NBA DFS Picks and Pivots - Friday, October 25

NBA DFS Picks and Pivots – Friday, October 25

DALLAS, TX - DECEMBER 26: Luka Doncic #77 of the Dallas Mavericks celebrates after play against the New Orleans Pelicans on December 26, 2018 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. 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. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images) /

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PORTLAND, OR – OCTOBER 23: Damian Lillard #0 of the Portland Trail Blazers dunks the ball against the Denver Nuggets on October 23, 2019 at the Moda Center Arena in Portland, Oregon. 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. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Cameron Browne/NBAE via Getty Images) /

NBA DFS Picks and Pivots – Building our Roster:

The Ayton news is not the only big news we got on Thursday that impacts this slate immediately, as the Sacramento Kings announced that Marvin Bagley will be out 4-6 weeks which opens up value right off the bat in Sacramento with the potential that Buddy Hield is also out with injury as he was given a late-night questionable tag.

The Kings have already mentioned that it is likely Nemanja Bjelica ($7K) will step into Bagley’s starting role alongside Dewayne Dedmon ($7.8K) as they will be asked to take on the interior of Portland. Now the Kings ran a deep rotation on opening night with 8 guys playing more than 20+ minutes so we cannot expect that any of the Kings players are going to step into 30+ minute roles even with the injuries but we may not need that when you consider the pricing.

The Kings played small ball the majority of their first game against the Suns but with Hassan Whiteside ($13.8K) on the other side of this game, this may be a spot where Dedmon specifically is asked to take on far more of an interior role and should see his minutes trend up towards the 25+ we saw in Atlanta last season.

The real story in this game for me, however, is the Portland side, as we are going to get Damian Lillard ($16K) in a pace up game environment against a Kings team that was top 3 in pace last season and actually saw a pace uptick in the first game of this year.

One of the things I love about Portland when it comes to NBA DFS is that they play a condensed rotation where they lean heavily on the starting unit and that continued to play out in their opening game where 4 of the 5 starters played 30+ minutes including Rodney Hood ($7K) who played 31 minutes, shotting the ball 10 times and racking up 21 fantasy points which would be good for 3X value.

Last but not least, from a pure one-off perspective, it would be crazy not to mention Kyrie Irving ($17K) after what he did opening night in Brooklyn. Kyrie’s 43% usage rate is the highest mark any player has put up this season and while I am certain we won’t get him at sub 10% ownership again tonight as we did on Wednesday, there is enough value on this slate where paying up for him is not going to be an issue at all!