Monday's DraftKings slate is a single-game showdown, OKC @ CLE, with a $50,000 cap and a captain slot that scores 1.5x points at 1.5x salary. Lock is Mon 11/2 at 7:00 p.m. ET (4:00 p.m. PT), so there is one game and one pool of players to sort out.
The top of the board is priced as you would expect. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC) costs $11,600 with a ceiling of 64.9 and a DraftKings average of 43.7, the highest ceiling on the slate. Donovan Mitchell (CLE) is $9,800 with a 53.6 ceiling, and Evan Mobley (CLE) is $9,400 with a 49.3 ceiling and a 36.4 average. Ajay Mitchell (OKC) is the mid-tier piece at $7,600, with a 47.4 ceiling and a 26.6 average.
The value end is where our model's rankings get interesting. Thomas Bryant (CLE) is $1,000 with a 34.0 ceiling, a big number for the minimum. Micah Peavy (OKC) and Craig Porter Jr. (CLE) are also $1,000, with ceilings of 22.9 and 21.2. Meleek Thomas (CLE) is $3,200 with a 41.4 ceiling, which makes him the strongest ceiling-to-price play of the group. Salary relief matters in a format where the captain slot eats so much of the cap.
The injury report is long. DraftKings lists eight players as OUT: Chet Holmgren, Alex Caruso, Nikola Topic, Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace for OKC, and Peyton Watson, Jaylon Tyson and Nae'Qwan Tomlin for CLE. Players on that list are off the table.
Our model's top lineup uses $49,800 of the $50,000 cap. It captains Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at $17,400, then adds Isaiah Hartenstein ($7,200), Ajay Mitchell ($7,600), Aday Mara ($5,000), Evan Mobley ($9,400) and Meleek Thomas ($3,200). Thomas's cheap salary is what lets the build pay for both the captain and Mobley.
Lock is Mon 11/2 at 7:00 p.m. ET (4:00 p.m. PT), so finalize lineups before then.
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