High Salary SG
James Harden-Houston Rockets (11,600): The Grizzlies road trip started with Russell Westbrook on Wednesday and continues with James Harden tonight in Houston. Harden had 16-7-17 against them earlier this season (12/23), and will look to continue his recent hot streak. Harden has at least 58 fantasy points in three straight and at least 50 fantasy points in eight of his last nine. He had 33-6-12 for 58.2 fantasy points on Wednesday in the second night of his back-to-back. He’s back home tonight, and after a day off he’s my favorite mega-star to build your lineup around tonight. He’s still expensive, though, and the matchup is a tough one, so it may be a better option to go with balance and upside plays tonight rather than banking on a five-figure star.∗∗∗
DeMar DeRozan-Toronto Raptors (9,400): If you want to go with a star but can’t afford Harden, DeRozan is a good option tonight in a great matchup against the Nets. The only concern is that the game could turn into a blowout and limit DeRozan’s minutes like when the Raptors played Brooklyn on December 20 and he had just 15-1-2 for 20.2 fantasy points. If he gets his full playing time, DeRozan should dominate, though, and he’ll be looking to score at least 36 points for the fourth straight game. He has produced 52.6, 46.7, and 59.6 fantasy points in his last three, and he should be set up for success as long as the game doesn’t get one-sided too early in Toronto.∗∗
Nicolas Batum-Charlotte Hornets (7,500): The rest of the top of the SG salary pool is a pretty injury-riddled group. If you have to pick one of the options between 6K-8K, my favorite would be Batum who is expected to return from his injury tonight for Charlotte (probable-knee). He has playing extremely well before the injury with at least 33 fantasy points in each of his last eight games and ten of his last 11 before the injury occurred in Detroit. He offers nice balance across the stat sheet and should be a fantasy option soon even though there is definitely risk with rolling him out in his first game back.∗∗
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