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NBA DFS Picks and Pivots – Saturday January 12

By Brian Tulloch

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - MAY 6: After stealing the ball from the San Antonio Spurs Russell Westbrook #0 of the Oklahoma City Thunder reacts after he dunks two points during the first half of Game Three of the Western Conference Semifinals during the 2016 NBA Playoffs at the Chesapeake Energy Arena on May 6, 2016 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by J Pat Carter/Getty Images)
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - MAY 6: After stealing the ball from the San Antonio Spurs Russell Westbrook #0 of the Oklahoma City Thunder reacts after he dunks two points during the first half of Game Three of the Western Conference Semifinals during the 2016 NBA Playoffs at the Chesapeake Energy Arena on May 6, 2016 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by J Pat Carter/Getty Images) /
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NBA DFS
OAKLAND, CA – MAY 20: James Harden #13 of the Houston Rockets heads the court for Game Three of the Western Conference Finals of the 2018 NBA Playoffs against the Golden State Warriors at ORACLE Arena on May 20, 2018 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) NBA DFS /

Welcome to the Saturday edition of NBA DFS Picks and Pivots, a fantasy basketball column focused on helping you find the best core lineup for this slate of DFS action!

For those of you finding us for the first time, the concept behind NBA DFS Picks and Pivots is to give you a first look at the day’s NBA DFS slate, including our top picks, plays and pivots, using FantasyDraft pricing as a reference to help you build your best fantasy basketball line-up and win big.

Picks and Pivots is not a simple “best plays” column but rather it focuses on slate strategy and roster construction to help give you insight into how I will look to play this slate.

Friday’s NBA DFS slate was a crazy one and maybe one of the chalkier slates we have had all year. We got mid-day news that Giannis looked doubtful which pushed every other member of the Bucks into near must-play territory against the Wizards and then 10-15 minutes before lock we got the news Joel Embiid would sit which pushed Jimmy Butler and Ben Simmons into elite territory against the Hawks and between the Sixers and Bucks we had all the value needed to pay up for James Harden who went for another 80+ fantasy points. The path wasn’t one you needed to get cute on AT ALL – the top raw point plays on the night were all some of the most popular – Harden, Simmons, Mitchell, Beal and Bledsoe – all guys who got big bumps due to injury and seemingly proving to us once again, sometimes it pays to just play the obvious guys.

Picks and Pivots is not a simple “best plays” column but rather it focuses on slate strategy and roster construction to help give you insight into how I will look to play this slate. The goal of this article is to dig through the slate, highlight our top plays and help you identify the best slate strategy across your NBA DFS line-ups.

If you are looking to try out a new DFS site, head on over to FantasyDraft and enter my referral code for 10% rake back on your entries.

As always, we will look to update our final lineup thoughts throughout the day on our twitter account @FantasyCPR so make sure to give us a follow for all the late breaking lineup news.

Without further ado, let’s get into today’s slate!

NBA DFS
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – MAY 6: After stealing the ball from the San Antonio Spurs Russell Westbrook #0 of the Oklahoma City Thunder reacts after he dunks two points during the first half of Game Three of the Western Conference Semifinals during the 2016 NBA Playoffs at the Chesapeake Energy Arena on May 6, 2016 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by J Pat Carter/Getty Images) /

NBA DFS – Saturday Night Slate and a FREE ROLL:

We have a HUGE day and weekend of sports tonight with a full slate of NFL DFS over the course of two days and while also having a six game NBA DFS slate tonight to dive into. What better way to start your weekend then with a FREE ROLL from our friends at FantasyDraft who have $50 in tickets up for grabs. GET IN NOW!

At first glance this is shaping up to be another value filled slate and tonight we have multiple high-end stars to pay up for as opposed to Friday night where it seemed like Harden or bust.

Russell Westbrook ($21.5K) is the most expensive option on the board, taking on a Spurs team he just dominated to the tune of 24 points, 24 assists, 13 rebounds and 82 fantasy points in a double OT battle that saw him log 50 minutes.

Anthony Davis ($20.5K) is not far behind Westbrook and after AD just dropped 78 fantasy points against the Cavs, you are looking at a slate where you have two players with the ability to break the slate with by far the highest ceiling available.

On FantasyDraft, you can actually make the argument for starting your builds with both, which although pricey, leaves you with $9.6K per player to fill out the last 6 spots on your roster – a very manageable number especially with so much value looking to be available.

The big news to watch is in this New Orleans-Minnesota game, as Karl-Anthony Towns is questionable to play after injuring his ankle on Friday night. KAT has not missed a single game this year so there is no track record of exactly how Minnesota would proceed but this would open up some clear front-court value on the Minnesota side.

Taj Gibson ($8.5K) is already playing 30+ minutes a night so the biggest boosts likely go to Dario Saric ($8.9K) and Gorgui Dieng ($6K). If you look at the substitution patterns for the Wolves in recent games, Dieng is typically the direct sub for KAT and with the Pelicans front court being as big as it is, all three of these guys will be forced to play major minutes.

This game has a 235 total so there is going to be some serious fantasy goodness available to us here and if KAT is out – this becomes the clear path to value and a Stars/Scrubs build.

If you take KAT (and Butler for the sake of the data) off the court this season – all of Derrick Rose, Jeff Teague and Andrew Wiggins see 5% or higher usage boosts with every single one of them putting up around 1/2 FP.M.

If you want to lock in Westbrook AND AD tonight, I could absolutely see making the argument to lock in 3,4 or even 5 Minnesota guys assuming KAT is out and going after this game stack.

NBA DFS
PHILADELPHIA, PA – NOVEMBER 16: Donovan Mitchell #45 and Jae Crowder #99 of the Utah Jazz react in the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center on November 16, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The 76ers defeated the Jazz 113-107. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

NBA DFS – All That Jazz:

The Utah Jazz were the popular first spot to look yesterday with Ricky Rubio/Dante Exum and Raul Neto all out as everyone focused on Donovan Mitchell and value plays like Royce O’Neal. The Giannis news and late breaking Embiid bombshell may have taken some away from them but hopefully you stayed the course as the Jazz leaned on these two for heavy minutes and production as these two played over 70 minutes combined and racked up 90 fantasy points against the Lakers.

Tonight, the Jazz will take on the Chicago Bulls in Utah on the tail end of a back to back, and I think going back to this duo and frankly any of the Jazz core is a great spot to start. Mitchell is priced up over $15K but guys like O’Neal ($7.6K), remain far too cheap for this match-up and he will likely be one of the most popular plays after his big night on Friday. This may be a case where you simply play the right play and try not to get cute – if you can lock in a player that is guaranteed to get 35+ minutes against the Bulls defense and it allows you a path to get BOTH AD and Westbrook, you simply click the button.

We have already touched on a few big injury situations…BUT WAIT…THERE’S MORE!

Devin Booker looks likely to miss another game for the Suns here against Denver, who could also end up short-handed with Gary Harris and Will Barton questionable.

The one value play here that has really stood out the last two games for Phoenix is Richaun Holmes ($7K), who has put up 30 and 37 fantasy points in back to back games coming off the bench and makes for one of my favorite GPP plays due to his extreme upside as it relates to blocks/steals. Holmes has racked up 4 blocks and 4 steals over these last two games which when combined with his ability to score/rebound has made him a near 1/4 FP/M producer with Booker off the court the last week.

NBA DFS
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JANUARY 09: Anthony Davis #23 of the New Orleans Pelicans looks on during the game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Smoothie King Center on January 09, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /

NBA DFS – Sample Lineup and Slate Overview:

Please note – this is meant to be illustrative ONLY and is not to be used as a Plug and Play lineup. 

More from FanSided

G: Russell Westbrook

G: Derrick Rose

G: Jeff Teague

F/C: Andrew Wiggins

F/C: Gorgui Dieng

F/C: Anthony Davis

UTIL: Royce O’ Neal

UTIL: Richaun Holmes

Slate Overview: One of the reasons I have always structured Picks and Pivots in a way where I circle back to a lineup is that I think it is helpful to discuss lineup construction and paths as opposed to just highlighting the best plays.

Nobody is going to be shocked to see Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook as great plays tonight but my gut in these instances tells me people will look to choose either/or rather than explore a path to getting both.

The KAT news is really where we have to watch as his absence would open up not only the value to make this work, but it would siphon his usage to under-priced plays like Wiggins, Rose and Teague that you can easily fit in around Westbrook/AD.

For me, I am going into this slate with the mindset of trying to find ways to get both studs and searching for the right value to make it work. We already know we have guys like Royce O’Neal we can plug-in and let’s be honest, it’s the NBA – more news is coming. So go ahead and play around with some builds early on and see if you can find a path to Stars/Scrubs you like – I think tonight it becomes the path of least resistance.

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