Minnesota Timberwolves & Dallas Mavericks

Spread: Mavericks -3.5

Total: 230

Injuries:

Minnesota Timberwolves:

Karl-Anthony Towns – Questionable (Forearm)

Jaden McDaniels – Out

Naz Reid – Probably (Back)

Dallas Mavericks:

Tim Hardaway Jr - Out

*Please note that players not listed below are not necessarily a complete fade and any player listed can certainly be used as the MVP/Captain. These are merely suggestions for players to use when setting Showdown lineups.

 

 

 

MVP/CPT

 

Luka Doncic, PG (DAL) – Dallas’ blowout loss on Saturday to Charlotte can’t be pinned on Doncic as he scored 37 points in just 30 minutes of action before being held out for the entire fourth quarter. It was a quiet night otherwise for Doncic, just four rebounds and three assists, but he is the best player on tonight’s slate with the most upside. For that reason, Doncic is where I’m going to start my lineup builds. 

 

 

Karl-Anthony Towns, C (MIN) – I wouldn’t be concerned by the fact that Towns is listed on the injury report considering the forearm contusion took place while he was busy scoring 60 points a week ago. Since then, Towns has games of 25 and 30 points, and he has also grabbed double-digit rebounds in seven of his last eight games. Towns has been locked in as of late, and I’m not sure how much resistance he will find tonight against Dallas. 

 

 

Anthony Edwards, SG/SF (MIN) – Edwards gives us a budget friendly option in the captain spot who also comes with some upside. He is coming off a 25-point performance on Saturday against the Bucks in which he rounded out the stat sheet with five rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Overall, though, we do have to worry about efficiency from the field as Edwards is shooting just 43% on the season, but the volume is generally there and he is averaging 21.1 points per game this season. 

 

Util

 

Spencer Dinwiddie, PG/SG (DAL) – After getting Saturday’s game off to keep his knee fresh, Dinwiddie is back in action tonight with a little more rest under his belt. He continues to benefit from Hardaway being sidelined and it’s hard to argue with what we have seen from Dinwiddie over his last four games. The guard has fit right in with Dallas playing meaningful minutes and averaging 17 points, five rebounds, and four assists per game. At this price, and considering he is also averaging 34 minutes per night, it’s hard to ignore Dinwiddie in most builds. 

 

 

Jarred Vanderbilt, PF/C (MIN) – While Vanderbilt might not possess a tremendous amount of upside, he is a solid option who plays about 30 minutes per night. The problem though, is that offense generally isn’t his strong suit and Vanderbilt isn’t often a part of the game plan as he is only averaging 6.9 shots per game and generally doesn’t take much more than around four shots per game. However, it’s Vanderbilt’s 8.7 rebounds per game that do give him a nice floor. 

 

 

Jalen Brunson, PG/SG (DAL) – Brunson has been solid offensively for Dallas moving into the starting lineup to replace Hardaway and I think it’s best to simply toss out Saturday’s game as the Mavericks were blown out. In 23 minutes, Brunson made just three of eight shots for 10 points after averaging 18.7 points in his three previous games. I would expect Brunson to bounce back tonight to the roughly 30 fantasy points per night we have been accustomed to seeing from him. 

 

 

Malik Beasley, SG (MIN) – Beasley has been a solid option off the bench for Minnesota playing around 20 to 25 minutes a night and he should be good for roughly a 5x return at a price that won’t hamstring you. In his last five games, Beasley is averaging 7.2 points and 3.4 rebounds per game, but he does occasionally flash some offensive upside. 

 

 

Maxi Kleber, PF/C (DAL) – Kleber did benefit slightly from Dinwiddie also being out on Saturday as he scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds in 25 minutes of action. Kleber is capable of a repeat performance even if he does move back to the bench tonight, as the level of production we need from him isn’t too extreme. 

 

Dart Throws

 

Jordan McLaughlin, PG (MIN) – The backup point guard generally plays around 15 to 20 minutes a night off the bench, and that is enough at the back end of your roster for some salary cap flexibility. In his last three games, that has translated to 4.7 points and 2.3 assists per game, and while we can’t really expect much more than that, it can work in the right lineup. 

 

 

Davis Bertans, PF (DAL) – Bertans has struggled to really find a role with Dallas as he only plays about 10 minutes a night, but all he needs is a few three-pointers to get going and return some value. 

 

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