Monday night brings us a small four game slate so our options are a bit limited. I’ll list my top plays of the day as per usual, but will throw in my favorite value play for each position as well. In smaller slates, missing out on the top scorer will almost certainly knock you out of the money -- let’s not have that happen tonight.

 

Point Guards

Chris Paul is priced at just $8,500 and it’s the cheapest we’ll see him for quite a while. He had a great performance against Damian Lillard but posted an unflattering line yesterday. To be fair, it was the lowest scoring game of the young season and he was matched up with quality defender George Hill. CP3 still posted a 14-9-4 line and he’s facing the Phoenix Suns tonight who just gave up a triple-double to the god-like Russell Westbrook.

 

The second-most expensive PG on the slate is Kyle Lowry, and he’s matching up with Emmanuel Mudiay and the Denver Nuggets. He’s off to a very slow start but that should keep his ownership down a bit. DeMar DeRozan will not be able to keep up this torrid pace so Lowry should break out sooner or later.

 

It feels unconventional and just too easy picking the top three PGs on the slate but none of these guys are too expensive and they’re in much better spots than those priced below them. Eric Bledsoe has been great to start the season but there is some concern here considering this is a back to back. Bledsoe carries some risk with him against the Clippers so throw him into a few GPPs and pray he plays 35 plus minutes.

 

My value PG of the slate has to be Ty Lawson. The drop off after Ty Lawson and Brandon Knight is massive, it’s a four game slate so that comes as no surprise. He’s averaging over 35 minutes per game and the production is solid. Lawson’s not going to get you that 50 burger but take the 25-30 DK points and run with it.

 

Shooting Guards

My favorite play in all of DFS is Will Barton. I can honestly say I have yet to run a cash game lineup without him on it. He’s still under $6k but his price is climbing. Gary Harris could potentially return tonight in which case Barton would lose some appeal. He’s still a good matchup though the Raptors at home could prove to be his toughest matchup yet.

 

Jimmy Butler has a dream matchup with the Brooklyn Nets who have surprisingly been hanging with some quality teams to begin the season. The log jam in the Bulls backcourt is a little concerning because the usage will vary night-to-night but Butler is a pretty safe bet to produce with Rondo mainly being a facilitator.

 

Jamal Crawford is my value play of the night but any player coming off the bench scares me a bit. Luckily this should be the highest scoring game of the night and the Suns’ perimeter defense is nothing to call home about. In his first game of the season, he shot just 3-of-12 from the field but still managed 28 fantasy points, imagine if the shots started falling…

 

Small Forwards

The SF position is pretty ugly tomorrow and luckily Jimmy Butler and Will Barton have SG/SF eligibility to the position can essentially be avoided if needed. T.J. Warren has been on fire over the last two games scoring 40 and 47 fantasy points respectively. He’s just $5,200 and while it’s unlikely keeps up this pace, owners shouldn’t complain if he has 30 fantasy points.

 

I don’t love Rudy Gay tonight but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t considering him tonight. He’s only $6,300 and has scored 37, 32, and 42 in the first three games. Atlanta will be a bit tougher of a matchup but Gay should have no problem hitting value.

 

Honestly, that’s it for at the SF position, I recommend throwing one of the two aforementioned guys or throw Barton/Butler in the SF spot.

 

Power Forwards

The PF spot is absolutely loaded tomorrow and I could get behind most of the expensive guys here.

 

DeMarcus Cousins and Paul Millsap will be facing off against one another and it’s anyone’s guess for who will go off tonight. I’d lean towards Millsap for the sake of salary relief since he’s $1900 cheaper than Cousins.

 

Nikola Jokic absolutely annihilated the Blazers and he finished with a 23-17-4 line for the night. The Raptors PF position is their weakest spot on the entire roster and Patrick Patterson will not be able to stop Jokic. His ownership could go either way, he’s coming off a monster performance and the PF position is very deep. I’d throw him into a few GPPs but limit your exposure with all of the quality bigs around this price range.

 

Taj Gibson and Trevor Booker will be squaring off against each other in tonight’s value matchup of the night. Booker is coming off a monster 40 fantasy point performance and Taj has been a solid value play to start the season. Either player is worth considering here but I’d consider Gibson more of the cash game play.

 

Centers

Who’s been on fire to start the season? That’s right, Jonas Valanciunas. He’ll be matched up with foul prone Jusuf Nurkic and he should dominate in the low post. JV is averaging 40 fantasy points per game and he’s finally getting consistent minutes. Health and playing time have always been the main concern but he appears to be fine in both departments to start the season.

 

DeAndre Jordan rolled his ankle last night but reports claimed he was fine. If he were to miss this game, Blake Griffin would get a sizeable boost. Phoenix has been solid against centers to start the year and DJ has been playing poorly. He’s merely a GPP play but I’m expecting very small ownership here.

 

My value center of the night is Alex Len. Tyson Chandler is averaging 28 minutes per game and there’s no way he can sustain that pace with his age. He’s constantly injured and the Suns will start lowering his minutes sooner rather than later. He’s coming off a back to back and his minutes should go down a bit. Len is nowhere near a safe option tonight but he needs to be in a GPP lineup or two.