On Friday night’s three-game DraftKings slate, the Trail Blazers are the only team playing for the second night in a row. On Thursday, Portland beat the Magic despite Deandre Ayton (knee) being ruled out due to knee soreness. Robert Williams III (hand) started in his place, but both big men were ruled out for this evening on Portland’s injury report. In better news on that injury report, rookie Donovan Clingan ($4,000; ankle) was listed as probable. Clingan has missed the last five games with a left ankle sprain, but he should be in store for plenty of work on Friday in his return and be an excellent bargain value play for DFS contests.
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C Donovan Clingan at Charlotte Hornets, $4,000
Clingan was the No. 7 overall pick in last year’s NBA Draft out of UCONN and has played 31 games for the Blazers this season. He has averaged 16.6 minutes per game while contributing 5.6 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks for 18.4 fantasy points per game.
This season, Clingan has started eight games, averaging 8.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.9 blocks in 22.9 minutes. He had double-digit rebounds in three straight games before missing the last five games and posted over 27 fantasy points in each of those three games.
Without Williams and Ayton, Clingan will get as many minutes as he can handle, and he was playing over 20 minutes per game before the injury. Even though he doesn’t usually score a ton of points, his non-scoring contributions should be enough to make him a great value play at only $4K.
Aside from Clingan, Jabari Walker ($3,300) and Duop Reath ($3,000) could also see increased playing time, with Walker offering the better fantasy upside of those two alternatives.
