DFS NBA Top Plays: September 1

Last Updated: September 1st at 1:00 am ET

Editor’s Note: We may not write up every player we consider to be a top play. Be sure to consult the chart at the bottom of the page. This page will be updated as news breaks. Please refresh this page for adjustments and notes on injuries.

UPDATES: 

Coming Soon….

Injuries

Point Guard

Jamal Murray ($9,700 DK/$9,400 FD) – Murray has logged 43, 41, and 43 regulation minutes in the last three games while taking 31, 26, and 24 field-goal attempts. He’s shot over 60 percent from the field during this stretch which has really exaggerated the results, but the opportunity has been monstrous. At first glance, the big price hike feels like Murray will need to continue shooting 60+ percent in order to hold his value, but the massive workload with a regressed shooting expectation would still yield slightly over 50 fantasy points on either site. Murray “feels” like chasing and it certainly is in terms of the 70-80 fantasy point upside we’ve seen, but there are legitimate reasons to think he can still deliver at this price tag. He’s going to play 40+ minutes and most likely take 25-30 shots. He’s still in play in all formats but shading ownership towards Jokic and away from Murray probably makes sense in tournaments as the field figures to do the opposite.

Kyle Lowry ($7,700 DK/$7,500 FD) – Lowry played 35 minutes and sat the final four minutes of regulation. The Raptors had an awful shooting day that resulted in a blowout and lower assist totals than you’d normally expect. This figures to be a bounce-back spot down 1-0, and we have a slight preference for Lowry over Kemba Walker as we think Lowry has a slight minutes advantage in projection.

Kemba Walker ($7,600 DK/$7,800 FD) – Walker had the opposite outing of Lowry as his assist total benefited from some hot shooting from the Celtics. The price tag remains reasonable given we’d expect Walker to approach mid-30s in minutes. We just have a slight preference towards Lowry with his team down 1-0 in the series.

Shooting Guard

Donovan Mitchell ($9,900 DK/$8,500 FD) – Mitchell is a similar story to Jamal Murray where hot shooting is exaggerating the upside but the monstrous volume supports a hefty projection. The price tag on FanDuel hasn’t moved which makes Mitchell a fantastic value. On DraftKings, Mitchell is priced higher than Jokic and Murray but projects slightly behind them, in part because we’ve seen Jokic and Murray reach into the 40s more consistently in minutes.

Marcus Smart ($6,000 DK/$5,700 FD) – Smart was pretty much everything we expected in Game 1 with the exception of the minutes which may have been held back by Brad Wanamaker playing well. Smart played the entire first quarter but checked in late in the second quarter and then lost playing time at the end of the game due to the blowout. We still see 40-minute upside for Smart based on how he was used in the closer against Philadelphia and in the seeding game against the Raptors, but we’ve toned down the minutes expectation to 38. Smart’s price tag came up on both sites so he’s not as strong of a value as he was on Sunday, but he still grades out well at a relatively thin position.

Small Forward

Jaylen Brown ($7,300 DK/$6,300 FD) – Brown was the big disappointment on Sunday but it wasn’t for a lack of opportunity. Brown played 19 minutes in the first half and took 18 shots in his 31 minutes in total. The upside was really curtailed by foul trouble and poor shooting (6-18) but the opportunity was certainly there. The price tag on FanDuel is incredible and makes him one of the best plays on the slate, but he’s a reasonable target on DraftKings as well.

O.G. Anunoby ($4,800 DK/$5,200 FD) – Anunoby doesn’t come with a big upside but he’s on the floor long enough to grind his way to value. He’s a necessity for the Raptors given the wing scoring on the Celtics and he’s one of the more useful value options on a slate where most of the best plays are priced above $7,500.

Power Forward

Jayson Tatum ($9,200 DK/$9,000 FD) – Tatum sat the final five minutes of Game 1 and still had logged 37 minutes. His playing time was helped out a bit by the foul trouble for Jaylen Brown but it’s clear Brad Stevens wants at least two of his primary scorers on the floor as much as possible against a strong Raptors defense. With Murray and Mitchell likely combining more ownership at similar price tag, Tatum actually has a chance to be a viable pivot that also creates some leverage against the other options on his team that are sure to come with ownership. Tatum is a viable cash-game play on FanDuel because of positional scarcity and he projects similarly viable on DraftKings, but we think the ownership might make him a better tournament play.

Daniel Theis ($5,200 DK/$5,300 FD) – Theis was our favorite value on Sunday’s slate and he delivered even without hitting the playing-time expectations we had for him. Foul trouble curtailed some of the upside as we still see a clear path to low or even mid-30s minutes in this matchup. Theis was great on the boards and benefited from some poor Toronto shooting. The price tag has less upside to it after the big price increase, but we still project him clearly as the top value at the position.

Royce O’Neale ($4,500 DK/$4,600 FD) – O’Neale and Anunoby are similar targets with modest rates but lots of playing time that give them a chance at paying off their cheap price tags. O’Neale has played 38, 37, and 37 minutes in the last three games. If he can stay out of foul trouble he’ll be out there quite a bit as he’s the Jazz’s best perimeter defender.

Center

Nikola Jokic ($9,500 DK/$9,800 FD) – As we noted on Sunday, Jokic’s rebound and assist rates have taken a big hit in this playoff series and it appears to have taken away some of his upside. His median projection is the strongest on the slate but it does expect some bounce-back in those rates. We saw the assists come around last game but the rebounds cratered again. We think he’ll come with less ownership than Mitchell and Murray who he’s historically out-performed on a per-minute basis and figures to play similar minutes. He’s viable in all formats but we especially think he makes sense in tournaments.

Rudy Gobert ($7,900 DK/$7,300 FD) – Gobert, like Jokic, has seen the playing time rise but the fantasy production stagnate in the matchup. His usage rate is actually up in the playoffs (17.2 vs. 16.2) but his rebound rate has plummeted (16.0 vs. 21.6) as have his steal (0.9 vs. 1.5) and block (3.4 vs. 4.8) rates. Jokic pulling Gobert away from the basket coupled with Murray’s isolation game off the pick has led to weaker defensive statistics for Gobert. The good news is the price tag hasn’t moved much and he’s routinely approaching 40 minutes (42 and 43 last two games). Like Jokic, median projections may overstate the opportunity in this matchup but the upside is certainly there and the position is a difficult one to fill.

Marc Gasol ($4,100 DK/$4,500 FD) – Gasol’s upside is limited by a modest offensive role but it was clear the Raptors wanted to extend his minutes and play him alongside Serge Ibaka. They cut Rondae Hollis-Jefferson out of the lineup and went with the double center lineup that they used in the playoffs last season as well. If we can project Gasol for 25+ minutes, he’s going to grind his way to value at these cheap price tags. He’s a strong cash-game building block on DraftKings where the pricing is tighter and you can play multiple centers. He’s viable on FanDuel but comes down to different build preferences.