We’re looking at a fairly light 5-game slate in the NBA streets tonight, and the schedule is an interesting one. 4 of the 5 games tip off between 7-8 PM ET, while the last game – LAC-GSW – won’t get underway until 11:00. I don’t remember ever seeing an NBA game starting this late, but, apparently, that’s a thing as a part of the new NBC broadcast deal.
We don’t have a ton of news to navigate the rest of the way, but there are still a few impactful Q tags on guys like Norman Powell and Tre Johnson. If you’re looking for anchor plays around which to build, check out Kevin’s core plays. Here, I’ll go through a few of my favorite lower-owned options to help you get different in GPPs. I’ve listed DraftKings salaries, but these plays are all viable on FanDuel, as well.
Tre Johnson ($4,800)
I mentioned that Johnson is officially questionable for tonight’s game at home against the 76ers. He’s dealing with a sore back, but he managed to play through the Q tag in his last game. The Wiz spent their No. 1 pick on Johnson (6th overall) this past summer after a standout college season at Texas. He averaged nearly 20 points per game as a freshman on efficient shooting, including a nearly 40% clip from 3-point range. Johnson is a rangy wing at 6’5″ and entered the league as one of the draft’s most explosive athletes.
Johnson isn’t much of a playmaker. He’s out there to score. Through 3 games playing off the Wizards’ bench, Johnson has a healthy 22% usage rate alongside a tidy 1.06 DK FP/minute average. He’s logged at least 26 minutes in each of his 3 games, and he’s taken at least 11 shots in all of them. He’s been efficient thus far – which isn’t always the case with rookies – while chipping in a bit in the rebounding department, as well.
There’s usage to go around in Washington now that Kyle Kuzma and Jordan Poole are gone, and Johnson is getting a chance to play a high-usage sixth-man role early in his career. I think there’s legit upside on his cheap $4,800 salary, assuming he suits up, obviously. He’s currently projected for sub-10% ownership on a slate without a ton of other comfortable cheap value. I’ll roll the dice here.
Isaiah Hartenstein ($6,300)
It’ll be interesting to see where Isaiah Hartenstein winds up in terms of popularity once the cards flip over. The Thunder ruled Chet Holmgren out for the latter half of this back-to-back at home against Sacramento, while Jalen Williams, Nikola Topic, Kenrich Williams, and Iasiah Joe all remain out. I’m seeing under 20% projected ownership on Hartenstein as of this writing, which seems too low. I expected the Chet news to lead the masses to Hartenstein, but we’re not seeing it.
OKC gets a favorable draw against a poor Sacramento defense that doesn’t have any frontcourt depth behind Domantas Sabonis, who isn’t a particularly impactful defender to begin with. Last year, Hartenstein saw a solid 2.1% usage rate hike with Holmgren and Williams off the floor alongside a terrific 1.33 DK FP/minute average across a pretty significant 276-minute sample. His form to begin the new season hasn’t been amazing, but he does come into this one off back-to-back double-doubles.
This isn’t a great slate for centers, either, so opportunity cost here isn’t as high as it normally is. I’ll be heavily invested here and well over his current projected ownership in tournaments.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. ($4,500)
I mentioned the cheap value being pretty uncomfortable on this slate. RotoGrinders’ ownership has Nikola Jovic ($4,100) checking in as the trendiest cheap piece on the Miami side, coming in around 26% in a matchup with the Hornets. I’ll be surprised if Jovic is actually that chalky, but if he is, I like the idea of leveraging that by getting to Jaime Jaquez Jr. instead.
Both are historically solid per-minute guys, though both are likely to come off the bench with Miami trotting out the twin-tower Bam Adebayo/Kel’el Ware frontcourt to start. Jaquez has been erratic over the first few years of his career, especially in terms of minutes. Erik Spoelstra seems to have no issues pulling the rug from under him at any time, which is a bit frustrating. Still, Jaquez has played at least 26 minutes in each of the Heat’s first 3 games of the year, and he’s been extremely productive (1.17 FP/minute).
There’s usage to go around here with Miami down Tyler Herro, and there’s a chance Norman Powell (midday downgrade to Q) joins Herro on the sidelines. That should narrow the Miami rotation even further, and there’s plenty of usage to go around outside of Adebayo. I’d expect JJJ to pick up some of that, especially if he winds up starting. As of now, I think Jaquez is a bit more likely than Simone Fontecchio to draw the potential spot start, but we shall see.
Jaquez’s ownership is going to skyrocket if he starts, so he’s not exactly a GPP pivot at that point. If Powell suits up, Jaquez becomes a bit sneaker.
John Collins ($5,200)
The Clippers improved their roster on the margins this summer, and the trade to land John Collins was a big part of that. Collins gives LAC’s frontcourt some much-needed size beyond Ivica Zubac, as well as some bench scoring with Norman Powell now in Miami.
The Clippers won’t have Bradley Beal again tonight, which likely means another start for Bogdan Bogdanovic. We also saw Collins pick up a few extra minutes in the one game Beal missed, and he’s at a solid 1.03 FP/minute through 3 games. Collins has been a productive starter for a couple of teams over the course of his career, and I think there’s a sneaky ceiling here even now that he’s relegated to a reserve role.
I don’t think it’s the most likely outcome, but tonight’s matchup against the center-less Warriors could go small. If Zubac gets run off the court, the more athletic Collins is the natural choice to log some extra minutes as a small-ball 5. He won’t pop in median projections, but he also won’t get any ownership as a result.
Good luck! Until next time, may you live until you die.
Taylor Smith been a profitable DFS player for years, turning his passion for fantasy sports into both consistent results and quality content. Since 2018, he’s created fantasy analysis and strategy pieces for several outlets, most notably RotoGrinders and FantasyLabs, where he’s covered everything from daily picks to advanced DFS theories.
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