Saturday night's DraftKings NBA slate is a compact two-game card: NOP @ DEN and GSW @ PHX. The classic salary cap is $50,000, and the slate locks at 9:00 p.m. ET (6:00 p.m. PT).
At the top, Nikola Jokic (DEN, C/UTIL) is the headliner at $11,400, with a ceiling of 93.3 and a DraftKings average of 56.5. No one else on the slate comes close to that upside. Jamal Murray (DEN) at $8,000 carries a ceiling of 59.3 and a DraftKings average of 38.8, and DeMar DeRozan (DEN) at $5,100 shows a ceiling of 55.7 against an average of 28.2.
The cheap end is where our model finds its edge. Julian Reese (NOP, PF/F/UTIL) costs only $3,000 but has a ceiling of 45.6, a big jump over his 8.1 DraftKings average. Ryan Nembhard (DEN) is also $3,000, with a ceiling of 37.5 and an average of 12.3. Jeremiah Fears (NOP) at $5,100 carries a 60.3 ceiling, the second-highest on our list behind Jokic. Bennedict Mathurin (NOP) at $4,200 and Derik Queen (NOP) at $5,600 round out the group, with ceilings of 41.0 and 48.7.
The GSW side of the slate is thin. DraftKings lists Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, Brandin Podziemski and Kristaps Porzingis as OUT, and Draymond Green carries a Q tag. Yves Missi (NOP) is also OUT, as are Oso Ighodaro and Mark Williams (PHX). The sheet gives no ownership figures, so we can't say where the crowd will land.
Our model's top lineup uses $48,300 of the $50,000 cap. It runs Ryan Nembhard at PG ($3,000), Luke Kennard at SG ($3,900), Trey Murphy III at SF ($7,200), Draymond Green at PF ($5,300), Khaman Maluach at C ($5,100), Jeremiah Fears at G ($5,100), Zion Williamson at F ($7,300) and Nikola Jokic at UTIL ($11,400).
Set your lineups before the 9:00 p.m. ET lock.
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