami at 35-30 so we’ll see how this ends if Capela can’t get it right soon enough.
- Love: Isaiah Stewart (C). Love me some sneaky plays. If Isaiah Stewart is not one of the most undervalued rookies doing it there, then I don’t even know what he is. See, this guy was the no. 16 pick, already outside of the lottery, and drafted by the horrid Detroit Pistons. Motown definitely hit gold with both of their picks this year getting Saddiq Bey and Stewey in tow as they have been sublime. Stewart is absolutely leveling up to close the season on a scorching hot streak, he has started seven of the last 15 games getting back to Apr. 5, and he’s posting a nice 30-FP average in that span. Stewart has reached 40+ DKFP in five games throughout the last month, has dropped five dub-dubs in that span, and is averaging 11-9-1 line in the past 15. Not your best player out there, I know, but for his price, he’s more than a great last-spot filler.
What’s cooking? Statistical trends from Week 19 (Apr. 26 to May. 2)
- This is getting boring. LOL. One month straight getting the no. 1 DK spot wasn’t enough for Russell Westbrook, who has now five consecutive weeks at the top of the leaderboard. That’s bonkers. Russ did it to the tune of a 65 DKFP average on four games played in the past seven days, putting up a 24-13-12 trip-dub on a monster 39 MPG.
- Tatum (62), the only other player to break the 60-FP barrier did it on just 3 GP, which takes a bit from him. Luka finished third with 59 FPG on a heavier dose of play on 4 GP and a 31-8-10 dub-dub.
- On a per-minute basis, Giannis was on a league of his own posting a ridiculously efficient 2.75 FP/min mark. Nobody came even remotely close, with Jokic sliding in no. 2 (1.67) followed by Russ and Luka (both at 1.65).
- Russ was the only player good enough to post a week-trip-dub, although Doncic came close along with Dejounte Murray (!) and Lonzo Ball (!!).
- Silly cheap values: Alize Johnson, Mychal Mulder, Frank Jackson, Juan Hernangomez, McDermott, Rondo, Nesmith, Anfernee, Aaron Holiday, Ty Jerome, Cam Payne, Forbes
- A little more expensive but still with massive ROI: Oshae Brissett, Lonzo, Dejounte, Bey, Tim Hardaway Jr., Birch, Olynyk, Thadd Young, Lowry, Mikal Bridges, DeRozan
- Some very expensive players not doing enough: Giannis, Embiid, Beal, Paul George, Kyrie, Capela, Gobert, Ingram, Morant, McCollum, Jrue, Garland, Rozier, Simmons, John Collins, Tobias
- Cheap points (min. 3 games played): Frank Jackson, McDermott, Mulder, Forbes, Lonnie, Rudy Gay, Melo, Juan Hernangomez, Seth Curry, Ty Jerome, Okoro
- Cheap threes: Mulder, Forbes, Seth, Anfernee, Frank Jackson, Nian, Juan Hernangomez, Ty Jerome, Shamet
- Cheap boards: Alize Johnson, Willy, Dwight, Theis, Favors, DJ Wilson, Dedmon, Markkanen, Len, Vanderbilt, Gafford, Deck, Clarke
- Cheap dimes: Rondo, Mike James, Aaron Holiday, Gary Harris, Flynn, Ish, THT, Goodwin, Saben Lee, Ty Jerome, Temple, Looney, Poole
- Cheap steals: Cody Martin, JTA, Rivers, Thybulle, Clarke, Connaughton, Willy, Burke, Rondo
- Cheap blocks: Biyombo, Craig, JTA, Reed, Thybulle, Melton, Tony Bradley, Mo Wagner, Brimah, Dwight, Naz Reid, Gafford
- Cheap FG% (min. 8 FGA): McDermott, Melo, Tye Jerome, Juan Hernangomez, Mulder, Forbes, Theis, Naz Reid, Seth, Gay, Kenyon Martin Jr., Frank Jackson, Quickley, Rondo
If you have any comment or question about the daily column, tonight’s games, players involved in them, or even season-long fantasy NBA topics, just drop it below or reach out to me on Twitter at @chapulana and I’ll get back to you as soon as I grab a keyboard!
