NBA GPP Green Light 12-15-17

The NBA week comes to a close with an 11-game slate, and a lot to offer. We have some monster totals in Denver (225), Toronto (218), and Philly (214). New Orleans, Houston, Denver, and Toronto all have implied totals over 110. A couple guys to keep an eye on tonight as far as questionable tags go -- Tyreke Evans, Jusuf Nurkic, Will Barton, and Lauri Markkanen. Wilson Chandler saw extra run last time with Barton missing, Andrew Harrison picked up steady minutes for Tyreke, and Nikola Mirotic drew the start. All three are viable options if the dominos fall in their favor. The Clippers are also missing three guards tonight, which I will explain shortly. Good luck this evening, and be sure to check out our cheat sheets and optimizer.

DK Salary: $7,600 / FD Salary: $8,800

Lou Williams is going to see a ton of run tonight with Austin Rivers and Milo Teodosic out. Williams is coming off of a huge outing, dropping 31-3-8, on a night where he posted a 40.2% usage rate. Given how limited the offense is for Los Angeles, Williams has huge upside. He is averaging 36 minutes per game over the last ten games, averaging 24-2-7. Washington isn't an eye popping matchup for Williams, yet I am not exactly worried. Williams dropped 35-2-8 in their prior meeting. Williams' price might scare some people off of him, but the minutes and usage tonight is too hard to ignore.

DK Salary: $8,200 / FD Salary: $8,300

I mentioned on Twitter a little while ago that Kyle Lowry's usage is down about 4% from last season, and his ownership continues to be low. With lenient pricing on FD, he has an average of 17% owned in GPPs, and only 5% on DK. Lowry scored 48, 44.5, and 49.5 on DK last year against the Nets. Their defense hasn't improved from last year, and are allowing the seventh most fantasy points per game to opposing point guards. They also rank 28th in defensive efficiency. Lowry is coming off of some down games on the west coast in good spots, and even in a great matchup, ownership shouldn't be too high. Even if it is, this matchup presents a ton of upside.

DK Salary: $6,600 / FD Salary: $6,700

Jonathon Simmons might be somewhat popular tonight, and that is okay. The points per dollar return is still very positive, even at higher price tags than recent weeks. Jonathon Simmons has seen high usage rates -- 26.8%, 35.1%, and 29.1% over the last three. With Evan Fournier out, Simmons will be asked to play a ton of minutes again. Simmons is playing a majority of his minutes at the two, which Portland has struggled more against of late. They rank 18th in defensive efficiency, and have allowed the second most fantasy points over the last five games. Simmons has flashed the upside the last two games, and is averaging 17.4 shot attempts over the last five games, shooting 48% from the field.

DK Salary: $7,900 / FD Salary: $8,300

This is an excellent spot for a high usage center like Marc Gasol. Atlanta is allowing 44.4 rebounds per game, and the fourth most offensive rebounds per game. We have seen centers hammer Atlanta this season, and just last night Andre Drummond nearly notched a triple-double. They rank 27th in defensive efficiency against centers, and have allowed the fifth most fantasy points to opposing centers in the last five games. Gasol has cooled off a little bit in terms of the upside, mainly because the blocks and assists have cooled off. The Hawks are allowing the second most assists per game to centers, and 2.1 blocks per game.

DK Salary: $5,600 / FD Salary: $5,700

Jamal Murray is coming off back-to-back 28 real point games, and the peripheral stats have been there as well. Nikola Jokic might be back, so usage could drop a little bit. The downside with Murray has been if he struggles, we tend to see more of the guards take over, or play over him. He should strive still in this matchup, as New Orleans allows the third most fantasy points per game to opposing point guards. Murray dropped 41 fantasy points last time these two met, with a 24% usage rate. With Rajon Rondo defending, we couldn't get a better spot. People haven't been all that on Murray of late due to the tougher matchups, so things should catch up tonight. Ownership aside, below $6,000, he is a great option.