My Core
James Harden- Friday comes with another slate where it’s clear James Harden is the best play on the slate due to the absence of Russell Westbrook. Not only does he have a great matchup against the Phoenix Suns, but his numbers with Westbrook off the floor are the best on the entire slate. He’s just south of 2 fantasy points per minute in this situation this season, and Clint Capela has been replaced with a low-usage option in Robert Covington. I talked about how I admire what the Rockets are trying to do on the stream on Wednesday, and Harden/Westbrook will be counted on heavily to take over games down the stretch. It’s pretty much impossible to fade Harden when Russ is out given his minutes projection, and I could care less about the matchup. Lock him in and move on.
Jayson Tatum- I think I’ve written more about Jayson Tatum in the last week than in his entire career, but with the Celtics banged up once again tonight, now is not the time to jump off the train. He draws one of our favorite matchups in the NBA against the fast-paced, poor-defensive Atlanta Hawks and the C’s will be without Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward and Daniel Theis. Tatum sports a monster 36% usage rate and 1.49 fantasy point per minute mark with those players off the floor this season. His price sits at $8,100 on DraftKings tonight, more than easy to fit in should you make him a priority alongside the Beard.
Devin Booker- I really wanted to include a third player in my core tonight and after much debate I’ve sided with Devin Booker. This game between the Rockets and Suns features the highest O/U on the slate at 235 with just a 2.5 point spread. Booker has seen a price decrease in each of the last four games despite topping 35 DK points in three of them. He also averaged 42 DraftKings points per game against the Rockets over the last two seasons. He leads the Suns in per minute production and usage rate, and I think we could very well see a Harden vs Booker showdown in a competitive game on Friday night.
Value Plays
Kendrick Nunn + Goran Dragic- The Miami Heat are another team that should be pretty short-handed tonight — Jimmy Butler is doubtful, Tyler Herro and Meyers Leonard are out, and Justise Winslow and Dion Waiters were just traded. It remains to be seen if anyone they acquired via trade will be able to provide some minutes tonight, but in the meantime both Nunn and Dragic project for 20% usage rates tonight per our NBA Data Dashboard. I prefer Nunn if choosing one, but I think stacking both in an optimal lineup is certainly in play.
Enes Kanter- Kanter should be the chalk du jour with Theis, Hayward and Brown out after he logged 26 minutes against the Magic in their last game. Kanter is at 1.25 fantasy points per minute in that sample I cited with Tatum — and the Hawks allow rebounds at a bottom-five rate in the NBA.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
