This article is part of our FanDuel NBA series.
There are five contests on tap Sunday, but they are split up between two early games and three later games. Thus, the matchups actually split into a two-game slate and a three-game slate. Extremely short slates makes it imperative to find production at all nine slots and hitting on your value plays.
Point Guard
Jeff Teague, ATL at NYK ($6,400), early slate: The early games only feature three consistent impact point guards. Derrick Rose is questionable due to a hamstring injury that forced him to sit Friday. Kyle Lowry also has an injury designation due to an ankle injury he suffered late Friday, and while it sounds as though he will play, he is also the highest priced option. Teague is the only one of the three who is fully healthy, and he also has a plus matchup against a pedestrian Knicks defense.
Brandon Knight, PHO at LAL ($6,500), late slate: Knight is the clear point guard for the Suns now that Eric Bledsoe (knee) is done for the season. Meanwhile, the Lakers are 29th in the NBA at limiting production to opposing point guards.
Shooting Guard
Kent Bazemore, ATL at NYK ($5,700), early slate: Bazemore is coming off two strong games in which he has averaged almost 33 fantasy points per game. There are two obvious impact shooting guards in DeMar DeRozan and Jimmy Butler, but if Bazemore continues at this pace he could get you impact stats at almost $3,000 less.
Lou Williams, LAL vs PHO ($5,300), late slate: Williams continues to play good ball for the Lakers, averaging 18 points, 4.7 assists, 4.0 boards and 1.0 steals in 36.7 minutes per game over his last three. With Kobe Bryant questionable for Sunday, Williams has the chance to maintain his heavy load against a weak Suns perimeter defense.
Small Forward
Nikola Mirotic, CHI at TOR ($4,700), early slate: This is a roll of the dice. In his last four games, Mirotic has truly been boom or bust. He has two games in which he has averaged 1.0 point, 5.5 boards and 1.0 block in 18.5 minutes, and he has two games averaging 20 points, 6.0 boards, 4.0 assists, 2.5 blocks and 2.0 steals per game. In his last outing, he scored 41.5 fantasy points in 31 minutes, making him a value wild card Sunday.
Otto Porter, WAS vs MIA ($6,000), late slate: Porter has scored more than 30 fantasy points in three straight games, including 46.7 on Friday against the Magic. Porter has slotted in behind John Wall as the secondary perimeter scorer for the Wizards in Bradley Beal's absence, and he is also cleaning the boards to the tune of 9.3 rebounds per game over his last three. And though Porter is the pick, T.J. Warren must also be acknowledged as an excellent value prospect for Sunday if he maintains his starting spot for the third game in a row.
Power Forward
Bobby Portis, CHI at TOR ($3,900), early slate: Portis has settled in as a consistent impact player for the Bulls. In his last three outings he has played at least 26 minutes, averaging 13.3 points, 8.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 0.7 combined steals and blocks per game. He has scored between 23.8 and 28.0 fantasy points in all three.
Darrell Arthur, DEN vs. POR ($3500), late slate:Kenneth Faried had to leave Saturday's game against the Warriors with a neck injury. He appeared to be in a huge amount of pain on the sideline, sitting on the ground with several trainers working on him before he had to leave on a stretcher. Assuming that Faried is unable to go, Arthur has shown this year that he can be a very strong injury fill-in. Additionally, the Trail Blazers have difficulty defending opposing power forwards, which would further set Arthur up to succeed.
Center
Jonas Valanciunas, TOR vs. CHI ($5,600), early slate: Valanciunas and Bismack Biyombo have been splitting the center minutes fairly evenly since Valanciunas' return from injury. The Bulls are particularly vulnerable to large, scoring centers because their frontline is a bit undersized. Thus, Valanciunas is the more dangerous of the two Raptors centers Sunday, though either one makes a good play.
Mason Plumlee, POR at DEN ($5,400), late slate: Plumlee didn't practice Saturday due to illness, and if he can't go then either Hassan Whiteside or Marcin Gortat would be excellent choices Sunday. But if Plumlee plays, he has a good matchup against a tired Nuggets team that went to overtime on Saturday against Golden State and could very well be without Kenneth Faried. Plumlee has scored more than 33 fantasy points in three of his last six games, including 33.4 the last time he faced the Nuggets on Wednesday.
