Wednesday’s NBA action concludes with Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam and the Toronto Raptors traveling to Los Angeles to take on the star trio of Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Russell Westbrook of the Clippers. There are plenty of strong options at the top end of tonight’s slate, so let us take a look at both those and other options to consider when building our NBA DFS Showdown Slate lineups. We certainly do not want to jinx anything here, but the good news is that both teams enter the night relatively healthy. 

 

Injuries

Toronto Raptors

None

Los Angeles Clippers

Norman Powell – Out

 

NBA DFS Showdown Slate Picks

MVP/Captain

Kawhi Leonard, Los Angeles Clippers

Now that Leonard is healthy and, for the most part, operates with no restrictions, let us get started with presumably the best player on the court as he is facing his former team. The forward is coming off a 34 point, 10 rebound effort on Sunday against Memphis, and considering he has had two days of rest since, there is a lot to like here. 

Fred VanVleet, Toronto Raptors

After an absolutely dreadful one of 11 shooting performance a few games ago, VanVleet has bounced back pretty quickly and without issue. On an overall basis, scoring has not been an issue for the point guard as he is averaging 19.4 points per game but of perhaps greater importance, is the fact that VanVleet is averaging 10 assists per game in his last four. 

Paul George, Los Angeles Clippers

Things are going exactly how they were drawn up for the Clippers with the two forwards each healthy and certainly in a groove. George and Leonard generate a large amount of offense for Los Angeles and that was especially true on Sunday after the former put up 42 points. 

 

Utility

Pascal Siakam, Toronto Raptors

From a matchup perspective, Siakam takes the cake here as the Clippers have struggled against opposing big men so far this season. While it is hard not to like Siakam to take advantage of things, he is averaging 24.7 points per game on the season, he has been struggling in the last three games averaging 15 points. At the same time though, there is no reason not to expect a bounce back effort. 

Russell Westbrook, Los Angeles Clippers

While it appears that Westbrook did find his way into a favorable situation in Los Angeles, nothing really went that way on Sunday as he made just four of nine shots from the field. With six assists and five rebounds, Westbrook, once again, did show that he can be involved in all aspects of the game, but we just have to work through the potential for some poor shooting. 

Eric Gordon, Los Angeles Clippers

Gordon has played at least 30 minutes in each of his last three games while scoring between 16 and 21 points per game, and especially with Powell sidelined, that workload should continue for the veteran as he was certainly brought in for a purpose, and that is to provide offense. 

 

Dart Throws

Bones Hyland, Los Angeles Clippers

How hot can Hyland get in 13 minutes per game? We know that the guard is a volume shooter, and in his last three games, he is averaging nine shots each so we don’t necessarily need to worry about volume. The issue here though, is the fact that he has only made seven of those shots, and that is what contains him to this section. 

Marcus Morris, Los Angeles Clippers

In the guest for value, we will continue to gravitate towards Morris as we follow the minutes. Morris was  on the court for 25 minutes on Sunday, and while that only resulted in five points, three assists and two rebounds, we have seen more out of the veteran, and the opportunity for production is there. 

Precious Achiuwa, Toronto Raptors

Achiuwa should see about 20 minutes of playing time behind Jakob Poeltl, but the addition of the latter does certainly limit his playing time. Now, Achiuwa is relegated to a supporting role, but the good news is that we know he should be good for 15 to 20 minutes of playing time and we have seen him find success this season.