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The Oklahoma City Thunder and Washington Wizards will face off in a sim Thursday at 3:00 p.m. ET. We break down the ideal Showdown lineup strategy for the DFS contest that will be played in the snow. You can set your lineup and play in the DraftKings contest before tip.
Captain’s Pick
Luguentz Dort ($1,500)
No this isn’t just a celebratory pick because Dort reportedly signed a multi-year contract with OKC. It’s because in this type of contest we want to be able to stack some studs. There aren’t a ton of stud options in this one, so fitting in everyone can be easy. Dort’s value makes that possible, helping us making a lineup featuring Bradley Beal, Chris Paul, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and/or Dennis Schroder.
Fade of the Game
Danilo Gallinari ($12,000 CP)
Of all the high-priced players in this Showdown, I’m not crazy about paying up for Gallo. He’s really just a scorer and in this type of format, we can’t trust that type of variance. Chances are we’ll roll a box score in which Gallo’s lack of peripheral stats hurts our lineup. I’d rather lean on the guards for the Thunder and some values on Washington.
Value Picks
Thomas Bryant ($4,600) — We’re going to stack injured big men with Bryant on the Wizards side. Bryant had missed a big chunk of the 2019-20 season due to a foot injury. He’s got 38 games and 28 starts this season, so less variance in his rolls. While on the court healthy, Bryant was productive with 12.1 points and 6.8 boards per contest, second on the team in PER with 20.04 behind Beal.
Nerlens Noel ($4,000) — Normally, this would be a spot reserved for Dort. Instead, we can look at his teammate Noel, who missed a few games due to injury but had been a force off the bench. Noel was averaging close to 8.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game in just 18.4 minutes over 55 contests. His PER was tied for tops on the Thunder, so we should be able to roll an efficient box score.