Utah Jazz vs. Phoenix Suns

Spread: Phoenix -1.5

Total: 223.5

Injuries:

Utah

Rudy Gobert OUT

Donovan Mitchell OUT

Phoenix

Deandre Ayton OUT

Jae Crowder OUT

Frank Kaminsky OUT

Abdel Nader OUT

Cameron Payne OUT

Dario Saric OUT

JaVale McGee OUT

MVP/Captain

Devin Booker, PG/SG – Booker is clearly the best player in this game, especially after he demolished this team for 54 DK points just two days ago. Even with all of the Jazz injuries on Monday, they kept the game within a six-point margin, and now Phoenix is on the road so there should be no concerns. He should have no problem continuing a streak of five games out of six with at least 40 DK points. The Jazz are the second-worst team against shooting guards in their last seven, including giving up 25 points. 5.5 assists and 3.3 three-pointers per game. 

Jordan Clarkson, PG/SG – No player on the Jazz should benefit more from the Utah absences tonight than Clarkson. With Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert off the floor, Clarkson has an elite-level 34.6% usage rate and 20% assist rate. Clarkson finally delivered with 38 DK points Monday after he has let us down over the last week, however, scoring only between 11 and 31 points in four straight games. Clarkson gets a 7% usage bump and 7.3 more fantasy points per game with those two teammates are off the court. 

Chris Paul, PG - Paul has simply been on fire this last three games and as long as he has this hot hand, we have to consider him for our MVP slot. He has scored more than 50 DK points in those games including four straight double-doubles plus 2.3 steals to boot. He did even better than Booker on Monday, putting up 60 DK points in the win. With Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert still out (two of the Jazz best defenders), this is a tough call at just $300 less than Booker. 

Utility

Bojan Bogdanovich, SG/SF – The Jazz will gladly welcome Bojan and his consistent offense back tonight in a tough matchup. In his last five games, four of them ended with between 32 and 28 fantasy points and he also receives a nice usage bump (6.4%) without Mitchell and Gobert. With Clarkson and Bogdanovich just $200 apart in your utility spots, you easily get exposure to each in lineups or pair them up to grab a huge chuck of Utah’s production tonight. 

Hassan Whiteside, C – We thought Whiteside might smash on Monday, but he was just average with 27.75 DK points against the Suns. But, we did get one important thing we expected: minutes. With Gobert out, Whiteside played 33 minutes which is gold for DFS. Tonight, both Deandre Ayton and JaVale McGee are out so the Suns might end up with a little bit of small ball against Whiteside. 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. 

Bismack Biyombo, C – With McGee out tonight, Biyombo will finally get the start he deserves since Ayton went out with injury. Biyombo added a 37-point game to a 51-point game and a 39-point game in his last four, and has finally been over 30 minutes per night over the last two. He will get the bulk of the frontcourt minutes tonight with all the Suns’ injuries McGee, and at just $6,200 tonight, there is an easy path to a 5x value for Biyombo against a Gobert-less Jazz interior.

Value Tier

Trent Forrest, SG – Even with a slight salary bump after last game, Forrest is the best point per dollar option on this Showdown slate. At just $2,600, he should blow past value needed at that salary. Forrest was better than anyone would have expected on Monday, and also saw more court time. In his season-high 36 minutes, he put up 29.5 DK points. With Conley and Bogdanovich back tonight, he might be closer to 24 minutes and 24 DK points, but it’s clear the salary here is too low. 

Cameron Johnson, SF/PF – Jae Crowder, Dario Saric and Frank Kaminsky are still out, so it should lead to another huge minute night for Cam Johnson on Wednesday. He didn’t disappoint on Monday with an incredible 38 minutes and 35 DK points, with the minutes being the most this season. I think we can expect a repeat of the minutes tonight and the tight, 1.5-point spread should help keep him on the floor in winnable matchup. In their last seven games, the Jazz are bottom-10 against opposing power forwards, primarily due to Gobert’s absence.