Friday's NBA showdown is a single game, BOS @ CHA, with a $50,000 salary cap and a captain slot that scores 1.5x points at 1.5x salary. The slate locks at 7:00 p.m. ET (4:00 p.m. PT), so there is no second game to wait on.
The top of our model's ranking starts with Jayson Tatum at $11,000, with a ceiling of 61.7 and a DraftKings average of 42.8. Both numbers lead the slate. Brandon Miller of CHA is next among the stars at $9,000, with a 48.8 ceiling and a 38.0 average. Paul George ($8,600, 43.2 ceiling) and Naz Reid ($8,200, 42.8 ceiling) round out the group that our model rates as the strongest high-salary options.
The value plays are where the cap gets solved. Tidjane Salaun of CHA costs just $1,600 and carries a 19.2 ceiling against an 8.0 average. Luka Garza of BOS is $2,800 with a 25.5 ceiling and a 15.1 average. Baylor Scheierman of BOS is $3,600 with a 27.2 ceiling and a 17.9 average. Payton Pritchard ($7,400, 33.4 ceiling) is a mid-tier option, but he carries a Q tag from DraftKings. Among the other tags, Kon Knueppel, Devin Carter and Grant Williams are listed OUT, while Moussa Diabate and Dennis Schroder are Q.
Our fact sheet carries no ownership figures for this slate, so we can't say where the crowd will land.
Our model's top lineup uses $49,900 of the $50,000 cap. It puts Tatum in the captain slot at $16,500, then adds Garza ($2,800), George ($8,600), Sam Hauser ($4,800), Reid ($8,200) and Miller ($9,000) at UTIL. That build pays up for Tatum and Miller, then leans on Garza and Hauser to make the salary work.
Lock is Friday at 7:00 p.m. ET.
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