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After being listed as probable for Wednesday’s game vs. the Philadelphia 76ers, the New York Knicks will have rookie guard RJ Barrett in the starting lineup. Barrett has been dealing with a thumb injury, but hasn’t really missed much time so far this season. Load management has been thrown around a lot with Barrett, but coach David Fizdale doesn’t appear to have plans to hold back Barrett.
In terms of fantasy basketball and DFS, Barrett is worth starting tonight. He’s consistently playing around 30 minutes per game and his usage is up in the 20-25% range every game. His scoring has been streaky, but that’ll be the case with most rookies.
On DraftKings, Barrett is priced at $5,800, which is reasonable given the matchup on the road vs. the 76ers, who are an above average defensive unit. Still, we’ve seen Barrett’s price up around the $7K range and we know what type of ceiling the rookie is capable of reaching. The Knicks are heavy underdogs at +12.5, however, so if this game isn’t close, we can’t expect much from Barrett in terms of playing time.