The NBA is back after an All-Star Weekend that can’t have been considered a success by any metric. The players didn’t compete hard and there were 42 minutes of total basketball action out of a three hour broadcast. Disappointed NBA fans will be happy with tonight’s nine-game featured slate on DraftKings.
With more than half of the league in action, there are many high-quality centers for DFS players to choose from tonight. Let’s take a look at my top three:
Set your DraftKings fantasy basketball lineups here: NBA $400K Return from Break Special [$100K to 1st].
1. Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets vs. Charlotte Hornets ($12,500)
As long as Jokić is playing, he’ll be on every best centers list for the foreseeable future. The three-time MVP, who turned 30 yesterday, is well on his way to challenging Michael Jordan and LeBron James in the vaunted GOAT debate, depending on how many titles he can win before he retires. Jokić is just 0.2 points per game shy of becoming the third player in NBA history to average a 30-point triple-double over the course of a full season, and he’s averaging 29.8 points, 12.6 rebounds, and 10.2 assists (65.9 FPTS) per game this season. His last game prior to the All-Star break was a 26-point, 15-rebound, 10-assist (66.25-FPT) masterclass that, frankly, surprised nobody.
Meanwhile, while Charlotte is arguably lucky to still have the services of center Mark Williams ($8,500) — after his agent argued that the Los Angeles Lakers shouldn’t have failed him on his physical and subsequently rescinded the deal — it’s not like Williams has any hope of stopping Jokić. In Anthony Davis’ last game with Los Angeles, he dropped 42 points and had 23 rebounds against Williams, and Jokić is better both as a scorer and rebounder than Davis is. Somehow, despite standing seven feet tall with a seven-foot-seven wingspan, opponents are shooting 2.9 percentage points better within six feet of the basket when guarded by the third-year big. It’s no surprise, then, that the Hornets have allowed the most fantasy points to opposing centers.
2. Karl-Anthony Towns, New York Knicks vs. Chicago Bulls ($9,700)
While New York is Jalen Brunson ($8,400)‘s team, Towns might just be the best Robin in the league. The Knicks’ newest man had a remarkable final two games before the All-Star break, dropping 40 points and 12 rebounds (70.5 FPTS) in a win over the Indiana Pacers and following it up with a 44-point, 10-rebound (66.5-FPT) performance the following night against the Atlanta Hawks in a 149-148 overtime thriller that was the highest-scoring game of the season so far. In his last 10 games, Towns has averaged 23.4 points and Brunson has averaged 25.9, so regardless of who has the hot hand, both of these guys can hoop.
I seriously don’t know what’s going on in Chicago, which has the league’s fourth-worst defensive rating and plays at its third-fastest pace. The Bulls — currently 10th in the Eastern Conference — are still too good to properly tank with Nikola Vučević on the roster and not good enough to win even a single Play-In Tournament game. This season, they’ve allowed the second-most points, second-most rebounds, and second-most assists while forcing the third-fewest turnovers. Needless to say, opposing centers perform well against them. The plodding Vučević has held opponents to just 0.9 percentage points worse than normal this season.
3. Jaren Jackson Jr., Memphis Grizzlies at Indiana Pacers ($8,100)
With San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama ($10,900) out for the season with a blood clot in his shoulder, Jackson (-115) has become the new betting favorite to win his second Defensive Player of the Year award. That’s how incredible the newly-minted two-time All-Star has been for a Memphis team that is second in the Western Conference despite point guard Ja Morant ($8,500) missing 22 of the team’s 54 games. Jackson had two rough performances to finish out the first half of the season, but overall, he’s averaging 23.0 points and 6.0 rebounds (39.5 FPTS) per game. He’s one of just 11 players who’s appeared in at least half of his team’s games this season and averaged at least one steal and one block per game.
Although Indiana has been extremely solid in its last 15 games, winning 10 and posting a plus-2.1 net rating to climb into fourth in the Eastern Conference, it has continued to struggle with interior defense. Across that span, its overall defense has been fine — allowing just 113.0 points per 100 possessions, the 12th-best mark in the league — but it has allowed the fourth-most rebounds per game. Myles Turner, one of two traditional bigs on the Pacers’ roster, has the 19th-worst rebounding percentage among 79 centers to have started at least one game this season. While Jackson is an exceptionally poor rebounder for a six-foot-10 star, he should be fine against a team that has allowed the fourth-most fantasy points to opposing bigs.
