There is no better way to end the day than by finishing in the green with the NBA DFS Showdown Slate. As usual, LeBron James will keep us glued to our phones for news updates as to whether he will play as he is listed on the Injury Report, once again, with ankle soreness. James will lead the Lakers into Portland to face Damian Lillard and the Trail Blazers in what is expected to be a high scoring game with an over/under of 239 and the home team favored by six points. Let us dig into some options for your NBA DFS Showdown Slate lineups for tonight. 

 

Injuries

Los Angeles Lakers

LeBron James – Questionable (ankle)

Anthony Davis – Out

Lonnie Walker IV – Out

Austin Reaves - Out

Portland Trail Blazers

Gary Payton II – Probable (hip)

Justise Winslow – Out

NBA DFS Showdown Slate Picks

MVP/Captain

LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers

James’ ankle injury has not kept him out of any of the last five games despite being listed on the Injury Report, and this is simply a nightly occurrence for him. If there was any concern about his health during this time, his statistical performance should quickly put that to rest as James is averaging 32.4 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 8.6 assists per game. There is no doubting that James is still performing at a high level, and it is also clear who is the center of everything the Lakers do. 

Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers

Lillard continues to be locked in offensively and he is putting up shots at a very high level. That was the case on Thursday as while he only connected on six shots from the field, the fact that he got to the line 10 times (and was perfect) led him to a 25 point night. I would expect him to rebound from his 29% shooting night and get back on track as he is averaging 39 points per game in his last five along 7.6 assists. He should not meet much resistance tonight against the Lakers. 

Russell Westbrook, Los Angeles Lakers

Westbrook continues to score at a high level and he reached a season high 29 points against the Grizzlies on Friday in a game that caught our attention for entirely different reasons than what took place on the court; ie. Shannon Sharpe. He has scored at least 20 points in four of his last five games, 19 in the other, and Westbrook has also been a well-rounded contributor averaging 7.7 assists and 6.5 rebounds per game this season. 

DFS Utility Play

Jusuf Nurkic, Portland Trail Blazers

Facing the Lakers has generally been a plus for opposing centers, and Nurkic should be no different tonight. It has been a solid season for Nurkic at 14.3 points and 10 rebounds per game and we are looking for him to rebound from a two of 10 shooting night against the 76ers on Thursday. Nurkic did have to deal with Joel Embiid on the other side of the court, and that is never easy as he also found himself in foul trouble with five. From that standpoint, the Lakers are the perfect opponent for Nurkic who did manage to salvage his night to some degree by grabbing 11 rebounds. 

Dennis Schroder, Los Angeles Lakers

Can the real Schroder please stand up? We can count on the guard to play at least 30 minutes on most nights so that is a good start, but by how much do we really want to overreact to what we saw from him on Friday? After a combined nine free throw attempts in his last four games, Schroder got to the line 11 times on Friday and made 10 of them on his way to a 19 point, eight rebound, eight assist effort. If only we could count on Schroder to repeat that performance, we would feel a lot better about this, but the playing time and potential is there. 

Jerami Grant, Portland Trail Blazers

Grant is a solid contributor for Portland as he averages 21.7 points per game, but it is the fact that he is averaging just 4.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game that holds him back. However, aside from that, Grant has shown the ability to be a consistent performer this year while proving that he can counted on offensively. 

DFS Dart Throw

Troy Brown, Jr, Los Angeles Lakers

If you follow the minutes in Los Angeles, it generally leads you to Brown as he is averaging 31 minutes per game over his last five. From a DFS perspective, the problem is that he has only hit double figures in two of those games (with a high of 13). It is no coincidence that those performances came in the games in which he took 11 and 12 shots while he had two other games in that stretch where he attempted four shots each. Brown is good for a few rebounds per game, and you could do worse if ends up fitting in your lineup. 

Nassir Little, Portland Trail Blazers

Little has only been back for three games after missing a month and a half with a hip injury, and Portland is easing the swingman back into action. His best performance of the three came in his most recent game on Thursday as Little scored 10 points to go along with six rebounds. The production should only go up from here as Little shakes the rust off and earns more run. 

Drew Eubanks, Portland Trail Blazers

Serving as the backup to Nurkic means that Eubanks generally does not play more than about 20 minutes, but if we are targeting the starter based on a favorable DFS matchup, the we should follow suit with his backup. While Eubanks is averaging 5.6 points and 4.3 rebounds per game this year, there is the potential for a little more here if everything goes right.