What’s up everyone and welcome to Ben’s Building Blocks! If you’ve never read my content before, welcome. To those that have, welcome back. I truly appreciate everyone that reads and supports during NBA season. This article is designed for me to highlight the top plays of the day. Obviously, things can change rapidly in the NBA with injury news close to lock, so I would be sure to subscribe to our premium package for access to our Final Thoughts cheat sheet, our premium discord channel and my core plays. Our Core Plays product gives you the ability to tail all of our analysts in your contests each night. We do the work for you, and you simply plug and play with our premium Core Plays. With that being said, let’s hop into the plays…

Building Blocks

Anfernee Simons

Simons has already had a few big games to start this season, and he will be no secret on Friday with Damian Lillard out for Portland. Simons was over 1.1 fantasy points per minute late last season, so we should see him bump closer to that with Lillard out tonight. On top of the usage rate and per minute increases, he has one of the best possible match-ups against a poor defensive team that plays fast in the Rockets. Sites were aggressive with his price hike, but he could really pop off here and I think it would be hard to avoid him in cash game builds.

Paolo Banchero

Banchero and Franz Wagner will both be popular targets tonight against the Charlotte Horners. Both are in play for me in all formats, but if choosing one I’m siding with Banchero. He’s been churning out over 33% usage rate and over 1.3 fantasy point per minute games with Anthony and Suggs out – and now gets one of his best match-ups of the season. Charlotte has been especially bad in the paint and at the time, setting up a ceiling spot for the rookie. He’s in play for all formats, but is a strong choice to make my main team on Friday night.

Value Plays

Dennis Smith Jr

This isn’t your typical “value” but DSJ correlates well with Paolo and he’s been absolutely crushing with Terry Rozier out. We saw ball-dominant guards really give the Magic fits at times last season, and that’s the exact match-up I’m targeting with Smith here. He’s been a 1.1 fantasy point per minute player this season and is at almost 36 minutes per game over his last two contests with Rozier out. Rozier is listed as doubtful on Friday, and if he’s confirmed out DSJ will be a lock and load for me in all formats.

OwnersBox Play

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Trae Young

Trae just played the Pistons in their last game and absolutely cooked them dropping 35 real points. It’s the same exact match-up, and I think they will once again struggle to guard him because they just don’t have many options to throw at him defensively. Even with the addition of Murray he’s putting up almost 1.4 fantasy points per minute this season. The roster construction doesn’t allow you to get up to Trae on most sites tonight, but locking in some super-flex exposure to him on OwnersBox is a priority on this slate.

Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)