Hello! Hopefully your 2026 is off to a dandy start. We’ve seen a lot of bread emojis in Discord over the past few days, so let’s keep it going heading into the new year. We’ve got a rather chaotic slate on tap for this evening. A few teams have already ruled out several key players, so we have no shortage of cheap value at our disposal already.
Should be a wild slate, though here’s how I’m building for it as of early afternoon.
DK Core Plays (Updated 6:30 ET)
- Day’Ron Sharpe ($3,700)
- Danny Wolf
- Deni Avdija ($9,600)
Not only are the Nets missing Michael Porter Jr., Cam Thomas, and Nic Claxton, but they also get the benefit of facing the Wizards. The absences just create a boatload of cheap value here, and I’m finding it extremely difficult to build decent-looking lineups that don’t have at least 2 Brooklyn pieces. They’re cheap, there’s usage available, there are minutes available, and the matchup really couldn’t be better.
As of now, the two I’m most comfortable with building around are Day’Ron Sharpe and Noah Clowney. Centers against the Wiz have essentially been an auto-smash for like a decade. Sharpe has a long track record as an elite per-minute producer (1.28 DK this season without MPJ/Cam/Clax), and he’ll have a lot of runway here assuming he starts. His median projection at some outlets is pushing 40, and he’s $3,700. Do not overthink it. There are a lot of solid cheap Cs on this slate, but Sharpe is the best by a mile assuming he starts. If he does not start, I don’t hate a fade at what should be astronomical ownership.
Clowney (23.8%) gets plenty of usage without the stars on the floor, and he should log mid-30s minutes here in what is a very thin rotation. Clowney is more reliant on scoring than Sharpe is, but he could be the No. 1 option for this team offensively tonight. I think Danny Wolf, Egor Demin, Ziaire Williams, and Terance Mann are all extremely playable, as well. I’m likely to set a max-4 for Brooklyn, just because optimizers are pushing these guys like crazy, with good reason.
My favorite spend here is Deni Avdija in the mid-$9,000s in a glorious matchup against New Orleans. The Pels can’t protect the rim when they’re healthy, and tonight they won’t have Derik Queen. They’re also down their 2 top wing defenders – Herb Jones and Saddiq Bey – while Trey Murphy is questionable. Avdija just has a monster role without Jrue and Grant, and it’s hard to imagine he doesn’t get there in such a favorable spot.
Other spends I’m very into – KAT, Banchero, Jalen Johnson, Giannis, and Fox.
FD Core Plays (Updated 6:30 ET)
- Day’Ron Sharpe
- Noah Clowney
- Deni Avdija
We’ve got a few extra games on the FD slate, headlined by the Grizzlies-Lakers clash at the end of the night. LA is still battling injuries, and Reaves’ absence just makes things ultra-solid for Luka offensively. We have all the salary in the world to spend on this slate, so might as well pay all the way up for Doncic. I think punting C with Sharpe is the pretty clear way to go, especially without a ton of opportunity cost in the expensive tier at the position.
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