This article is part of our Yahoo DFS Basketball series.
The NBA has a whopping 14 games on tap for Black Friday after giving everyone Thanksgiving off, a staggering number of games for a Friday. It's flat out wide-open, plus teams are all relatively rested, so some banged players will likely give it a go. Fantasy-wise, there are a lot of games that catch my eye: Washington at Orlando, Chicago at Philadelphia, Brooklyn at Indiana, Minnesota at Phoenix, Oklahoma City at Denver, New Orleans at Portland and Houston at Sacramento. Yes, that's seven games, but each features one or two poor defenses and teams that should be reasonably competitive against each other, which tends to lead to friendly fantasy performances.
GUARDS
Jrue Holiday, NO at POR ($24): Holiday is a premium point guard that is only available at this price because he's working his way back from a long personal layoff. In the four games that he has played, he averaged 16.3 points, 7.0 assists, 2.3 rebounds, 1.3 steals and one three-pointer in only 25 minutes per game off the bench. He is likely to retake the starting job when he gets back into shape, and he's coming off the Thanksgiving day off, so he should be rested for Friday.
Jordan Clarkson, LAL vs. GS ($21): Clarkson still comes off the bench, but with D'Angelo Russell out for the next couple of weeks, it is Clarkson who should see the most point guard minutes for the Lakers. He's scored at least 13 points in six of his last seven games and should have more opportunity than usual in the interim. The main question hesitation is that the Lakers are facing the same Warriors team that beat them by 43 points Wednesday, so there is a blowout risk that could potentially limit Clarkson.
Guard to Avoid
Ricky Rubio, MIN at PHO ($27): Rubio has been up-and-down all season but lately he's been mainly down. He has only scored more than 15.3 fantasy points once in his last four outings, and in those three clunkers he averaged 2.0 points, 3.0 boards, 6.3 assists and 0.7 steals per game. He could break his slump at any time, but that is just too inconsistent to bank on.
FORWARDS
Wilson Chandler, DEN vs. OKC ($18): Chandler has solidly outplayed his price for the past two weeks, a six-game stretch in which he has averaged 19.5 points, 8.3 boards, 2.2 assists, 1.8 treys and 1.0 combined steals and blocks.
Kristaps Porzingis, NY vs. CHA ($31): Porzingis has been absolutely elite of late, averaging 25.0 points, 9.0 boards, 2.2 treys, 1.4 assists and 1.6 combined steals and blocks per game over his last five.
Forward to Avoid
Andrew Wiggins, MIN at PHO ($35): Wiggins is absolutely explosive, and he has explosive potential Friday. Last week he capped off a six-game stretch that saw him score 36, 29, 22, 47, 29 and 35 points in consecutive games. However, he is mired in a three-game slump that makes him difficult to touch until he shows signs of breaking out of it. In his last three games he has averaged 11.3 points, 2.7 boards, 0.7 assists, 0.3 steals and 0.3 blocks per game with zero outings with more than 18.3 fantasy points.
CENTERS
DeMarcus Cousins, SAC vs HOU ($50): Cousins has found his video game mode of late, with four games of more than 52 fantasy points in his last five outings. The best of those was last Friday against the Clippers, when he exploded for 38 points, 13 boards, seven assists, three blocks and two treys. His last outing Wednesday against the Thunder was almost as good, as he had 36 points, 13 boards, three treys and two assists.
Mason Plumlee, POR vs NO ($19): Plumlee is so consistent it's ridiculous. His 4.4 assists per game give him a dimension that other centers don't have, and it gives him a very high floor for an affordable player. Plus, he'll be facing a Pelicans team that he just burned for 13 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists on the road last Friday.
Center to Avoid
Dwight Howard, ATL at UTA ($35): There's no obvious center to avoid on Friday outside of Joel Embiid, who is being rested. But that just seems too obvious to write about, so Howard is the choice here. Howard has been inconsistent over his last six games, with three great games of more than 42 fantasy points but also three poor games where he has scored in the twenties. Plus, he has a tough matchup in Utah against Rudy Gobert.
