You don’t have to play cash games to understand why it’s important to grasp them. Players we consider for cash are the ones we believe are the most underpriced, have the best floor/ceiling combo and feature a relatively tight range of outcomes. In other words, these are the best plays on the board once price, slate context and positional depth is accounted for. Those sound like pretty good options for GPPs as well.
The optimal GPP lineup will mix some of these cash-type plays with higher-variance options. In cash games (where roughly 50% of the field gets paid out), we don’t worry about ownership or game stacks or correlation. In large-field tournaments, our ACO (average cumulative ownership) should stay reasonably low.
With all that said, these are our Top Plays considering the following factors: Median projection, matchup, upside and value. Ownership is not considered here. Generally speaking, these players are what we consider to be “head-to-head and 50/50 considerations.” They are listed in price descending order (NOT ranked by “best play”). At the bottom, you’ll find suggested rankings by site once salary is accounted for.
Injuries
*Jarrett Allen (ankle) — Out
*Jamal Crawford (hamstring) — Out
*Joe Harris (groin) — Out
*Caris LeVert (quad) — Out
*Garrett Temple (rest) — Out
*Michael Carter-Williams (foot) — Out
*Evan Fournier (illness) — Out
*Aaron Gordon (hamstring) — Out
*Terrence Ross (illness) — Out
*Eric Gordon (ankle) — Out
*James Harden (rest) — Out
*Russell Westbrook (quad) — Questionable, expected to play
*Danuel House (toe) — Questionable
*Bryn Forbes (quad) — Out
*Derrick White (knee) — Questionable
*Joel Embiid (ankle) — Out
*Josh Richardson (rest) — Out
*Al Horford (knee) — Questionable
*Tobias Harris (ankle) — Questionable
*Daniel Theis (foot) — Probable
*Hassan Whiteside (hip) — Probable
*Tyus Jones (knee) — Out
*Shabazz Napier (ankle) — Questionable
*Jrue Holiday (elbow) — Out
*Zion Williamson (knee) — Out
*Brandon Ingram (knee) — Out
*Kent Bazemore (calf) — Questionable
*De’Aaron Fox (shoulder) — Out
*Richaun Holmes (hip) — Out
Incentives/Back-to-Backs
Playoff Hunting: Phoenix Suns, Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs, Memphis Grizzlies
Seeding Motivation: Philadelphia 76ers, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets
Nothing to play for: Brooklyn Nets, Orlando Magic, Boston Celtics, New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento Kings, Milwaukee Bucks, Washington Wizards
Front-end: Philadelphia 76ers
Back-end: Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, Milwaukee Bucks
Point Guard
Damian Lillard ($9,800 DK/$9,900 FD) – This slate is largely about locking in the studs you want to spend on and then piecing together the cheap plays. There are so many cheap plays available because of injuries and player rest that it’s not difficult to find value to spend all the way up. Lillard is on one of the four teams on today’s slate with playoff aspirations and he’s in the most attractive game environment on the slate. Rick Carlisle had a quote that inspires confidence in Dallas’ approach to this game: “You’re not supposed to rest your guys on national TV games, so that’s another factor that played into (resting Doncic and KP),” Carlisle said before Monday’s game. “It has nothing to do with the opponent or anything like that. The 237.5 total and tight spread suggest the oddsmakers expect Dallas to go full throttle as well.
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