DraftKings NBA: Saturday Cheat Sheet

DraftKings NBA: Saturday Cheat Sheet

This article is part of our DraftKings NBA series.

Saturday's featured NBA slate begins at 7:00 PM Eastern time and consists of three games. All three home teams will be favored, with the 76ers hosting the Pacers, the Bucks hosting the Hornets and the Rockets hosting the Hawks. This will be the second game in as many nights for every team except Houston, so double check your lineups to ensure the back-to-back scenarios don't produce any surprise scratches.

Slate Overview

Game to Target

Rockets (-13.5) vs. Hawks, O/U: 236

There won't be much defense played in this one, as both Atlanta and Houston rank among the league's 10 most generous teams defensively. The Hawks are finishing a back-to-back set, accounting for part of the reason why the Rockets are massive favorites in this one.

Game to Fade

76ers (-4) vs. Pacers, O/U: 206.5

This game is simply expected to have significantly less scoring than the other two, as both teams boast top-five defenses.

Positional Breakdown

Point guard has plenty of depth, with eight guys priced at $6,300 or more. On the other hand, center likely has just three players priced over $6,000. Shooting guard and power forward both drop off dramatically after James Harden and Giannis Antetokounmpo, respectively, with no other players priced at $8,000 or more at either position.

Injury Situations to Monitor

Clint Capela (illness) is considered doubtful for this one after missing Houston's previous game Wednesday.

Capela's Rockets teammate Danuel House is also doubtful due to an illness, so he'll likely yield his starting spot to Ben McLemore, who has delivered some scoring outbursts when pressed into a starting role this season.

Josh Richardson missed the second half of Wednesday's game and all of Friday's due to a hamstring injury, so he's unlikely to return Saturday for the 76ers.

Cody Zeller (hip) has missed Charlotte's last two games and will likely remain out.

Elite Players

There's a surprisingly high amount of elite talent for such a small slate, but the Rockets duo of James Harden ($12,000) and Russell Westbrook ($9,300) stand out from the pack, as they'll take on a Hawks team that's surrendering 117.1 points per game.

Giannis Antetokounmpo ($11,800) likely won't see heavy usage in 50/50s, but you can never write him off in GPP formats given his lineup-defining ceiling every time he steps on the floor.

Joel Embiid ($9,500) played both legs of Philadelphia's last back-to-back, but he only played 26 minutes in the second game, so it will be hard to trust him to live up to his usual lofty standards.

Expected Chalk

Bismack Biyombo ($4,500) has averaged 16.0 PPG, 9.0 RPG and two blocks per game as Charlotte's starting center with Zeller out the past two games. He played 34 minutes in each contest and should once again outperform his meager valuation in a starting role.

While Tyson Chandler drew the start with Capela out Wednesday, Gary Clark ($3,500) was the biggest beneficiary of the starting center's absence, with 12 points and eight rebounds in 28 minutes. The unheralded big man is primed for a repeat performance at an affordable price, and locking him in will help clear the cap space for the likes of Harden, Westbrook or Antetokounmpo.

Jabari Parker ($6,700) is coming off a four-point clunker, but he's scoring 17.1 PPG this season and is pulling down 9.5 RPG over the past four games. He should continue to score and rebound at a high rate in what promises to be a fast-paced game against Houston.

Devonte' Graham ($6,500) has been consistently excellent over the past five games. His 17.0 PPG in that stretch have been right in line with his season average of 17.9, but the Hornets guard is also dishing out 9.6 APG as the team's go-to playmaker. The Bucks have struggled to slow down point guards, so Graham should continue to thrive in this one.

Key Values

Al Horford ($6,800) should pick up the slack from any reduced minutes for Embiid, and he'll be well rested after skipping Friday's game for rest purposes. He's averaging a well-rounded 14.4 PPG, 7.2 RPG and 4.1 APG, along with 1.0 steal and 0.9 blocks.

Furkan Korkmaz ($4,200) started and played 31 minutes against the Knicks on Friday, delivering nine points and six rebounds. While those numbers aren't anything to write home about, Korkmaz's increased playing time should make the Turkish sharpshooter a nice value play as long as Richardson remains out.

The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it's possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire. Sasha Yodashkin plays in daily fantasy contests using the following accounts: FanDuel: Youngsash, DraftKings: Yashdogg,Yahoo: Sasha, Fanball: Yashdogg.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sasha Yodashkin
Sasha has been contributing NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB and Tennis content to RotoWire since 2015, with an emphasis on DFS. He is a huge New York sports fan who has been playing fantasy sports since middle school.
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