Fantasy Basketball Top Plays and Fades, Wednesday January 30

Welcome into the Wednesday edition of Fantasy Basketball Top Plays and Fades! We have a very interesting night game slate tonight with only a couple of high priced studs.

Tonight might be a little bit of an odd slate because we don’t have many super studs to choose from and by the looks of things on paper, one game will garner the most attention. That’s not unfair because the Kings taking on the Hawks sports two bad defensive teams and a total of 235-ish points. This game is the most stackable because the prices are all reasonable(mostly) and that’s exactly where we’re going to start tonight with our Fantasy Basketball Top Plays!

Fantasy Basketball Top Plays – Point Guard

Top Play – De’Aaron Fox, Kings

It’s pretty hard not to like Fox tonight, more a few reasons. Some of those reasons have been laid out but the Hawks have been just so terrible against point guards specifically that Fox is really going to have to not show up to have a poor game. With Trae Young on the other side of the equation, fantasy points are likely to flow for Fox tonight.

On the season so far, Atlanta sits dead last in DK points given up to the position. That includes the second most real points, fourth most assists and the fifth most three pointers made. On top of that, Fox averages 1.7 steals per game and the hawks are dead last in turnovers per game. These two play at the two fastest paces in the league, so the opportunity here is off the charts for most players in this game, but Fox is one of the elite options out of it. These two teams squared off in November and the Kings won handily, putting up 146 points. Fox’s line from that day? 31/10/15. Count me in.

Honorable Mention – Terry Rozier, Celtics

Fade – Kemba Walker, Hornets 

He’s been landing in this portion of the article a good bit lately, but he deserves to be here again tonight and I will have basically none of Kemba tonight. After starting this season like a house on fire, Walker has really slowed down and the price does look like he’s worth taking a shot at.However, in Boston against a good defensive squad just isn’t the spot to try and catch the Walker explosion.

Even though they are likely to be missing Kyrie Irving, Boston can still play good defense and there’s not a lot of secondary options for Walker to fall back on for help. The Celtics should be able to contain the real points that Walker scores, since they are already giving up the eighth fewest to the position in the NBA. Point guard isn’t exactly the greatest tonight but there are many options ahead of Walker for me.

Honorable Mention – Trae Young on DK, FD he’s nicely priced

Fantasy Basketball Top Plays – Shooting Guard

Top Play – Bradley Beal, Wizards 

It’s not very often that Bradley Beal will be this cheap on DK and I’m planning on taking advantage of it tonight. He’s under $9,000 and even though the matchup looks bad on paper, we have to remember that Victor Oladipo was lost for the year due to a leg injury. That’s a pretty big step down defensively to the next player trying to guard Beal and he just never seems to leave the floor, averaging the third most minutes in the league.

Not only do you know you’re going to get the minutes for the price you pay, but the usage is excellent as well. Without John Wall, Beal is up to 32.7 percent and a robust 1.28 FPPM. With a shooter like him, there’s always a ceiling for more if he comes out hot, which is a definite possibility given the loss of Oladipo. I’m not always a fan of big minute players on back to backs, but Beal really hasn’t given me any reason to worry about him this year.

Honorable Mention – Luka Doncic, Mavericks at Madison Square Garden

Fade – CJ McCollum, Blazers 

Another frequent flier for this section, I feel like I have no choice but to put him here. I flirted with Jrue Holiday because I think the Pelicans might get run off the court by the Nuggets, leaving Holiday with shortened minutes. However, Holiday could be the lone wolf for scoring once again and he managed to lead the Pelicans to a win against the Rockets last night. Instead, we’ll stick with McCollum because his price tag is insanely high tonight.

If we just take his last game into account, the price is pretty fair because McCollum triple-doubled and had his best game of the season. However, that also came with Damian Lillard out of the lineup, which is not the case tonight. Lillard being back really drags down the value of McCollum and then the matchup isn’t spectacular. Combine that with one of the highest prices we’ve seen all year, I’m totally off of McCollum tonight against the Jazz.

Honorable Mention – Zach LaVine, Bulls

Fantasy Basketball Top Plays – Small Forward

Top Play – Will Barton, Nuggets 

I almost feel bad for the players who use FD tonight because the small forward position might be the worst that I can think of off the top of my head. Usually, we get at least a Paul George or a LeBron James that you could at least pay for some safety. That’s not the case tonight as the leading salaried player is Otto Porter. That leads me to use Barton without Jamal Murray in a great pace up spot and against a team that has always struggled with wing players.

New Orleans allows the second most DK points to the position and that goes with the fourth most real points. The good news with Barton is he’s never afraid to shoot and will be even likelier to do so since Murray is out of the lineup. The sample size is small at 135.4 minutes but without Murray,  Barton has a 25.8 percent usage and 1.13 FPPM. Given the matchup and the situation, Barton should be able to get there even if the Nuggets blow out the Pelicans. I might be a little less inclined on DK, but on FD you have to play somebody.

Honorable Mention – Justise Winslow, Heat(keep an eye on their health through the day)

Fade – Jae Crowder, Jazz 

I’m usually one to try to attack the Blazers with wing players/forwards but this isn’t really the spot in my eyes. Yes, Portland allows the sixth most DK points to the position and they allow the sixth most real points. They’ve been one of the weaker teams against both forward positions this year but the issue comes from Crowder’s own team.

He and Derrick Favors would be useful fantasy assets if they weren’t eating into each other’s minutes to a major extent. Crowder actually does average a couple extra minutes than Favors but it’s not enough to get you excited about Crowder. The matchup looks great but the situation speaks against Crowder. Frankly, he wouldn’t usually be in this portion but the options are so limited, players might look to him as a punt and I think that’s a mistake tonight.

Honorable Mention – Trevor Ariza, Wizards

Fantasy Basketball Top Plays – Power Forward

Top Play – Marvin Bagley, Kings 

The young rookie for the Kings takes center stage in a position that lacks top shelf options, especially on DK where he’s a mere $5,400. There are times that I don’t want much to do with bench players but Bagley isn’t one of those players. His minutes took a hit this past game but I have a feeling that was score related and the Kings were just being careful with Bagley, who missed a portion of the season with injury. Tonight, he should be able to blow by his price tag if he plays closer to 25-27 minutes in a competitive game.

The youngster for the Kings already averages 5.5 paint touches a game and 6.1 paint points. Atlanta gives up the third most paint points of any team in the league. I will say I’m not totally confident that he can rack up a double double because the Hawks are actually ninth in rebounds in the paint given up, but the pace should certainly help Bagley. He is one of the cheaper ways to get into this game with legitimate upside tonight.

Honorable Mention – Lauri Markkanen, Bulls

Fade – Jayson Tatum, Celtics

Maybe I’m being a little harsh on a young player but I can’t stand playing Tatum on almost any given slate. I just automatically assume he’s going 30 DK points or fewer, and he barely hit 20 this past game without Kyrie Irving. While his future is exceptionally bright in most people’s eyes, that doesn’t make him a reliable fantasy threat right now and that’s all I’m concerned about tonight.

What’s interesting is even though he sees a small bump in usage with Kyrie off the floor, Tatum actually averages .06 FPPM fewer without Irving. Sure, that’s splitting hairs as far as it being a negative but the fact is he doesn’t really move the needle for fantasy when Kyrie is out. With a team like the Celtics, they have enough players that can chip in and bit into the ceiling of everyone else on the floor. I’m not falling for the Tatum trap again.

Honorable Mention – Noah Vonleh, Knicks

Fantasy Basketball Top Plays – Center

Top Play – Hassan Whiteside, Heat

Bet you didn’t expect this player to end up as the top play with centers like Karl Anthony-Towns and Nikola Jokic at the top. Those two are perfectly fine, but KAT doesn’t have the best matchup and is priced up and Jokic might only get three quarters of action. I will also be crystal clear and say I will not play Whiteside in cash under any circumstances because the minutes are almost always under what you want. He remains a dynamite GPP play because most people won’t play him and he has a chance to be a difference maker on this slate.

More from FanSided

• Thunder projected lineup and rotations heading into 2023-24 season
• NWSL Challenge Cup news: Courage ruthless against Washington, Racing remain perfect
• 2023 Women’s World Cup: Ary Borges and Brazil showed the entire world what they are about
• Trea Turner’s rough season goes from bad to worse
• Brewers attempt to troll Elly De La Cruz backfires 456 feet

Whiteside sits eighth in the league in paint touches a game and there’s few teams weaker in the paint than the Bulls. Not only are they in the bottom seven of surrendering points and rebounds in the paint, they’re on a back to back. That’s not going to be easy to contain Whiteside for many reasons and provided Whiteside sees at least 26-28 minutes, he should be hit 6x on his price tag. He’s hit a double double for three straight games and maybe will finally be treated like he deserves  time on the court.

Honorable Mention – Alex Len is a solid punt for the Hawks if not spending up

Fade – Karl Anthony-Towns, Wolves

No matter how the lineup shakes out for the Wolves tonight, KAT is plenty safe. If you’re paying that price for him, you likely want Derrick Rose to be out along with Jeff Teague so the offense runs even more through KAT but it’s not a necessity for him to hit the floor. The problem with KAT comes from you’re paying for top end production and I’m not sure he can hit that mark with Marc Gasol on the other side.

We saw Gasol contain Jokic in this past game to one of the lower outputs he’s had recently. I don’t think it’s crazy to say that Joker is better than KAT, so there is concern here. Since you can only play one center on FD and you only have to play one on DK, there is plenty of reason to look elsewhere. Jokic himself is the same price on FD and only $300 more on DK. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Jokic out-scores KAT even if the Nuggets blow out the Pelicans. If New Orleans keeps it close, I bet the gap only widens.

Honorable Mention – Rudy Gobert, Jazz

Stay tuned to Fantasy CPR for all of your DFS needs. We have them all covered!