4 to play under $4K, March 10-NBA Fantasy Basketball Picks
DFS Fantasy basketball value picks for Thursday's two-game slate
After a jam-packed 12-game Wednesday night of fantasy basketball goodness, the NBA catches its collective breath on Thursday with just a brief two-game slate. They are two very nice matchups, though, as the Nets visit the Sixers for the first time since their blockbuster trade at the trade deadline. In the late game, the Nuggets finish a back-to-back by hosting the Warriors.
Even though there are only four teams taking the floor, I found four bargain plays to highlight in today’s 4 to play under $4K. Each day I use Draftkings’ salary and scoring as a baseline for my picks and you can follow along for results and last-minute updates @ZT_Sports on Twitter, where I’ve had a great time interacting with so many of my readers. It’s been great to hang out here since I launched Fantasy 4 on January 1 of this year.
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With those prelims out of the way, let’s take a look at the 4 to play under $4K coming into the day this Thursday.
PG Goran Dragic, Brooklyn Nets at Philadelphia 76ers, $3,600
It took a while, but Dragic and the Nets seem to be a great match after the veteran started the year with the Raptors before being traded to the Spurs who bought him out. He has played six games with Brooklyn and has quickly ramped into a significant role.
He has 15 DKFP or more in each of his past four games and even moved into the starting lineup against his former team, the Heat. He played 28 minutes in that game and finished with nine points, seven assists and 24.75 DKFP. That could be dismissed as an outlier since Kyrie Irving ($9,900) was forced to sit that home game, but he also thrived, playing 28 minutes against the Hornets in the game that Kyrie dropped 50 points. In that game, Dragic again had seven assists to go with five points and a couple of steals for 21.5 DKFP. With Kyrie and Kevin Durant ($10,300) shouldering most of the scoring load he doesn’t have an extremely high ceiling, but Dragic should be able to chip in solid numbers and continue to return good value at this affordable price.
SG/SF Moses Moody, Golden State Warriors at Denver Nuggets, $3,500
Dragic made his professional debut in 2003, just a year after Moody was born. The 19-year-old is on the opposite end of his NBA career from Dragic, but he can still bring some nice value production on the wing. He’s bounced back and forth to the G League for much of the year but has had a couple of outstanding performances lately while carving out a role for himself.
His best game of the year came on Monday when he dropped 30 points and 38.25 DKFP against the Nuggets. The Warriors rested many of their regulars for that game, but Moody remained in the lineup on Tuesday when all the starters were back except for Gary Payton II (knee), who remains sidelined for this contest. With the Splash Brothers back on the floor, Moody’s usage dropped from 33.6% to 10.5%, but he still had a solid final stat line with 10 points, eight rebounds and 26.5 DKFP. He has scored at least nine points in four straight games and should get enough work in this contest with Payton, Otto Porter (illness) and Andre Iguodala (back) all still out.
PF Georges Niang, Philadelphia 76ers vs. Brooklyn Nets, $3,300
Since the Sixers-Nets trade shook up both rosters, Niang has actually seen his role get a little bit bigger as a complimentary piece next to James Harden ($10,400). Niang is shooting over 40% on three-pointers for the season and offers a nice long-range option, providing nice spacing around Harden and Joel Embiid ($10,800). While he doesn’t have a super-high ceiling with so little usage left aside from those two superstars, Niang has scored at least nine points in four of his past seven games while averaging 10.4 points and 16.8 DKFP.
Niang has put up over 16 DKFP in three straight contests including 26.0 DKFP against the Cavs and 21.75 DKFP against the Bulls. He has totaled 10 three-pointers in those three games with a 21.1% usage rate. Of the peripheral scoring options for the Sixers, Niang has been the most consistent contributor lately, so he makes sense if you need a cheap forward play on this slate.
PF/C JaMychal Green, Denver Nuggets vs. Golden State Warriors, $3,600
Green has averaged over 20 minutes per game over his eight games since the All-Star break, producing 9.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 21.3 DKFP over that span. He showed off a nice ceiling in a blowout win over Portland with 40 DKFP, but he has regularly produced right around 20 DKFP per game.
The Nuggets were without Jeff Green ($4,000; personal), Will Barton ($5,900; ankle) and Bones Hyland ($3,700; knee) last night against the Kings. While that would have seemed to set up Green for a bigger role, he had a solid-not-spectacular 17.25 DKFP in 20 minutes, but he could be even more involved if Jeff Green remains out of action for a second straight night. With Zeke Nnaji ($3,000) and DeMarcus Cousins ($4,900) also in the second unit, the Nuggets have some nice frontcourt depth at this point of the season, but Green is still getting enough work to be a solid value option on this limited slate.
Those 4 to play under $4K worked out very balanced across the four teams in action and are able to fill in every position on your roster. Hopefully, you can blend them in with the superstars you think are set up for success and build a winning roster. Although I’m not sure it will be necessary today, I’ll update these values pre-lock @ZT_Sports if there are any surprises on the injury report. Enjoy the smaller slate and the start of THE PLAYERS Championship, and thank you for subscribing and sharing Fantasy 4.
Have a great Thursday and good luck!