On Monday, the Knicks downgraded OG Anunoby to out after originally listing him as questionable for Monday night’s matchup with the Rockets. Since it’s the first game of a back-to-back, the Knicks will be cautious with OG even though his X-rays were clean. He could return from his right foot sprain for Tuesday’s game against his former team, the Raptors, but he’ll miss at least Monday’s game. His absence will open up more playing time for Precious Achiuwa ($5,100) to step up and bring a high ceiling for DFS contests.
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PF/C Precious Achiuwa, New York Knicks vs. Houston Rockets, $5,100
Achiuwa has been getting good minutes and producing good stat lines over the last few weeks, which is why he isn’t as cheap as he was in mid-January, when his salary was still under $4,000. He helped fill in for Karl-Anthony Towns when he was that cheap, exploding for 26.5 fantasy points against the Sixers and 29.75 fantasy points against the Timberwolves.
After those big games, he returned to his more limited role until the last three games while picking up playing time for Josh Hart ($7,700; knee) and Anunoby. Hart has been listed as questionable for multiple games in a row but continues to play through the issue, and he was upgraded to probable when OG was ruled out.
On Saturday when Anunoby played only 17 minutes, Achiuwa played 29 minutes. He finished with 15 points, 15 rebounds and 41.25 fantasy points in that game against the Lakers, and he also had over 30 fantasy points last week in just 20 minutes against Memphis.
Even though Achiuwa doesn’t typically take a ton of shots and score a lot of points, if he’s getting minutes, he does a great job racking up counting stats. He has a high floor if he gets the start, and he should be a good value whether in the second unit or in the lineup this Monday.
