Oh, baby. Hoops is back.
The squeak of the sneakers. The bounce of the balls. The shrill of the whistles. The clanks from the rim. The glistening of the sweat. The copious amounts of space in the paint from 5-out offenses. Red Panda at halftime. “Baaaaang!”s from Breen. A new season is upon us, and it’s glorious.
For Opening Night, we are blessed with an awesome two-game slate. The “We All In” New York Knicks have climbed up the NBA Game of Death pagoda over the last few years and are now ready to fight the Big Boss. Or are they? While this isn’t for the trophy, the Knicks get to see where they stack up against the defending champion Boston Celtics. The team that traded Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks travels to Los Angeles to face the JJ Redick-led Los Angeles Lakers.
As for injuries, PF Precious Achiuwa and C Mitchell Robinson are out for the Knicks. PF Jarred Vanderbilt and F Christian Wood are out for the Lakers. PF Kristaps Porzingis is out for the Celtics. The Timberwolves have a clean injury sheet. Keep track of all the pertinent injury updates at DK Live.
DraftKings Sportsbook has BOS -5.5 over NYK at home. The total is 223. LAL are 1.5-point home ‘dogs to MIN. The total is 219. Log into DK Sportsbook for the updates.
Set your DraftKings fantasy basketball lineups here: NBA $750K Opening Tip Off [$200K to 1st]
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Guard
Stud
Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks at Boston Celtics ($8,700) – Last season, Brunson faced the Celtics five times. He put up 34.25, 38.25, 31.75, 53.25 and 49.5 FPTS. Can you guess which games included Julius Randle? Brunson was Atlas for the Knicks last season after Randle succumbed to injury, and his reward is the team making moves in the offseason to optimize with the acquisition of Karl-Anthony Towns, who will free up the middle of the paint for him. The one bugaboo with Brunson is that he doesn’t contribute much in the defensive categories, but I think the usage is going to be sky-high with a ton of points and assists. Anthony Edwards has the better matchup and is a more well-rounded player, but his shooting efficiency is more volatile and the presence of Randle could hinder him somewhat. We shall see how it plays out but, as of now, Brunson is the preferred option if paying up.
Other Options – Anthony Edwards ($8,800), Derrick White ($6,300), Austin Reaves ($6,000)
Value
Donte DiVincenzo, Minnesota Timberwolves at Los Angeles Lakers ($5,100) – DiVincenzo probably won’t start but will likely play starter’s minutes. I’m thinking around 30 minutes. What makes DiVincenzo valuable is his ability to space the floor without being a liability on defense. He has good size at 6-foot-4 and 204 pounds and converted 40% of his attempts from downtown last season. He also averaged 1.3 steals per game. He can also get blistering hot, as he had eight games last season with at least 30 points.
Other Options – Jrue Holiday ($5,800), Mike Conley ($5,500), Dalton Knecht ($3,900), Miles McBride ($3,600)
Forward
Stud
LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers vs. Minnesota Timberwolves ($8,900) – I’m not crazy about paying up at F on this slate. The Knicks have the wings to make life difficult for Tatum while Minnesota is one of the best defensive teams in the league. While a ceiling game is unlikely for LeBron, I think the individual matchups are a little better and he just does so much across the board that the floor is relatively high. In two games against Minnesota last season, LeBron put up 51.5 and 46.5 FPTS.
Other Options – Jayson Tatum ($9,000)
Value
Naz Reid, Minnesota Timberwolves at Los Angeles Lakers ($4,900) – It ain’t hard to tell that Naz excelled against the Lakers last season, putting up 22.25, 36.75, 44.75 and 56.25 FPTS. His ability to space the floor is devastating for defenses, as they have to account for Anthony Edwards slashing and Rudy Gobert in the dunker’s spot. The wild card is Julius Randle, since he doesn’t space the floor as well as Towns, but Reid should still get plenty of good looks. There is uncertainty as to how many minutes Reid will play this season and his contributions in the other statistical categories aren’t robust, so the range of outcomes is wide, but I think he gets close to 30 minutes and the price isn’t prohibitive. It’s just a matter of him hitting his shots or not.
Other Options – Josh Hart ($5,600), OG Anunoby ($5,300), Dalton Knecht ($3,900)
Center
Stud
Anthony Davis, Los Angeles Lakers vs. Minnesota Timberwolves ($9,400) – When healthy, Davis is one the premier players in the league due to his ability to stuff the stat sheet. He played a career-high 76 games last season, but was limited to 56, 40 and 36 in the prior three seasons. It used to be so bad that there were “Is Anthony Davis hurt?” Twitter accounts and this GIF was often circulated:
In a late-season game against Minnesota last season, Davis only played 12 minutes due to an eye injury. In the other meetings, though, Davis put up 85.75, 79.25 and 53 FPTS! He’s already a nightmare for Gobert and now Redick wants Davis shooting more treys. Davis has the best floor/ceiling combo on the slate. Just need to offer good sacrifices to the injury gods.
Other Options – Karl-Anthony Towns ($7,800), Rudy Gobert ($6,700)
Value
Al Horford, Boston Celtics vs. New York Knicks ($5,200) – Horford is a shell of himself at 38 years old, but due to the Porzingis injury, Horford is going to start and likely play around 30 minutes. Last season, he averaged a respectable 0.88 FPTS per minute.
Other Options – Naz Reid ($4,900), Luke Kornet ($3,900)
Set your DraftKings fantasy basketball lineups here: NBA $750K Opening Tip Off [$200K to 1st]
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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is sontzu) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.
