We have five games on tonight’s DFS NBA slate and we all have to be ready to pivot as more and more players are winding up in the league’s COVID health protocols. Our late-night hammer of Suns/Lakers has an over/under of 223.5 with Blazers/Pelicans being the 2nd highest total of 218. Luka Doncic, Jimmy Butler and Anthony Edwards are a few players who’ll be out of action this evening.
Here’s tonight’s DFS NBA Starting-5.
PG: Devonte’ Graham: The Portland backcourt plays decent defense against opponents when they’re fully healthy, but that isn’t the case here with CJ McCollum out and Damian Lillard questionable heading into this game. Graham has played mid-30s minutes in his last few games and he’s taken at least 10 shots in eight straight contests. He’s taken 12-13 shots per game for the season. Graham produces in other areas as well as he’s dished 4.5 dimes per outing and he’s actually grabbed four boards in three of his last four games. He’s coming off of a three-steal game and he swipes 1.2 balls per game. He mainly takes three-pointers and has hit a combined 13 treys in his last two battles. He has shot 37 percent from long-range. Even if Lillard does play, he’ll likely not be 100 percent setting the Pelicans' third-leading scorer up nicely.
SG: Cade Cunningham: The matchup for Cunningham tonight against the Knicks will be even more productive if Kemba Walker is on the floor, but regardless, tonight is a good bounce-back opportunity for Cunningham. He didn’t do much offensively the other night but did notch his second-straight double-digit assist game. Prior to last game Cunningham had taken no fewer than 17 shots in the six games leading up to Sunday’s dud-like offensive performance. He’s scored 19 or more points in three of his last four games and he’s produced multiple steals in five of his last six contests. He also pulls down over six boards per game and he’s even swatted away shots in three of his last four battles. With Jerami Grant still out, Cunningham is Detroit's prioritized scorer and we should expect him to play 34-37 minutes in this contest.
SF: Brandon Ingram: Back to the Pelicans we go as Zion Williamson remains out and Ingram is the top scoring option in New Orleans. The Blazers are a bottom five team at defending mid-courts and Ingram has taken 19-plus shots in three of his last four games. He’s exceeded his 23.3 scoring average three times during that span. Ingram not only just posted a three-steal game, but he’s grabbed steals in six of his last seven outings. He’ll help run the point as well as he drops about five dimes per game and he’s pulled down seven or more boards in four of his last five contests. Ingram has been shooting the ball better in his last handful of games hitting over 47 percent of his shots in four of his last six games. He’s scored less than 22 points just one time in his last nine games and we should once again expect him to take a high volume of shots.
PF: Julius Randle: The Pistons are 21st in the league at defending power forwards and between the Knicks' COVID issues and the Pistons missing Jerami Grant, Randle is in a prime spot to produce and has a safer floor with RJ Barrett once again out of the lineup. Randle has hit the 20-point mark in scoring in three straight games and he took no fewer than 18 shots in a game during that stretch. Randle will log a lot of minutes because the Knicks unfortunately don’t have many others they can rely on to put up consistent offense. Randle is grabbing nearly 10 boards per game and he’s actually grabbed steals in five of his last seven battles. Tonight also features a tremendous pace boost for the Knicks, which bodes well for Randle as the Knicks' leading scorer. He also leads the team in rebounding and assists as well. He’s dished six or more dimes in three of his last four games.
C: Karl-Anthony Towns: We went with Towns in this exact matchup two nights ago and we’re going back because Dallas has a big problem containing big men and Kristaps Porzingis won’t be moving at 100 percent as he’s dealing with an injured toe. Porzingis might sit for this contest. Towns scored 24 points last time out versus Dallas. The Timberwolves are also missing a ton of options tonight as Anthony Edwards, Jarred Vanderbilt, Patrick Beverley, Taurean Prince and Josh Okogie are all sidelined. Towns is looking at a 42 percent usage rate heading into this game and he’s under 10K on FanDuel and DraftKings. Towns blocks at least one shot per game and he’s grabbed steals in four of his last five contests. He’s posted two double-doubles in his last three games and has even dished four dimes or more in four straight outings.