Cash Plays
Isaiah Thomas ($8,500) – IT4 and the Celtics will be welcoming the Cavaliers to TD garden tonight for matchup between the 1st and 2nd seeds in the Eastern Conference. At this point in the season, there are a lot of teams that don’t have anything to play for. This, however, is not the case for these powerhouse eastern conference teams as they battle for playoff positioning. You know Thomas will score for you, so it’s just about whether he can fill the stat sheet in some of the other areas to reach value. He’s still underpriced (in my opinion) at $8,500, and a matchup with the Cavs should give him some extra motivation at home tonight. Cleveland gives up the 7th most fantasy points a game to point guards (50.3), so there should be plenty of opportunities for IT to find success against them tonight.
Devin Booker ($8,100) – Devin Booker’s price has not changed and he keeps putting up 20+ shots a game as the season winds down, so as long as those two things stay constant he’s going to keep finding himself into my cash game picks. He has a good matchup tonight against the Golden State Warriors in what should be a high scoring game. Golden State does have a great individual shooting guard defender in Klay Thompson, but as a team they still give up 40 fantasy points a game to the position. I’m not worried about Booker reaching value with the kind of usage he’s been seeing, so he should find his way into my lineup yet again tonight.
LeBron James ($10,700) – James has scored 47+ fantasy points in each of his last 4 games and will be looking to continue his hot streak tonight as he faces the Boston Celtics. This game has serious playoff implications and James should run the show in what should be a close game down the stretch. He’s almost averaging a triple double in 3 games against the Celtics this year (27 points, 11 assists, 9.3 rebounds) and will be looking to burn them again tonight on his way to reaching value.
Marquese Chriss ($5,300) – Chriss has been seeing some huge minutes over the last month and that trend should continue tonight against the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors have a solid defense, but have actually given up the 9th most fantasy points to power forwards this year. An added bonus is that the Warriors defensive stopped Draymond Green is out tonight for rest purposes, so Chriss should have an easier time reaching value. He’ll need 26 fantasy points to be worth the investment and I think he should easily be able to do this in a high scoring affair.
Clint Capela ($5,500) – Capela has arguably been the most consistent center on Fanduel over the last 2 weeks. He’s posted 22+ fantasy points in each of his last 8 games, and scored 29.6 and 32.8 fantasy points against Denver in the two contests against them in late March. For a guy priced at $5,500 this is amazing consistency/production, and is exactly what you want out of a player in cash games. Denver is a very fast paced team so there will most definitely be opportunities for Capela to get fantasy points tonight at the Toyota Center.
GPP Plays
Chris Paul ($9,500) – Chris Paul has been playing great basketball over his last 3 games, posting an average of 28.3 points and 11.6 assists per game during those contests. He’s also been between 47.8 and 51.1 fantasy points during that stretch, so he’s shown a nice flash of consistency. This consistency, however, is still not enough for me to consider him as a viable cash game pick. He does possess serious GPP upside, though, against an under-staffed Mavericks team. Dallas once again has more players as game-time decisions than it seems like they’ll have dress out, but that is great news for the Clippers who are still chasing the 4th seed Jazz for home-court advantage in the playoffs. This should be enough for Doc Rivers to leave his starters on the floor for an extended period of time and allow CP3 to reach value for your tournament lineup.
Nicolas Batum ($6,300) – Batum is so underpriced tonight at $6,300 I wouldn’t be surprised if he is a somewhat popular cash game play. He doesn’t seem to find success against good matchups or when he’s on a hot streak, so it’s really hit or miss with him on a nightly basis. But at $6,300 Fanduel is literally saying he only needs his average to reach value for you tonight, which I never see happen for a middle/higher-priced guy like Batum is. On the season he’s averaging 31.92 fantasy points a game, and he only needs 31 to be worth the investment. It’s a possibility he may go overlooked, but Batum is really a great play tonight against the Miami Heat at the Spectrum Center.
Marcus Morris ($5,300) – Another guy I really like in tournaments tonight is Marcus Morris of the Detorit Pistons. He’s another player that seems like he has great games when you least expect it, and a matchup with a good defensive team like the Toronto Raptors seems like a good time to roll with him given this philosophy. At $5,300 he needs 25-30 to reach value, but we’ve seen him hit 40-50 multiple times this year, so he obviousy has serious upside considering his price.
LaMarcus Aldridge ($7,000) – I haven’t seen too much of LaMarcus Aldridge’s name while researching for this slate, so I think he’ll fall more as a GPP play tonight against the Lakers. If this is the case, Aldridge will have an elite matchup with a low-ownership as he gets to take on a Los Angeles defense that has given up the most fantasy points in the league to opposing power forwards all season. He is another guy that seems a bit under-priced at $7k, but that’s just another factor that makes him a great play tonight. Make sure Popovich is playing him before you lock him in, though, because a home game against the Lakers seems like a perfect opportunity to rest a guy like Aldridge heading into playoffs.
Hassan Whiteside ($8.400) – Whiteside has been playing fairly well last week, but did not reach his $8,400 price tag once. This leads me to believe that most will not be overly excited to get him into their lineups and should leave him with a low ownership for this slate. He’ll need 42 to reach value, which he’s only done once in his last 6 contests. However, a matchup with the Charlotte Hornets may be just what he needs, as they’ve given up the 10th most fantasy points to opposing centers this season (48.4 a game).
