Just under half of the NBA’s teams will be in action Tuesday night, as the league’s seven-game slate will tip off at 7 p.m. ET, when the Philadelphia 76ers host the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Cleveland Cavaliers seek to avoid back-to-back losses to the Indiana Pacers.
No teams are on the second night of a back-to-back, so most games should have relatively clean injury reports. DraftKings Network will have you covered with today’s injury report, which will be updated as teams release player status updates.
Regardless of which players are available, tonight’s hoops action will be good. Here are my top three DFS stacks to target.
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Chicago Bulls vs. New Orleans Pelicans
Both the Bulls and the Pelicans have terrible defenses, so both teams should score in bunches. Chicago and New Orleans are both tied with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the highest expected point total, at 120.5. The Bulls have allowed the second-most points per game this season (120.8), while the Pelicans have conceded 117.2. However, I trust Chicago’s core more to put up big numbers.
Core Plays: Zach LaVine ($8,600) is the third-most expensive shooting guard on tonight’s slate, but he should still return plenty of value against a Pelicans team that recently lost its best perimeter stopper, Herb Jones, to a torn labrum. Overall, New Orleans has allowed the sixth-most DraftKings fantasy points to opposing shooting guards. LaVine has been in extremely hot form, scoring at least 30 points in each of his last six games, including a 36-point, 10-rebound (59.5 FPTS) masterpiece in the Bulls’ most recent game, a 124-119 loss to the Sacramento Kings. Meanwhile, center Nikola Vucevic ($8,400) wasn’t great against the Kings, but put up 53.75 FPTS in a 138-105 win over the Washington Wizards on January 10 and should be just fine against a Pelicans team that allows the fifth-most FPTS to opposing centers.
Value Options: Point guard Lonzo Ball ($4,800) earned his first start of the season in Chicago’s win over Sacramento with starter Coby White ($6,600) sidelined and made the most of his opportunity, scoring a season-high 15 points (25.3 FPTS). Even if White plays tonight, Ball should still be a strong value play, given his value both as a three-point shooter and a defender. For an even more budget option, I like Talen Horton-Tucker ($3,500), who has scored double-digit points in two consecutive games and is shooting a career-high 40.8% from beyond the arc.
Cleveland Cavaliers at Indiana Pacers
The Cavaliers lost to the Pacers on Sunday, snapping their 12-game winning streak as Indiana increased its own torrid stretch to six games. Still, Cleveland has the 10th-best net rating in NBA history and is on pace for 71 wins. Meanwhile, the Pacers’ defense ranks just 20th this season, and even though it ranks second across its six-game win streak, some regression to the mean would result in the Cavaliers pouring in buckets in bunches.
Core Plays: Cleveland is so deep and so talented that unlike most contenders, who have two or three standout players, its core really consists of four guys: Donovan Mitchell ($8,300), Evan Mobley ($8,200), Darius Garland ($7,700), and Jarrett Allen ($6,600). Of the four, I like Mobley and Allen the best, given that Indiana has seriously struggled with interior depth beyond Myles Turner. Mitchell is in the middle of a slump, averaging just 16.0 points (27.8 FPTS) per game over his last four games on 38-36-89 shooting splits, and he’s facing a tough matchup against a Pacers defense that allows the second-fewest FPTS per game to opposing shooting guards. Over his last five games, Mobley has averaged 44.5 FPTS per game, and Allen had a masterful 25-point, 11-rebound (57.25 FPTS) performance on January 8 against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Value Options: Max Strus ($4,000) may seem like a forgotten-about fifth option for the Cavaliers, especially with perimeter stopper Isaac Okoro ($3,600) returning after a three-week absence due to a shoulder injury. But Strus is an excellent shooter who has started to work his way back into playing shape after missing the first two months of the season with a hip contusion. He has averaged 24.7 minutes per game over his last five games and has averaged 20.2 FPTS per game across that span while shooting 40.7% from beyond the arc. Even if he’ll come off the bench on Tuesday, he’s likely to eventually usurp Dean Wade ($3,800) in the starting lineup.
Phoenix Suns at Atlanta Hawks
Trae Young’s Atlanta has never been an elite defensive unit, and the shoulder injury that will hold Jalen Johnson ($8,700) out tonight hasn’t helped matters. The Hawks have allowed 114.3 points per 100 possessions, the 10th-worst defensive rating in the league, and that figure has dropped to 121.7 (the fourth-worst in basketball) over the last three games, all of which Johnson has missed. Meanwhile, the Suns have looked a little bit better since sending Bradley Beal ($6,500) to the bench, winning each of their last three games.
Core Plays: Kevin Durant ($9,100) and Devin Booker ($9,000) are both healthy, which hasn’t always been the case this season — Durant has missed 10 games and Booker has missed five. Durant has been in excellent form, scoring at least 38.0 FPTS in each of his past six games while shooting a blistering 54.8% from the field across the stretch. Recently, he dropped 23 points, seven assists, and three blocks (41.5 FPTS) in a 123-115 win over Atlanta on January 9. Meanwhile, Booker has averaged 25.5 points (48.8 FPTS) per game across his past six games, including a 20-point, 12-assist performance against the Hawks. Both Durant and Booker have great positional matchups, as Atlanta has allowed the second-most FPTS to opposing power forwards and the fifth-most FPTS to opposing shooting guards.
Value Options: I’m not sure if it’s fair to call Beal a value option, given that he has the sixth-highest salary among all the players in the game, but he’s definitely played better since getting relegated to the bench, where can be the first option in units without Durant or Booker. He’s had two 25-point games since the lineup switch — including a 44.25 FPT-performance in the teams’ most recent matchup — and has shot 40.0% from deep across his last six games. I also like sharpshooter Grayson Allen ($4,400), given that the Hawks have allowed the second-most three-point attempts per game and the highest opposing three-point percentage. Allen had 23 points (28.5 FPTS) in Phoenix’s win on January 9.
