Friday's NBA showdown is a single game, POR @ LAL, with a $50,000 salary cap and a captain slot that scores 1.5x points at 1.5x salary. The slate locks at 10:00 p.m. ET (7:00 p.m. PT).
Luka Doncic (LAL) sits at the top of our model's board at $12,800, with a ceiling of 84.3 and a DraftKings average of 54.9. No one else comes close to that number. Deni Avdija (POR) follows at $9,600 with a ceiling of 64.6 and an average of 41.2. Walker Kessler (LAL) at $8,600 carries a 55.4 ceiling, and Damian Lillard (POR) at $8,200 has a 52.2 ceiling and a 32.8 average.
The cheap end of the board is where the leverage lives. Micah Potter (POR) and Branden Carlson (POR) are both $1,000 with ceilings of 34.9 and 34.6, and Lawson Lovering (LAL) is $1,000 with a 29.3 ceiling. Their DraftKings averages sit between 3.4 and 3.8, so these are ceiling bets rather than safe floors, but the salary savings let you stack the expensive end of the pool. Jrue Holiday (POR) at $7,000 is the mid-range pick, with a 49.6 ceiling against a 24.8 average.
Check the status tags before building. Ja Morant, Vit Krejci and Shaedon Sharpe (all POR) are tagged OUT, while Sandro Mamukelashvili (LAL) carries a Q tag. The sheet gives no ownership figures for this slate, so there is no crowd read to lean on.
Our model's top lineup uses the full $50,000. It puts Doncic in the captain slot at $19,200, then adds Ziaire Williams at $4,000, Donovan Clingan at $7,400, Holiday at $7,000, Sidy Cissoko at $3,200 and Austin Reaves at $9,200.
Lineups lock Friday at 10:00 p.m. ET.
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