Utah Jazz vs. Phoenix Suns

Spread: Phoenix -10.5

Total: 222.0

Injuries:

Utah

Bojan Bogdanovich QUEST

Hassan Whiteside PROB

Royce O’Neal QUEST

Joe Ingles QUEST

Rudy Gobert OUT

Donovan Mitchell OUT

Phoenix

Deandre Ayton DOUBT

Jae Crowder OUT

Frank Kaminsky OUT

Abdel Nader OUT

Cameron Payne OUT

Dario Saric OUT

MVP/Captain

Devin Booker, PG/SG – Booker is clearly the best player in this game and the clear number one choice for the MVP spot, but the question that is now relevant as of Monday afternoon is how much will he play. With all of the Jazz injuries that were announced in the early afternoon, the line in this game jumped to PHX -10.5. If it ends up being a blowout, does Booker see time in the fourth quarter? Assuming he does, he should have no problem continuing a streak of four games out of five with at least 40 DK points. The Jazz are the fifth-worst team against shooting guards in their last seven, including giving up 24 points and 3.5 three-pointers per game. 

Jordan Clarkson, PG/SG – No player on the Jazz SHOULD benefit more from the absences tonight than Clarkson. If all four of Conley, Gobert, Mitchell and Bogdanovich are out, Clarkson has an elite-level 36.8% usage rate and 26.9% assist rate. He has let us down over the last week, however, scoring between 11 and 31 points in four straight games. But the Jazz are out of offensive options beyond Clarkson if 80%-100% of their starting lineup sits. They are clearly punting this game tonight, but someone is going to have to rack up stats for them. Clarkson is the most likely answer.  

Chris Paul, PG - Paul has simply been on fire these last three games and as long as he has this hot hand, we have to consider him for our MVP slot. He averages 50.4 DK points in those games including three straight double-doubles plus 2.3 steals to boot. Paul may also get the early benching treatment if things get out of hand, but he should be able to dominate the one-on-one matchup with Jordan Clarkson in the time he does see on the floor. 

Utility

Rudy Gay, SF/PF – With so much uncertainty surrounding Ingles, Bogdanovich and O’Neale, we have to focus on players guaranteed to get minutes until we have more clarification. Regardless of what happens with the Questionable guys, Gay already gets a huge boost from those players who are officially out. With the three starters out, Gay’s usage rises to 21% and his rebound rate jumps to 22.4%. Gay’s minutes have been hovering around 17-20 per night recently, but that is sure to spike in this one. He averages 0.90 DK points per minute this year so any movement upwards is music to DFS managers’ ears. 

Hassan Whiteside, C – We’ve seen recently what Whiteside can do when he gets the starting nod with no Rudy Gobert in the lineup. In his most recent game on January 10th, he dropped 51 DK points on the Pistons. This should be a tougher matchup tonight, but with so many injuries to deal with, Whiteside will be called on for massive minutes in the frontcourt. With Gobert and Mitchell out of the lineup, Whiteside’s usage is 21% and his rebound rate is an elite 23.8%. The Suns defense is potent but their defensive rebounding rate is only 19th in the league. Whiteside looks like a must tonight. 

Bismack Biyombo, C – JaVale McGee may be getting the starts, but it’s Biyombo who is getting all the minutes and production. He has a 51-point game and a 39-point game in his last three, and has been at 29 minutes per night over the last two. He’s clearly seeing more court time than McGee. At just $5,800 tonight, there is an easy path to a 6x value for Biyombo against the Utah Jazz B Team.

Value Tier

Trent Forrest, SG – With all of the injuries, Forrest is the best point per dollar option on this Showdown slate. At just $1,800, he is seeing the minutes the past three games that should allow him to fly past value needed at that salary. He averages 17 minutes per game in that span and that should rise considering the bodies Utah will be missing tonight. In his last game against the Warriors, he put up 23.75 DK points contributing in points, blocks, steals, rebounds, and assists. 

Cameron Johnson, SF/PF – The official word that Jae Crowder would be out for this game came too late and Cam Johnson should get the start and be uber-chalk at just $3,800. Before the injury he was already playing 25-30 minutes per night and scored over 15 DK points in all but one game since November 27th. Now he should be a lock for 30 minutes against a watered-down Jazz team who may be without their best defender in Royce O’Neale.