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NBA Preseason DFS: Monday, 10/7 – Mt. Zion’s debut

By Dan Palyo

MADISON, NEW JERSEY - AUGUST 11: Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans poses for a portrait during the 2019 NBA Rookie Photo Shoot on August 11, 2019 at the Ferguson Recreation Center in Madison, New Jersey. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
MADISON, NEW JERSEY - AUGUST 11: Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans poses for a portrait during the 2019 NBA Rookie Photo Shoot on August 11, 2019 at the Ferguson Recreation Center in Madison, New Jersey. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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TARRYTOWN, NY – SEPTEMBER 30: Elfrid Payton #6 of the New York Knicks poses for a portrait during media day on September 30, 2019, at the Madison Square Garden Training Center in Tarrytown, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, the user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Steven Freeman/NBAE via Getty Images)
TARRYTOWN, NY – SEPTEMBER 30: Elfrid Payton #6 of the New York Knicks poses for a portrait during media day on September 30, 2019, at the Madison Square Garden Training Center in Tarrytown, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, the user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Steven Freeman/NBAE via Getty Images) /

NBA Preseason DFS: Knicks @ Wizards

Knicks: Damyean Dotson, Amir Hinton, Kadeem Allen, Reggie Bullock, and Dennis Smith Jr. are OUT.

Wizards: Ian Mahinmi, Isaiah Thomas, CJ Miles, and Troy Brown Jr. are OUT. Isaac Bonga and Admiral Schofield are QUESTIONABLE.

This game definitely interests me as we have two bad defensive teams that are both likely gunning for more balls in the draft lottery this year squaring off in this one. The Knicks have five guys already ruled out (all guards or wings) which means we should be able to target their backcourt for some plays tonight.

Elfrid Payton should get the start at point guard and is an excellent fantasy point-per-minute guy who I want to target. He doesn’t score the ball a ton but racks up boards, assists, and defensive stats in bunches. R.J. Barrett will be making his NBA debut for the Knicks are will likely start at shooting guard. I’m not a huge fan of his game, but he may get up a bunch of shots and is more of a GPP play. Backup point guard Frank Ntlikina is my second favorite play after Elf as he’s shown the ability to rack up steals so far in his career and should be plenty of run.

Julius Randle is going to be in every one of my lineups on both sites. He’s a stat monster and is primed for a huge season, statistically speaking, now that he is the top-dog on this Knicks team. Mitchell Robinson and Bobby Portis are interesting plays at PF/C as both of them are excellent per-minute producers and don’t need that many minutes to rack up stats. Portis had huge usage rates off the bench for Chicago and Washington last season while Robinson is an elite rebounder and shot-blocker.

The Wizards are going to be the Bradley Beal show again this year as John Wall is slated to miss the entire season with a major injury. Beal was a fantasy monster last year after Wall went down and was not only scoring a ton of points but was racking up huge assist numbers as the de-facto point guard for Washington. If he plays even 18-20 minutes in this game, you have to like his chances at scoring 25-30 fantasy points and he should be a priority play.

Thomas Bryant is the other Wizard I’m looking at as he really came on down the stretch last season. With Ian Mahinmi out, Bryant should play 20 minutes and was a force on the boards last season and an excellent scorer inside. The last guy I’ll consider is Ish Smith, who appears to be the starting point guard for Washington this year for now but will be pushed by Justin Robinson.

Elite Plays: Elfrid Payton, Julius Randle, Bradley Beal, Thomas Bryant

Also Consider: Frank Ntlikina, Mitchell Robinson, Bobby Portis, Ish Smith