We're teed up for a five-game FanDuel main slate Thursday, one headlined by a Rockets-76ers clash. We have a manageable injury report relative to the number of games being played, so our player pool should afford us plenty of options for both cash games and tournaments.
Slate Overview
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Listed spreads/totals are from FanDuel Sportsbook and current as of Wednesday, Jan. 21 @ 11:00 p.m. EST:
Charlotte Hornets at Orlando Magic (-6.5) (O/U: 229.5)
Houston Rockets (-2.5) at Philadelphia 76ers (O/U: 221.5)
Denver Nuggets (-6) at Washington Wizards (O/U: 232.5)
Golden State Warriors (-3.5) at Dallas Mavericks (O/U: 232.5)
Chicago Bulls at Minnesota Timberwolves (-9.5) (O/U: 237.5)
The betting metrics Thursday are fairly encouraging, as we don't have any true projected blowouts and three of the five games on the docket have totals comfortably north of 230 points. The best real-world matchup may be the aforementioned Rockets-Sixers matchup, but for DFS purposes, it's likelier the Nuggets-Wizards and Warriors-Mavericks clashes are the top games to target.
Injury Situations to Monitor
For all the latest updates, visit RotoWire's NBA Injury News page and our comprehensive NBA Injury Report.
Paul George, PHI (knee): QUESTIONABLE
If George can't play Thursday, Kelly Oubre would be set for another spot start.
Josh Giddey, CHI (hamstring): QUESTIONABLE
If Giddey can return Thursday, he'll likely be on some sort of minutes restriction, so Tre Jones could retain a solid allotment of minutes.
Other notable injuries:
Nikola Jokic, DEN (knee): OUT
Christian Braun, DEN (ankle): OUT
Jonas Valanciunas, DEN (calf): QUESTIONABLE
Jalen Suggs, ORL (knee): QUESTIONABLE
Bilal Coulibaly, WAS (back): QUESTIONABLE
Daniel Gafford, DAL (ankle): QUESTIONABLE
Khris Middleton, WAS (illness): QUESTIONABLE
Jamal Murray, DEN (hip): PROBABLE
Joel Embiid, PHI (knee): PROBABLE
Aaron Gordon, DEN (hamstring): PROBABLE
Elite Players
We have three players with a five-figure salary that have a chance to play on Thursday's slate: Tyrese Maxey ($10,600), Jamal Murray ($10,100) and Anthony Edwards ($10,000).
Maxey has scored over 42 FD points in five of the last six games, a stretch that includes tallies of 60.5 and 70.8 FD points, and he could be taking the floor without Paul George again.
Murray continues to play through his hip injury and has scored between 39.9 and 61.5 FD points in four of the last five games, and his matchup against the Wizards sets him up for continued success.
Edwards has scored 62.3 and 57.1 FD points in his first two games back from a two-game absence, contests in which he's scored a career-high 55 points and 38 points. He also draws an appealing matchup against the Bulls.
Expected Chalk
Other likely chalk plays include:
Alperen Sengun, HOU ($9,900)
Sengun has scored 43.8 FD points or more in five of the last six games, which should ensure a high roster rate again Thursday.
Joel Embiid, PHI ($9,600)
Embiid is projected to return to the court Thursday and has scored over 41 FD points in three of the last four starts, which should help ensure his popularity Thursday.
Paolo Banchero, ORL ($9,400)
Banchero has eclipsed 46 FD points in three of his last five games, which should continue to lead to him being in plenty of lineups.
Cooper Flagg, DAL ($9,000)
Flagg scored 29.9 FD points in 27 minutes against the Knicks on Monday during his return from a two-game absence due to an ankle injury, and he should be due for a minutes bump Thursday in a likely competitive game against the Warriors.
Julius Randle, MIN ($8,500)
Randle has an excellent positional matchup against the Bulls and has eclipsed 43 FD points in three of the last four games, which should make him a very popular play at his salary.
Key Values
Rudy Gobert, MIN vs. CHI ($6,200)
Gobert has missed a couple of games recently, but he's been highly productive when on the floor. The big man has scored 37.1 and 41 FD points in his last two games, and he'd averaged 36.5 FD points in his previous 17 games while putting up 11.1 points, 13.0 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.8 blocks per contest. The matchup Thursday is one that should continue to allow him to overdeliver on his current salary, as the Bulls are surrendering the third-most FD points per game to centers (59.6), along with the seventh-most blocks per contest overall (5.5). Chicago is also conceding the fifth-most points in the paint per game (53.5), an area of the floor where Gobert is scoring a career-high 82.4 percent of his points this season.
Jonathan Kuminga, GSW at DAL ($5,300)
Kuminga has suddenly sprung back to relevance in Golden State, as Jimmy Butler's season-ending ACL tear created an instant need for the talented wing's services. To his credit, Kuminga emerged from mothballs after being off the floor for just over a month and delivered 30 FD points in 21 minutes against the Raptors on Tuesday. Kuminga should continue in the rotation Thursday and may not be moving on from the Warriors at the trade deadline after all, and the Mavericks check in ranked in the bottom half of the league in offensive efficiency rating surrendered to second-unit players (45.0). Kuminga's salary remains very reasonable and he does carry some risk due to the uncertainty of how exactly he'll be utilized game to game, but he could pay off nicely in tournaments.
Tim Hardaway, DEN at WAS ($4,800)
Hardaway has seemingly hit his stride in Denver's rotation, averaging 24 FD points in his last 16 games while shooting an impressive 39.3 percent from distance over that span. Hardaway has eclipsed 26 FD points on nine occasions in that span, which is excellent upside for his current salary. The veteran sharpshooter now gets a matchup against a fast-paced Wizards team that has allowed 47.6 percent shooting overall, including 52.5 percent in the last three contests. Washington is also surrendering the eighth-most made three-pointers per game (14.1), which is certainly another point in Hardaway's favor given how much of his scoring (61.6 percent) comes from behind the arc.
ALSO CONSIDER: Quinten Post, GSW at DAL ($4,000)
