Sunday's NBA showdown is a one-game slate, PHI @ CHI, with the usual captain twist: the captain slot scores 1.5x points at 1.5x salary, and lineups play under a $50,000 cap. The slate locks Sun 11/8 at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Jaylen Brown is the headliner for our model. He's priced at $9,400 with a ceiling of 70.8 and a DraftKings average of 39.4, the highest ceiling among the plays we rank. LeBron James follows at $9,200 with a ceiling of 69.1 and an average of 38.5. Caleb Wilson is the top CHI option at $8,600, with a ceiling of 63.2 and an average of 37.2. Tyrese Maxey is the most expensive player in the group at $10,600, and his 44.2 average is the best of the bunch, though his 59.2 ceiling sits below Brown's and James's.
Value is where the slate can be won. Jabari Walker costs just $1,400 and carries a ceiling of 29.7 against a 9.2 average, a cheap way to free up cap room. Jalen Smith at $5,800 brings a ceiling of 49.3 and a 26.5 average. VJ Edgecombe at $7,400 has a 54.3 ceiling and a 30.0 average. One caution: Norman Powell shows up in our ranking at $6,800, but he carries a DraftKings OUT tag, as do Zach Collins, Adem Bona, Dominick Barlow and Ariel Hukporti, so none of them belong in your player pool.
Ownership figures aren't available for this slate, so we won't guess where the crowd lands.
Our model's top lineup uses $49,100 of the $50,000 cap. It puts Jaylen Brown in the captain slot at $14,100, then fills the UTIL spots with Tyrese Maxey at $10,600, Josh Giddey at $8,800, LeBron James at $9,200, Dean Wade at $2,200 and Tre Jones at $4,200. It pairs three expensive stars with two cheap fillers, a classic showdown build.
Get your lineups set before lock at 3:30 p.m. ET.
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