It’s the eve of the NBA Cup final. You probably don’t even care about the six meaningless regular season games taking place this evening with something so prestigious on the horizon, but I’ll try my best to sell you on them.
Let’s dive in and find some values for your lineups.
Set your DraftKings fantasy basketball lineups here: NBA $150K Fadeaway [$50K to 1st]
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PF/C Guerschon Yabusele, Philadelphia 76ers at Charlotte Hornets, $5,200
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Joel Embiid (nose) is injured and not going to play this evening. Fortunately, we have a pretty good template for how to deal with this exact scenario. It’s also fortunate that in the two games since Embiid had returned from his second-latest ailment, the price tag of some of his teammates have dropped. Yabusele is the most obvious example of this phenomenon. In the three games prior to Embiid playing on December 8, Yabusele averaged 34.2 minutes and 30.0 FPTS. As you would expect, because of this exemplary level of production, his salary had shot up to $6,000. It’s now back down to $5,200 after hardly seeing the floor in two contests with Embiid back in action. I don’t think I’m alone in projecting Yabusele’s role to go back to something similar to what we were seeing earlier in the month. Remember, Jared McCain (knee) is now sidelined, as well, meaning there’s a ton of available usage for Philadelphia’s secondary options.
SG/SF Malik Beasley, Detroit Pistons vs. Miami Heat, $4,600
So much of Beasley’s fantasy value is tied to his ability to score, which can make him a very inconsistent DFS asset. Still, the veteran wing comes into tonight’s tilt with the Heat having produced at least 34.0 FPTS in four of his last six games. In those four contests, Beasley is averaging 22.5 points. In the two games where he didn’t reach that threshold? Beasley registered an average of 4.5 points and 11.1 FPTS. You can see where the risk and the exceedingly low floor come into play. Hopefully, some of that is mitigated on Monday with the absence of Tobias Harris (hand). Harris isn’t a high-usage player, yet he does sit second on the Pistons in minutes per contest (32.3). With the veteran sidelined, Beasley should be locked into more time on the court and garner a few extra shot attempts.
PG/SG Keon Johnson, Brooklyn Nets vs. Cleveland Cavaliers, $4,900
The Nets broke the seal on the NBA trade deadline this past weekend, trading away Dennis Schroder to the Warriors. Schroder has long been a frustrating fantasy asset, yet his role within the framework of the 2024-25 Brooklyn Nets can not be overstated. At the time of his departure, Schroder led the Nets in minutes per game (33.6) and was second on the team in usage (24.3%) to Cam Thomas (hamstring), who has not appeared in a contest since late November. With Thomas in street clothes, Schroder had been acting as Brooklyn’s No. 1 option. That’ll likely now be Cameron Johnson ($7,200), but I’d also expect to see Ben Simmons ($5,500) and Keon Johnson pick up some of the slack. The latter Johnson has started each of the Nets’ past four games and he should see his usage and play-making responsibilities increase with Schroder no longer around.
Set your DraftKings fantasy basketball lineups here: NBA $150K Fadeaway [$50K to 1st]
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All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS or DKSB contests.
