The NBA had a jam-packed slate of 13 games last night. That comes at the expense of this Thursday’s slate, which will feature just three games. Luckily for us, these games do have favorable defensive matchups. In turn, we find many fantastic fantasy basketball players to slot into our DFS lineup(s). These are the five best plays for the Thursday main slate.
Isaiah Collier, PG (UTA) — $7,900 (FanDuel) | $7,900 (DraftKings)
The Jazz are in tank mode, but that does not affect Collier. As Keyonte George remains out, Collier must play notable minutes. He has had no fewer than 9 assists in any of his last five games. In fact, he has recorded 14 assists and 22 assists in two of those games. Tonight, the Jazz face the Trail Blazers, who rank 4th-worst against point guards.
Viti Krejci, SG/SF (POR) — $3,900 (FanDuel) | $4,100 (DraftKings)
The sleeper pick has gained some relevance lately. Krejci has earned his keep recently, playing at least 19 minutes in his last four games. In that time, Krejci has scored double-digit points three times, including 17 points last night. Despite being a back-to-back, he should be an unaffected party. The Trail Blazers will play their lower-tier players to conserve their higher-tier players. The Jazz are also an abysmal defense, so that’s good to see.
Toumani Camara, SF/PF (POR) — $5,700 (FanDuel) | $6,400 (DraftKings)
Camara should also play normal minutes despite the back-to-back. In any back-to-back in the new year, Camara has maintained playing 32 or more minutes in his second game.
The Jazz here provide a great matchup as the worst defense in the NBA. As for Camara’s output, he has 41 and 35 point fantasy outputs in two of his last five games. Camara has volatility, but also upside worth gambling on.
Kyle Filipowski, PF/C (UTA) — $6,600 (FanDuel) | $6,700 (DraftKings)
Filipowski is our buy-low candidate of the week. While Lauri Markkanen suffers from the tank and Jaren Jackson Jr. is now out for the year, Filipowski will continue to play massive minutes. In his last seven games, Filipowski has a double-double four times. The Trail Blazers rank 6th-worst against power forwards, so let’s chase this 50+ fantasy-point upside.
Jericho Sims, C (MIL) — $4,100 (FanDuel) | $4,200 (DraftKings)
Tonight is all about “upside.” In a thin slate of low-tier NBA teams, we can often find diamonds in the rough that we hope to get rich with. Sims fits that script. By going against a Donovan Clingan and Chet Holmgren, we find a 7x or higher upside player in Sims. In his last game, Sims had a double-double to hit about 8x of his salary. He also scored 34 fantasy points last Friday and has no less than 19 fantasy points in each of his last five games. The Thunder are the 7th best against Centers, but the reward outweighs the risk.
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