A short, yet very strong NBA slate comes to an exciting conclusion on Saturday night when the Hornets visit the Clippers in Los Angeles to wrap up their West Coast road trip. With the form LaMelo Ball ($9,600) is in, and with Los Angeles getting ever so closer to 100% health, we should be in for a good one. Without further ado, let’s get into how to construct your Showdown lineups for Saturday evening.
Set your DraftKings fantasy basketball lineups here: NBA Showdown $120K Fadeaway [$30K to 1st] (CHA vs LAC)
Captain
LaMelo Ball ($14,400 CP)
I don’t think there’s any reason to pay all the way up for Kawhi Leonard ($16,200 CP) or Paul George ($15,000 CP) given their recent play, and on the other hand, you’ve got a red-hot Ball in a tremendous matchup. He matches up with Reggie Jackson ($5,800), a purveyor of atrocious defense who we’ll get to in a minute. Jackson not only has added 3.9% to his opponent’s success from three and 4.8% at the rim, according to Cleaning the Glass, he also ranks in the 12th percentile when it comes to fouling his opponents. Ball had a cool 1.3 DKFP per minute in his last game in this building just a couple of nights ago, and I think he’ll once again have a great game in front of friends and family in LA.
Reggie Jackson ($8,700 CP)
So, why does Jackson play if his defense is that bad? Well, for starters, Patrick Beverley is still out due to injury. The other reason? He’s pretty great at scoring the basketball. He also has the benefit here of facing Ball, who isn’t exactly known for his defense either. The dip to 19 minutes last game doesn’t give me the utmost confidence here, but prior to that, he was posting around 20 DKFP per game in about 25 minutes without Beverley. I think that’s more than enough to make him worth captaining, when you consider his price will let you fit just about anyone you want in your lineup.
Fades
Paul George ($10,000)
On a slate where there might not be too many fantastic performers, fading George might be a little tough to swallow. That said, rostering him lately has been nothing but pain. He’s shooting just 37.9% from the field over the past four games, a number so bad that he’s somehow been better from 3-point range (39.3%). He’s averaged just 35.9 DKFP over his past eight games, a mark so bad I can’t recommend rostering him at this price.
Value FLEX Options
Nic Batum ($4,000)
It’s really hard to find value in this game, so I’m going to go with a pair of guys at a very reasonable price range who aren’t exactly minimum salary. The first is Batum, who can’t be ignored given his 55 minutes over the past two games. He averages over four 3-point attempts per game and will have an easy time against the Hornets, who are allowing more than 37% of threes to fall this year.
Malik Monk ($3,800)
It takes bravery to roster someone coming off a game where he had just 0.25 DKFP in 14 minutes, but fortune favors the brave. That’s particularly true in GPPs. Monk is supremely talented and had been absolutely cruising before that speedbump, hitting value almost every time out. He won’t need to do much to make him worth rostering here, and with 17-20 minutes likely, given Monk’s secure spot in the Hornets’ rotation, it should be more than doable.
The Outcome
In LaMelo Ball’s homecoming (continued), I expect him to show up in a big way against a Clippers side that’s just hit a bit of a dip lately in production and defense. The Hornets are no joke when it comes to scoring the basketball, and as long as the offense shows up, the Clippers’ weapons haven’t exactly been instilling fear in their opponents. I see a close game.
Final Score: Clippers 122, Hornets 116
Set your DraftKings fantasy basketball lineups here: NBA Showdown $120K Fadeaway [$30K to 1st] (CHA vs LAC)
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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is jetsfan196) and I may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.