Welcome back to the Fantasy Alarm NBA DFS Value Vault! Just a five-game slate that we have here today for this Thursday night of action in the Association. Much like the previous slates, we have lots of Covid-impacted rosters that are offering up some immense value, so let’s discuss where we are looking today!
DRAFTKINGS
Jusuf Nurkic C (POR) $5,300
We have been fading this Pacers frontcourt forever it seems and that is not going to change here tonight, especially when you see the absurd price on Nurkic here on DraftKings. Nurk is just $5.3K on DraftKings compared to $6.4K on FanDuel. Nurk is fresh off a 43 DraftKings point effort last night against the Kings where he FINALLY played 30 minutes on the floor and poured in 18 points, 12 boards, three blocks, and two steals. He really hadn’t been seeing these types of minutes lately, as he has been floating around the 22-23-minute mark, but this was very encouraging to see from Nurk, who really struggled to start the season. Like the value here as the Blazers welcome in the Pacers to town.
Gabe Vincent PG/SG (MIA) $4,200
Vincent completely went off in the Heat’s most recent game as their roster continues to be stricken by the virus, much like it is here once again tonight as they are missing all the same players as they were in this past game. Vincent scored 36 DraftKings points in 36 minutes on the floor against the Sixers with 24 actual, two boards, three dimes, and two steals. He gets this same Philly team here on the road tonight, however, the Sixers are returning most, if not all, of the players that missed the last match. Vincent carried the second-leading usage rate on the team in this game at 24.5%, only behind Tyler Herro at 33.0%. He is most definitely in play once again tonight, even at the elevated price.
Sterling Brown SG/SF (HOU) $3,000
The Rockets are now without James Harden , John Wall AND Eric Gordon for this game tonight in San Antonio against the Spurs. This means that both Sterling Brown and Ben McLemore will be not just thrusted but manically shoved into a HUGE workload in the backcourt here for the Rockets, as they virtually have Mason Jones and K.J. Martin as their back-up guard reserves for tonight. Let’s face it, the Spurs have not defended the guard spot well over the past year and a half (or last two seasons?), and when we get a player like Brown and Ben Mac that are GOING to play 30+ minutes at near min-price, as Brown is here tonight (Mac is $3.4K here on DK also), they are going to be free squares. No matter what their minutes or production has been in the past or if they have even rubbed sneakers on the floor so far this year in games. Brown is in play at min-price, as well as, Ben Mac.
FANDUEL
Aaron Holiday SG (IND) $5,000
Holiday got quite the price-bump on both sites tonight, and for damn good reason. Holiday slotted in nicely in a back-up role to Edmund Sumner who was granted the start in the Pacers most recent game with Victor Oladipo being ruled out on the second leg of a back-to-back set. Well, now that Dipo has been traded and won't play tonight, this opens the door once again for Holiday, who gets a POR team that is allowing the 4th MOST FanDuel fantasy points to opposing SGs. Holiday ripped off a 41.4 FanDuel fantasy point effort in that last game against the Warriors with 16 actual, two boards, a whopping 12 assists, and two swipes in 28 minutes. Do we expect another 40-point game? Likely not, but it is another excellent match up here against the Blazers.
Precious Achiuwa SF (MIA) $4,100
Much like Gabe Vincent, Precious here had an amazing last game as well as he was given a total of 35 minutes of floor time and in that time, he put up 17 points, 13 boards, three dimes, and a block, which netted him 37.1 FanDuel points as a result. Precious is in the same situation here, as is Vincent and most of these non-relative names for the Heat that are going to see big minutes once again here tonight against the Sixers. The key is that these guys are already bench players, so they will still likely play huge minutes in the event that the Sixers returning most of their players for this game could potentially allow it to get out-of-hand quicker. Precious carried a modest 17.6% usage rate and he is still pretty cheap on this slate for a guy who likely plays another 35 minutes.
Ben McLemore SG (HOU) $3,700
For all the same reasons I listed above for Gabe Vincent, Sterling Brown , and Precious Achiuwa, here we have Ben McLemore who likely draws the starting nod alongside Brown tonight against the Spurs. He is a bit more expensive over here on FanDuel, but he also can aid in steals, much like Brown can as well that can boost their values over on FanDuel as a result. McLemore can score at will when given the minutes and opportunity (massive usage tonight), and we should be looking at ways here to fit the studs in tonight.