NBA DFS picks January 4: Should we fade all the stars?

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INDIANAPOLIS, IN – OCTOBER 11: A detail view of official Spalding NBA logo basketball on the floor during a preseason game between the Chicago Bulls and Indiana Pacers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on October 11, 2019 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Pacers defeated the Bulls 105-87. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

NBA DFS picks January 4: Should we fade all the stars?

A nasty bit of a cold kept me sidelined for a couple of days, but I’m ready to dig back in with this nine game NBA DFS slate tonight. Blowouts have been the name of the game in the Association so far. Will we see more of that? The injury report could give us some insight.

Out: Kristaps Porzingis (knee), Kemba Walker (knee), Kevin Love (calf), T.J. Warren (foot), Tyrese Haliburton (wrist), Danilo Gallinari (ankle), Marquese Chriss (leg), Trevor Ariza (personal), Kevin Porter (personal), Jeremy Lamb (knee), Obi Toppin (calf), Kris Dunn (ankle), Avery Bradley (contact tracing), Cody Zeller (hand), Pat Connaughton (groin), Furkan Korkmaz (adductor), Matthew Dellavedova (concussion), Aleksej Pokusevski (concussion), Rajon Rondo (knee), Tony Snell (foot), Onyeka Okongwu (toe), Dennis Smith (quad), Omari Spellman (knee), Frank Ntilikina (knee), Klay Thompson (Achilles), Alen Smailagic (knee), Daquan Jeffries (ankle), Chris Clemons (Achilles), Mason Jones (ankle), Ty Jerome (ankle), Torrey Craig (nose), Sam Merrill (ankle), Wenyen Gabriel (knee), Sindarius Thornwell (contact tracing), Brian Bowen (groin), Goga Bitadze (ankle), Al-Farouq Aminu (knee), Jonathan Isaac (knee), Chuma Okeke (knee), Dylan Windler (hand), Mike Scott (knee) Patrick McCaw (knee), Javonte Green (coronavirus), Romeo Langford (wrist).

Questionable: James Harden (ankle), Luka Doncic (quad), Darius Garland (shoulder), Alec Burks (ankle), Josh Jackson (ankle), P.J. Washington (thumb), Evan Fournier (back), Kevin Huerter (ankle), Jeff Teague (ankle), Isaac Okoro (foot), James Ennis (hamstring).

If Harden is out for the second straight game, there are some nice pieces on Houston since the offense will run like a normal team. The downside is that they are playing a good Dallas defense.

I expect Luka to play here. I tend to think that he would have played last night if Dallas were playing a good team.

I started doing the trifecta last year where at the request of a reader I tried to predict the top three scorers of the night. I got all three right twice, but they were never in the right order. I’m not one to give up that easily, so I’ll do it again.

Tonight I have to go with Giannis at the top since Harden didn’t play well against Dallas last year when he was at full strength. For the last two spots, I’ll go with Sabonis and Young.

The real purpose of this article is to help you narrow down your player pool. That’s the first thing I do when diving into a slate. This is a first look only, and I don’t always get time to update the article itself with all of the injury news. I do that via Twitter.