This article is part of our EuroLeague Primer series.
PREGAME UPDATES
- Jordan Loyd, Billy Baron and Dmitry Kulagin will all play for Zenit on Wednesday, but Mindaugas Kuzminskas will not.
- Bayern's KC Rivers is set to see his first action of the season in Round 15. His teammate, Zan Sisko, will sit out with a back injury.
- Monaco's Mike James is in Wednesday's starting lineup.
STATS AND INFO.
- Betting Odds
- Starting Lineups
- Injury Report
- Team Stats
- Opponent Averages
- Team Trends
- Twitter - @RotoWireEuro
THE SLATE
Status Check: None
Best Bets for Success: The second day of action in the double-game week kicks off with an all-Russian matchup in Moscow. The visitors won a domestic league matchup between these two teams just over a month ago, but CSKA is in better form now than they were then and are favored by eight points on most websites. The players most responsible for the home team's turnaround have been Alexey Shved and Nikola Milutinov, and with each having a plus matchup and Will Clyburn facing a tough one, the first two players will be CSKA's top options in Round 15. UNICS is preventing forwards from putting points on the board better than anyone, but they are also ceding the most points and field goal attempts to opposing guards, so Shved should have plenty of chances to score. UNICS is also the only team allowing players at the center position to grab over 10 rebounds per game, which puts Milutinov in position to record a second straight double-double. UNICS has leaned mainly on three players in recent Rounds, with none of Mario Hezonja, Lorenzo Brown and Isaiah Canaan recording fewer than 22.0 DraftKings points over the last three games. The defensive matchups aren't as distinct on the CSKA side, so it's tough to separate the three. However, it's likely one or two of them will hit, as the trio combined for 54 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in the earlier domestic matchup.
DFS Darlings: Given how UNICS has fared against backcourt players, Shved won't be the only CSKA guard to consider Wednesday. Iffe Lundberg put up 28.3 points on DraftKings two Rounds ago, and he will be appealing at an affordable $7,500. Marius Grigonis and Daniel Hackett are also worth a look, with neither checking in above $6,700. With UNICS at full strength and the top players on the squad hogging most of the stats, there won't be much for value on their side. However, one player who earns a mention is Andrey Vorontsevich, a former CSKA player who topped the 20-point mark on DraftKings three times earlier this season and checks in at just $7,000 after missing six of the last seven Rounds.
Status Check: Mike James (ASM), Leo Westermann (ASM), Jerry Boutsiele (ASM), Joffrey Lauvergne (ZAL), Paulius Jankunas (ZAL)
Best Bets for Success: Both teams in this matchup have made coaching changes this season, with Zalgiris doing so several weeks ago and Monaco swapping out Zvezdan Mitrovic for Sasa Obradovic earlier this week. The move has worked out for the Lithuanian team, who after opening the season with nine straight losses went 3-2 over the last five Rounds and are playing well enough to be favored in this matchup. On the court, their top option in Round 15 will again be Josh Nebo, who was the only Zalgiris player to reach double digits in the last two Rounds. He will enjoy a prime matchup in this one, as the French team is allowing centers to get up the most shots and also score the most points. Things will change to some degree for Monaco in the weeks ahead, but as long as Mike James is available he will be their best player. As has been the case in recent weeks, James will be a risky option due to his hamstring injury. However, this could be a spot to take a gamble with him on DraftKings, as he is down to just $10,100 and faces a Zalgiris team that ranks bottom-5 against opposing guards in all of the points, assists, threes and field goal percentage categories.
DFS Darlings: It's not clear if any immediate changes will be made to Monaco's rotation, but the possibility of that occurring does add a level of uncertainty to the players on their roster. With that being said, the matchups still indicate it could be a nice day for Josh Nebo and/or Donatas Motiejunas, as Zalgiris has also had issues with opposing centers. Hall is returning some of the most average value on the DraftKings board at $9,100, and Motiejunas should have extra motivation playing in his hometown. Paris Lee nearly landed in the section above after averaging 16.0 points, 2.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.3 steals over the last four Rounds, so don't forget about him either. Dwayne Bacon has done enough to earn a mention, and it's a total shot in the dark, but it seems possible the coaching change could allow Rob Gray to play a role. The French team has had trouble containing not only centers but forwards, too, so even with Niels Giffey back in action, Tyler Cavanaugh could keep on rolling. They are also allowing guards to get pretty involved outside the scoring column, which brings Lukas Lekavicius into play at $7,300.
FC Bayern Munich at 
Olympiacos Piraeus
Status Check: Darrun Hilliard (BAY), Paul Zipser (BAY), KC Rivers (BAY), Leon Radosevic (BAY)
Best Bets for Success: Like the first game of the day, this game also features two teams that currently own top-8 spots in the standings. The visiting team has played without its top scorer in Hilliard for a couple Rounds, but they have not skipped a beat, thanks mainly to some stellar play from Vladimir Lucic and Augustine Rubit. The former averaged 34.5 DraftKings points over his last two appearances, and the latter has averaged 14.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists while shooting 58.8 percent from the field since the start of September. The Greek team has been below-average against players listed at the forward spots, so both will have the matchup in their favor Wednesday. The numbers were pretty spread out on the Olympiacos side over the past two Rounds, but the two players who remained constant were Sasha Vezenkov and Tyler Dorsey. It's tough choosing one or the other, as they check in at roughly the same price and Bayern rates roughly the same against both guards and forwards, but Vezenkov is returning more average value among the two.
DFS Darlings: With Olympiacos sharing the wealth and Rivers potentially altering Bayern's rotation, there aren't many value plays that stand out in this one. However, Rivers is at least somewhat interesting at $5,600, as he could step right into a rotation spot. Deshaun Thomas is as well, as he has been nearly as productive as Rubit in recent Rounds. Kostas Sloukas can be considered for the Greek squad, as he is returning some of the most average value on the DraftKings board at $8,600.
Zenit Saint Petersburg at 
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
Status Check: Jordan Loyd (ZEN), Shabazz Napier (ZEN), Billy Baron (ZEN), Dmitry Kulagin (ZEN), Denis Zakharov (ZEN), David Lighty (ASV), Raymar Morgan (ASV), Charles Kahudi (ASV)
Best Bets for Success: The backcourts will be in focus in the final game of the day, as several Zenit guards are dealing with injuries and ASVEL's Elie Okobo and Chris Jones rank first and fourth, respectively, on the slate in average fantasy points. Zenit has held its own against guards and Okobo has slowed a bit since mid-November, so it could be tough to justify spending up on him Wednesday. However, he does seem due for a bounceback after scoring just seven points his last time out. Jones, meanwhile, checks in quite a bit cheaper and ripped off at least 26.3 DraftKings points six times in the last eight Rounds. A healthy Loyd is clearly Zenit's top player, and while he is not a lock to play Wednesday, it looks likely that he will. He will have his work cut out for him if he takes the court, though, as ASVEL ranks top-2 against opposing guards in five of the six counting stats.
DFS Darlings: While ASVEL has been stout against guards, they have been anything but against frontcourt players -- particularly those listed at the forward spots. As such, you can consider both Mateusz Ponitka and Mindaugas Kuzminskas, and if you want you could consider Jordan Mickey a forward, as that is the position he starts at. ASVEL has not been getting much from anyone other than its top two, but with Kahudi out, Victor Wembanyama should again get ample chances to contribute, and Dylan Osetkowski or Marcos Knight could also be worth a dart throw.
