NBA

DraftKings Daily Fantasy Basketball Helper: Tuesday 3/16/21

The shorthanded Rockets will look to Victor Oladipo and others to step up against the Hawks. Who else should be in your Tuesday night lineups?

With eight games to choose from on Tuesday's slate -- which locks at 7:30 p.m. EST -- let's look at the top options across all five positions for NBA DFS.

Be sure to check out our projections, which are updated throughout the day as news breaks, and our other DFS tools such as advanced stats and a matchup heat map.

Here are some of the top plays on today's DraftKings slate. As always, good luck.

Point Guard

Kevin Porter Jr. ($7,000) - On Tuesday, the reeling Rockets are going to be missing a number of bodies; it's just a matter of how many. John Wall has already been ruled out, as has Eric Gordon, David Nwaba and P.J. Tucker. All of Christian Wood, Ben McLemore, Danuel House Jr. and Rodions Kurucs are listed as questionable to boot, so Porter could be locked into a heavy workload against the Hawks. He's already played 29, 38 and 30 minutes in his first three games with his new team, and has averaged 37.8 DraftKings points and 1.17 points per minute. Heads up with Trae Young, Porter has the ceiling of a player who could command an $8,000 to $8,500 salary under the circumstances.

Ty Jerome ($4,200) - As with Houston, the Oklahoma City Thunder are in need of backcourt assistance. After dealing away Hamidou Diallo, the Thunder were without Darius Bazley, Luguentz Dort and Theo Maledon on Sunday, and are yet to get an active Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk post-trade. The status of the Thunder injuries are yet to be determined, but if at least two of those players are out Jerome should see 20-plus minutes. If they're all sidelined he should start and play somewhere around the 28.3 minutes he has averaged in his last three appearances. Fresh off a 30.5-point showing, he will get a natural boost versus the Chicago Bulls, who rank 6th in pace and 19th in defensive rating, according to NBA.com.

Shooting Guard

Victor Oladipo ($8,300) - Like Porter, Oladipo should benefit from the lack of healthy Rockets. According to NBA Wowy, in his limited time in Houston his 30.1% usage and 1.16 DK points per minute have increased to 34.6% and 1.24 in the absence of Wall. Porter should shoulder some of the load, but with Gordon also sidelined it's possible for the backcourt duo to use a combined 60% of possessions. 'Dipo should eat against the league's 22nd-ranked defense.

Immanuel Quickley ($5,800) - No Joel Embiid for the 76ers means more opportunity to play opposing players. Without their big man in the middle, Philly has allowed 2.2 more points per 100 possessions on a better field goal percentage. Tonight, that opponent is the New York Knicks, who fail to boast the big-name players, but yet have players like the budding rookie who are mis-valued for their upside and opportunity. Derrick Rose is without a return date from the health and safety protocols list, while Elfrid Payton could miss another game after sitting Monday. Quickley is hot as can be after turning 16 shots into 21 points and 35.75 DK points in a Saturday win for New York.

Small Forward

Ben Simmons ($9,000) - Defensively, the Sixers are worse off without Embiid. But as far as fantasy splits go, Simmons benefits greatly from being the number-one creator on the offensive end. Over 699 possessions without Embiid, he has a 24.3% usage, 39.3% assist rate and averages a cool 1.27 DK points per minute. At that rate, he needs to log just over 35 minutes to reach value. The Knicks certainly don't play at the best pace, but Simmons' involvement is enough to warrant high consideration

Bogdan Bogdanovic ($4,000) - The Rockets aren't the only team with values to consider in this contest. At his low salary, Bogdanovic has continued to see his minutes ramp up, from 17 to 22 and now 25 in the team's most recent game. In that one, he was able to find a groove, knocking down 5-of-9 for 12 points and 20 fantasy points. He's without a minutes restriction and could benefit greatly versus a depleted Houston team. The home Rockets come into tonight ranked 28th in defensive rating over the last 10 games.

Power Forward

Zion Williamson ($8,700) - Zion's salary is finally back down following a run that saw it skyrocket to $9,300 in the first game out of the All-Star break. It makes sense, especially after the rookie phenom has done next-to-nothing outside of the points column recently. In the last three games he's scored an average of 24.7 points, but has been limited to a total (yes, total) of 13 rebounds and 7 assists. Zion's also managed just a single block on the defensive end. Expect him to do more, given what should be a high over-under game versus the Portland Trail Blazers.

Kyle Kuzma ($6,000) - We are going back to the proverbial here with Kuzma. After recommending him a night ago, when he went for _ and _, why not? He's produced double-double nights without Anthony Davis, and has operated as the Los Angeles Lakers' secondary scoring option to LeBron James. Without AD, his usage and per-minute output are up to 22% and 0.99 DK points on the year. That should translate well opposite the weak Minnesota Timberwolves defense.

Center

Montrezl Harrell ($6,200) - Pretty much everything that goes for Kuzma goes for Harrell. But in addition to Davis being out, he has received more time with Marc Gasol on the COVID list. Prior to last night, he played 32-plus minutes in two straight games, and had no fewer than 34 DK points in each. He's finally getting the chance to show what he's got as part of LeBron and company's pick-and-roll game, and that shouldn't change versus the Wolves. They rank 29th in opponent points in the paint this season.

Tony Bradley ($3,700) - The majority of people have flocked to Dwight Howard as Embiid's fill-in, and by established reputation that makes sense. However, it's Bradley who has received each of the last two starts without the squad's star big man. He's played about half the center minutes, but in that time he's put together 20 and 26.25 DK points, scoring efficiently, grabbing boards and counting up blocks. According to FantasyPros, the Knicks are in the middle-of-the-pack versus centers, so if you are in search of easy value look no further.



Brett Oswalt i
s not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Brett Oswalt also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username BRO14THEKID. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.