This article is part of our EuroLeague Primer series.
PREGAME UPDATES
- Barcelona's Nikola Mirotic will sit out Wednesday for personal reasons.
- Bayern's Vladimir Lucic will not play Wednesday, but Zan Sisko will be available.
- Jordan Loyd, Langston Hall, Landry Nnoko and Marko Simonovic will not be part of Red Star's Round 17 roster.
- Zach Auguste remains sidelined for Panathinaikos, but Shelvin Mack will occupy a spot in the starting lineup.
- Guerschon Yabusele and Rihards Lomazs will not suit up for ASVEL on Wednesday, but William Howard will.
- Ali Muhammed and Alex Perez remain out for Fenerbahce.
THE SLATE
LDLC ASVEL at Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul
Key Injuries: Moustapha Fall (ASV), Guerschon Yabusele (ASV), William Howard (ASV), Ali Muhammed (ULK), Alex Perez (ULK)
Best Bets for Success: ASVEL will be without one key player and possibly another, as Fall has been ruled out and Yabusele may be as well. At full speed Yabusele would be ASVEL's top fantasy option in this one, as he averaged 25.6 points on DraftKings over the last six Rounds and would have all kinds of opportunities to produce against a Fenerbahce team that has had no success slowing opposing frontcourt players. He is still worth considering if he plays, but with Yabusele's fitness uncertain, we'll give David Lighty top billing for Round 17. Lighty averaged 28.3 points on DraftKings over the last three Rounds, and while he is as much shooting guard as small forward, Fenerbahce hasn't been very tough on backcourt players either. Jan Vesely will claim the top spot for the Turkish team in this one, as ASVEL is allowing the most points to opposing centers and will be down their top big man. Vesely averaged 13.0 points over his last five appearances, and he will be particularly appealing on DraftKings at just $8,700.
DFS Darlings: Given the matchup and the absences, a number of ASVEL players fall into this category for Round 17. Norris Cole provides some of the best upper-end value on Tuesday's slate, and he will cost you just $8,300 on DraftKings. Amine Noua and Ismael Bako are a bit interchangeable, but they should both see a boost in minutes with Fall out. Should Yabusele be sidelined, you can consider Charles Kahudi as well. ASVEL pretty reliably reveals their roster before game time, so it's definitely worth seeing who is playing for the French squad before finalizing your lineups. For Fenerbahce, Marko Guduric remains cheap enough to gamble on at just $5,600.
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens at Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade
Key Injuries: Shelvin Mack (PAN), Zach Auguste (PAN), Jordan Loyd (RED), Langston Hall (RED), Marko Simonovic (RED)
Best Bets for Success: Red Star is going to be short-handed in this one, as they will be down their top scorer in Loyd and likely another player or two. The Serbian squad is going to need Johnny O'Bryant to handle the scoring load, and he is more than capable of doing so, having reached double figures in five straight appearances. He'll have the benefit of facing a Panathinaikos team that has been friendly to opposing frontcourt players on the offensive end. The Greek team has three players that regularly qualify for this section, but Red Star has been pretty tough on opposing frontcourt players, so Nemanja Nedovic gets the top spot in this one. It's going to be tough for Nedovic to match the career-high 39 points he scored last week, but he could have a shot at it, as Red Star will utilize essentially the same roster that allowed Zenit to get up 26 three-pointers and make 16 of them in Round 16.
DFS Darlings: Corey Walden, Dejan Davidovac and Marko Jagodic-Kuridza are all good bets for 20 minutes in this game, and they each topped the 20-point mark on DraftKings over the last three Rounds. Panathinaikos is giving up the second-most points on the league and hasn't been too tough on any position group, so you could get away with using a couple low-priced Red Star players in your lineups. Mack is expected to play Wednesday, and he was starting to get into a groove before being injured. With the matchup in his favor, he's worth considering on DraftKings at just $6,200.
FC Barcelona at FC Bayern Munich
Key Injuries: Brandon Davies (BAR), Victor Claver (BAR), Vladimir Lucic (MUN), Zan Sisko (MUN)
Best Bets for Success: Nikola Mirotic is looking like himself again, with averages of 18.3 points and 8.0 rebounds over the last four Rounds. Those numbers aren't far off what he averaged last season against Bayern, but things could be tougher for him this time around, as Bayern has done one of the best jobs of shutting down players at the forward spots. One of the players tasked with slowing Mirotic will be Jalen Reynolds, who has been Bayern's steadiest player of late. He will have his work cut out for him too, though, as Barcelona ranks top-4 in both points and rebounds allowed to opposing frontcourt players.
DFS Darlings: With tough matchups on both sides there aren't many appealing options in this one, but Nick Weiler-Babb could be worth considering if Sisko sits. Weiler-Babb had a nice showing in Round 16 and played 30 minutes in Bayern's last domestic league game. Cory Higgins deserves a mention too, having averaged 29.5 minutes, 16.5 points and just under 3x value at his current price on DraftKings over the last three Rounds.
CSKA Moscow at AX Armani Exchange Milan
Key Injuries: Will Clyburn (CSK), Joel Bolomboy (CSK), Vladimir Micov (MIL)
Best Bets for Success: Mike James had another huge showing in Round 16, topping the 40-point mark on DraftKings for the fourth time in five Rounds. He nearly recorded a triple-double in his first matchup with his former team last season, and with the way he's playing now he could threaten that again Wednesday. James isn't the only CSKA player putting up huge numbers, as Nikola Milutinov has ripped off four straight double-doubles. Milan is giving up some of the most rebounds to opposing centers, so he will be in position to make that five in a row. The Italian team has gotten pretty steady production from its entire roster of late, making it tricky to pin down a top option. CSKA has fared pretty well against frontcourt players and gets top wing defender Daniel Hackett back in this one, so we'll go with point guard Malcolm Delaney, who averaged 13.3 points and 23.2 points on DraftKings over the last nine Rounds.
DFS Darlings: With a couple players dominating the box score for CSKA and everyone contributing for Milan, it will be tough to identify value plays in this contest. Clyburn's absence opens up some opportunities for the Russian side, though, and if the double-double he posted in CSKA's domestic league game over the weekend is any indication, Tornike Shengelia plans to claim them. Nikita Kurbanov could also be worth a dart throw.