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We’ve got three Showdown contests on DraftKings for Wednesday night’s nine-game main NBA slate. The middle child of the three is Bulls-Pelicans, which should be the most exciting of the bunch. We’ve got a couple of key injuries that we already know about, which is fantastic for fantasy basketball and DFS players.
Jrue Holiday is going to be out again with an elbow injury for the Pelicans. He missed Monday’s game agains the Utah Jazz and Josh Hart started in his place. For the Bulls, Wendell Carter Jr. sprained his ankle on Monday and is also being listed as out for tonight. With those two injuries, it should be pretty easy to narrow down who to play in this Showdown. Let’s take a look.
Captain’s Picks
I think it has to be Brandon Ingram ($16,500). I love Ingram in Classic on DraftKings and I think he’s one of the top GPP plays overall. Ingram is coming off 35 points in a tough matchup against the Jazz and the Bulls are without their best interior defender on the road. Ingram should get whatever he wants down low and I love the potential pace of this game. The option I like for the Pels at Captain is E’Twaun Moore ($9,300). Going cheap at Captain should help you balance out your lineup, which isn’t a bad idea in a game that should be high scoring. Moore is in a revenge spot (!) — but really we like Moore because he’s getting minutes off the bench and the Pels are down a guard.
On the Bulls side, I think there are a few good options. Lauri Markkanen ($13,200) should see time at center with Carter out and that should lead to more rebounding chances. Hopefully Bulls coach Jim Boylen can get Mark going with a mismatch tonight considering New Orleans is among the worst teams at defending the 3-point line. With no WCJ, I also like Daniel Gafford ($9,000) as a value.
FLEX Options
I think there are easy ways to attack both injuries and fit in a great lineup. If you’re Captaining Ingram like me, then you’re going to need some value and I’ve already listed a few solid names: Hart ($4,800), Gafford ($6,000), Moore ($6,200). Thaddeus Young ($7,400) is a bit more pricey, but he should start for Carter and get plenty of minutes. He’s played at least 27 minutes in back-to-back games. The other Bulls player I’d consider is Tomas Satoransky ($8,400), who is finally playing well. Over his past eight games, Sato is averaging 13.1 points, 6.3 assists, 5.3 rebounds and is hitting 40.6% of his 3-pointers. If this game is high scoring and Sato plays around 30-35 minutes, he’s got a very high ceiling.
The other way to approach this is roll with the Pelicans hot offense and stack ‘em up. Ingram in Captain, Lonzo Ball ($9,800), Derrick Favors ($9,400) and JJ Redick ($7,200) all in the same lineup. You’ll probably need to just eat some salary or plug in a basement priced player to make it work, but it could pay off.