Wednesday's DraftKings slate is a single-game NBA showdown, OKC @ DAL, with the captain slot scoring 1.5x points at 1.5x salary under the $50,000 cap. Rosters lock at 9:30 p.m. ET (6:30 p.m. PT).
At the top of the pool, our model's ranking puts Cooper Flagg (DAL) first among the high-salary options at $10,400, with a ceiling of 65.3 against a DraftKings average of 40.6. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC) costs $11,400 and carries a 56.1 ceiling and a 43.9 average, the best average on the board. Kyrie Irving (DAL) is $8,600 with a 59.3 ceiling and a 29.8 average, but he carries a Q tag from DraftKings, so his status deserves a check before lock. Naji Marshall (DAL) is $6,200 with a 43.6 ceiling, and he also carries a Q tag.
The value end of the pool is where this slate gets interesting. Moussa Cisse (DAL) is $1,600 with a 33.0 ceiling. Walter Clayton Jr. (DAL) is $2,400 with a 31.2 ceiling. On the OKC side, Micah Peavy and Brooks Barnhizer are each $1,000, with ceilings of 22.1 and 17.8. Their DraftKings averages of 7.5 and 8.2 already exceed what a $1,000 salary asks of them, and the ceilings show real upside beyond that. Because OKC has Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams and Alex Caruso tagged OUT, along with Ajay Mitchell tagged Q, the cheap OKC names are worth a look. DAL is also missing Dereck Lively II, tagged OUT, and has Santi Aldama tagged Q.
The fact sheet gives no ownership figures for this slate, so we won't guess where the crowd will land.
Our model's top lineup spends $49,400 of the $50,000 cap. It puts Cooper Flagg in the captain slot at $15,600, then fills the UTIL spots with Daniel Gafford at $6,600, Jaylin Williams at $4,200, PJ Washington at $7,600, Kenrich Williams at $4,000 and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at $11,400. It pairs the slate's most expensive captain with its highest-averaging scorer and fills out the rest with mid-priced pieces.
Lock is Wed 10/28 at 9:30 p.m. ET, so set your lineups before then.
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