Yahoo DFS Basketball: Sunday Picks

Yahoo DFS Basketball: Sunday Picks

This article is part of our Yahoo DFS Basketball series.

As usual, Sunday offers a good mix of day games and night games. There are seven games and some interesting injury situations to keep your eyes on. Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, Ricky Rubio, Rudy Gobert, Jeff Teague and Rudy Gay are our or questionable to play, which could make for some nice value plays as low-owned players or with their cheap replacements. It's better to avoid these situations altogether, but in all likelihood, the winner of a GPP will use these injury predicaments to his advantage to set the highest upside lineup.

GUARD

Rajon Rondo, SAC vs. TOR ($26) - Since the injury to Darren Collison, Rondo has received huge minutes and put up ridiculous stat lines. In his last four games, Rondo averaged 14.8 points, 14 assists, 9.8 rebounds and three steals in an absurd 46 minutes per game. He has three triple-doubles in that span, as well. You'd think his price would shoot up after that productivity, but he is priced as the ninth-highest point guard. The minutes alone make him a must-use, price is just the icing on the cake.

Eric Gordon, NO at NY ($25) -
Seventeen guards are priced higher than Gordon, who is severely undervalued as the go-to guy in the New Orleans offense. With the Pelicans' rash of injuries, Gordon has taken over the scoring load, averaging 22.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists and one steal in 37 minutes per game over his last six games. He took nearly 20 shots a game in that stretch, including about 10 three-point attempts per game. There's little downside with Gordon.

Guard to Avoid:

Jrue Holiday, NO at NY ($25) - Holiday is a talented and likeable player, but he's simply in a bad situation. The Pelicans' point guard has dealt with leg injuries in recent years, which has made the team treat him cautiously. He has played more than 23 minutes just once this season and has yet to surpass 30 fantasy points on Yahoo, the minimum necessary from a point guard to win a GPP. Holiday is priced as if he plays more minutes. Until he does, he is off limits in DFS.

FORWARD

Ryan Anderson, NO at NY ($25) - New Orleans likely will be without Anthony Davis on Sunday. Anderson, who started the last two games for Davis, has averaged 17 points and nearly 10 rebounds in the last four games. He has taken at least 15 shots in three of his last four games. Players like DeMarre Carroll, Nemanja Bjelica and Marvin Williams are priced right below Anderson, whose upside makes him a significantly better play than any one of those three.

Jae Crowder, BOS at OKC ($21) -
In his last five games, Crowder averaged 10.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists and a ridiculous four steals a game. He has scored at least 23 fantasy points in six of his eight games, a great value for a $21 player. He should have plenty of steals opportunities as the reckless Russell Westbrook is averaging a career-high 5.0 steals per game. He'll cover Kyle Singler, Andre Roberson or Dion Waiters, which is a major mismatch in favor of Crowder. A 30-minute-a-game player should never be priced this low, especially one with Crowder's upside.

Forward to Avoid:

Kobe Bryant, LA vs. DET ($29) - Bryant's been terrible this season. Not only is he approaching career lows across the board, he's barely playing 30 minutes a game. A player who takes as many bad shots as Kobe does without providing other counting statistics is fantasy quicksand. He has yet to record more than five rebounds or five assists in a game this season and provides almost no defensive statistics. The $29 price tag seems more based on his name than anything.

CENTER

Marc Gasol, MEM at MIN ($30) - Gasol started slowly this season but seems to be finding his form, averaging 22 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists in his last four games. Usually he is a good source of blocks and steals, as well, and those should be coming in short order. On Sunday, he has a good matchup against the Timberwolves, facing rookie Karl-Anthony Towns, who is an offense-first center. Gasol should school him. In addition, the Memphis offense desperately needs to get going and should lean on Gasol more.

Center to Avoid:

Enes Kanter, OKC vs. BOS ($27) - Kanter continues to be priced too highly. He has played more than 23 minutes only once this season, and that is not enough playing time to post the stat line his price requires. Upside is limited with a player who plays 20 minutes a game, especially when he costs you nearly 15 percent of your budget. This is a great matchup and it's a great situation for Kanter without Durant, but he's just too hard to trust for big numbers.

The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it's possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire. Joel Bartilotta plays in daily fantasy contests using the following accounts: DraftKings: Joelbartilotta Yahoo: Joelbartilotta.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joel Bartilotta
Joel has 20 years of Fantasy experience, and can recall riding a young Daunte Culpepper to a championship in the 2003-04 season in his inaugural fantasy year. He covers NBA, NFL, daily fantasy, EPL, and MLB for RotoWire.
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