The Magic have been without star Paolo Banchero for their last 10 games, since he left a contest against the Knicks on November 14. Banchero has been ramping towards a return and has been upgraded from questionable to available for Friday’s home game against Miami.
Banchero was off to a good start to the season prior to his injury, and was averaging 23.3 points, 9.1 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 0.9 blocks and 0.7 steals in 34.7 minutes in his 11 games. He posted a team-high 27.9% usage rate and was averaging 1.27 fantasy points per minute.
While he may be limited in his return after such a long layoff, Banchero will work his way back into a critical role for the Magic moving forward. He has a favorable matchup against the Heat, who have allowed the third-most fantasy points to power forwards this season.
In single-game DFS contests like NBA $300K Friday 8’s [$100K to 1st], Banchero is an expensive option with a salary of $9,000 since he may not be ready for a full workload. His return will also take some of the workload off Franz Wagner, Desmond Bane and Tristan da Silva, which makes them less attractive as fantasy options on Friday night, as well.
Overall in the matchup, the Magic are 5.5-point home favorites on DraftKings Sportsbook.
