Wednesday's one-game NBA showdown on DraftKings pits CLE against NYK, and the slate locks at 7:00 p.m. ET (4:00 p.m. PT). The format uses a captain slot that scores 1.5x points at 1.5x salary, with a $50,000 cap.
The top of our model's board starts with Donovan Mitchell of CLE at $9,200, who carries a ceiling of 61.0 and a DraftKings average of 40.6. Jalen Brunson of NYK is right behind at $9,600 with a 59.7 ceiling and a 40.9 average. Karl-Anthony Towns of NYK costs the most of the group at $10,000, with a ceiling of 55.8 and the highest DraftKings average of the three at 45.4. Evan Mobley of CLE, at $8,600, brings a 46.1 ceiling and a 36.7 average.
The value end is where this slate gets interesting. Dalton Knecht of NYK costs just $1,200, with a ceiling of 20.7 against a DraftKings average of 11.6, which makes him the cheapest way to free up cap room. Mario Hezonja of CLE at $5,600 has a ceiling of 43.4 and an average of 20.3, a big upside for the price. Meleek Thomas of CLE at $5,800 offers a 37.8 ceiling, and OG Anunoby of NYK at $7,400 sits at 45.0 with a 30.4 average.
On availability, DraftKings lists Josh Hart of NYK as OUT. On the CLE side, Sam Merrill and Nae'Qwan Tomlin are both tagged OUT, and Jaylon Tyson carries a Q tag. Check those statuses again before lock.
Our model's top lineup uses $49,800 of the $50,000 cap. It puts Mitchell in the captain slot at $13,800, then fills the UTIL spots with Brunson at $9,600, Anunoby at $7,400, Hezonja at $5,600, Towns at $10,000 and Mohamed Diawara at $3,400. It mixes both sides of the game and leans on the top-end ceilings while Hezonja and Diawara keep the build under the cap.
Lock is Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. ET.
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