Thursday's one-game showdown pits CLE against ATL, with a $50,000 cap and a captain slot that scores 1.5x points at 1.5x salary. The slate locks Thu 10/29 at 8:00 p.m. ET (5:00 p.m. PT).
At the top of the board, Jalen Johnson (ATL) is the priciest option at $10,600, with a ceiling of 68.5 and a DraftKings average of 45.9. Donovan Mitchell (CLE) comes in at $9,600 with a 61.5 ceiling and a 39.1 average. James Harden (CLE) at $8,600 carries a 59.4 ceiling and a 35.7 average, while Evan Mobley (CLE) at $9,200 has a 54.4 ceiling and a 36.1 average. Johnson's ceiling is the highest on the sheet, which is why our model builds around him.
The value end is where the slate gets interesting. Peyton Watson (CLE) costs $6,400 and has a 49.1 ceiling against a 27.4 average, a strong return for the price. Kingston Flemings (ATL) is just $3,600 with a 38.3 ceiling and a 16.6 average. Dig deeper and Tyrese Proctor (CLE) at $1,400 shows a 27.0 ceiling, and Craig Porter Jr. (CLE) at $1,000 has a 22.3 ceiling. Their DraftKings averages are only 3.3 and 3.1, so they are pure salary-savers with upside, not safe floors.
Three players carry an OUT tag on DraftKings: Mouhamed Gueye (ATL), Henri Veesaar (ATL) and Nae'Qwan Tomlin (CLE). Ownership figures are not available for this slate, so we can't say where the crowd will land.
Our model's top lineup uses $49,700 of the $50,000 cap. Johnson takes the captain slot at $15,900, joined by Jarrett Allen at $7,200, Watson at $6,400, Harden at $8,600, Nickeil Alexander-Walker at $8,000 and Flemings at $3,600. That puts three CLE starters-level salaries next to Johnson and Flemings from ATL, leaning on the captain multiplier for the top-end score.
Lineups lock Thu 10/29 at 8:00 p.m. ET.
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