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It’s the final day of the NBA regular season, and the final evening showdown here on Sunday. The Los Angeles Lakers are in seventh place, locked in a fight with the Portland Trail Blazers for the final real spot in the playoffs outside of the play-in tournament. They meet a New Orleans Pelicans team that had a shot at the 10th and final spot out West before being decimated by injuries and have now thrown in the towel.
Without further ado, let’s get into how to construct your Showdown lineups for Sunday evening.
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Captain
LeBron James ($16,200 CP)
In a must-win game, there’s no one I trust more to show up than LeBron James, who took it easy in his first game back from injury. Because of this, he’s not even the highest-priced option on the slate! I’m still backing him, because he has a much better matchup than Anthony Davis ($16,500 CP) who has to battle with one of the best rebounding teams in the league. New Orleans plays zero defense and is missing several key players, but has always moved at a fast pace. This is a great matchup.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker ($12,000 CP)
With all of the Pelicans’ big scorers out, Alexander-Walker should continue to be a usage machine. The Lakers aren’t the tough matchup they once were, either, actually getting worse on defense since AD returned. Alexander-Walker played over 40 minutes last time out against the Warriors with a 29% usage rate, and there’s no reason to believe anything different will happen this time around. He’s hardly missed value whenever he’s been on the floor and is one of the safest options in this game.
Set your DraftKings fantasy basketball lineups here: NBA Showdown $60K Fadeaway [$20K to 1st] (LAL vs. NOP)
Fades
Andre Drummond ($7,600)
Drummond doesn’t see consistent enough playing time to warrant paying so much for him, and the matchup here couldn’t be worse. Even without Steven Adams (toe) and Zion Williamson (finger) this season, the Pelicans have remained one of the league’s best rebounding teams. Without high upside in the rebounding department, there is nothing exciting about Drummond.
Value FLEX Options
Naji Marshall ($6,000)
Marshall is the next-best way to capitalize on all of the Pelicans’ injuries after Alexander-Walker. He should remain in the starting lineup, just as he has been over the past five games. Over that span, he’s averaged 28.4 DKFP in around 30 minutes, taking 12 shots. I mentioned above how I don’t trust this Lakers defense much, so there’s no reason to believe he shouldn’t get you at least 25 DKFP here. He’s a very high-floor play at a nice price.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope ($4,800)
The floor on KCP’s minutes seems to be 30, which is remarkable to find under $5K. Against a defense this bad, and in a game with a decently uptempo team on one end, no one who will be on the floor this long can be ignored. KCP has shown the ability to go over 40 DKFP and has regularly hit 30 DKFP. The potential here is great.
The Outcome
The Pelicans have no reason to show up to this one, and with the aforementioned names sitting out, including some more like Brandon Ingram (ankle), the Lakers should roll here. I’m not thrilled about the way that they’ve been playing, but it’d be ridiculous to see this one even remotely close.
Final Score: Lakers 114, Pelicans 92
Set your DraftKings fantasy basketball lineups here: NBA Showdown $60K Fadeaway [$20K to 1st] (LAL vs. NOP)
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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is jetsfan196) and I may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.