Wednesday's DraftKings showdown is a single game, SAS @ CHI, and the slate locks at 8:00 p.m. ET (5:00 p.m. PT). The format has a captain slot that scores 1.5x points at 1.5x salary, with a $50,000 cap across six spots.
The top end of our model's rankings is led by Victor Wembanyama at $12,800, with a ceiling of 65.5 and a DraftKings average of 61.4. No one else on the sheet has an average near that. Stephon Castle ($7,400, ceiling 64.0) and De'Aaron Fox ($7,200, ceiling 61.1) sit just behind him on ceiling at a much lower cost, though both average about 31 on DraftKings. On the CHI side, Josh Giddey at $9,400 has a ceiling of 59.9 and an average of 30.5.
The value plays start with Devin Vassell at $5,800, who carries a ceiling of 48.9 and a DraftKings average of 25.6. He is tagged Q, so check his status before lock. At the bottom of the board, Jaylin Sellers costs $1,600 with a ceiling of 23.0, which makes him a salary-saver if you need to fit in the expensive pieces. Caleb Wilson at $9,000 has the highest DraftKings average among the CHI options at 36.1 and a ceiling of 52.4.
We don't have ownership figures for this slate, so we can't say where the crowd will land. Several players on both sides carry questionable tags, including Norman Powell, Zach Collins and Tobe Awaka for CHI, and those tags are worth watching as lock approaches. Tobias Harris and Jayden Quaintance of SAS are listed OUT.
Our model's top lineup uses the full $50,000. It puts Wembanyama in the captain slot at $19,200, then fills the UTIL spots with Noa Essengue at $3,200, Leonard Miller at $4,000, Fox at $7,200, Wilson at $9,000 and Castle at $7,400. The build pays up for the captain and leans on two cheap pieces to afford the three mid-priced and expensive bats around him.
Lineups lock Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. ET.
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