NBA GPP Green Light: 3-16-18

Happy Friday everybody, the NBA grind continues, and so does the lengthy injury reports. Boston continues to be without a majority guards, but should gain Al Horford back tonight. Miami remain without Dwyane Wade and Hassan Whiteside, and now have Josh Richardson listed as doubtful. The Golden State injuries continue, and Klay Thompson is the newest name added. He will be without for a few weeks. Kevin Durant is questionable, but I would anticipate him playing. Paul George, Steven Adams, Aaron Gordon, Kyle Kuzma, Skal Labissiere, Allen Crabbe, and J.J. Barea are other questionable names for tonight's slate.

DK Salary: $8,800 / FD Salary: $9,400

With Philadelphia on the second night of a back-to-back, we are going to need to monitor the news of Joel Embiid throughout the day. Obviously he is going to be an attractive option in tournaments, as the Nets allow the most fantasy points per game to opposing centers this season. However, Embiid has been dealing with dealing with a minor wrist injury, and we need to keep an eye on it. There are a lot of high upside plays on this slate, and I feel obligated to mention Russell Westbrook if Paul George sits out tonight. Westy has over a 40% usage rate with George off the court, and gets the Clippers. Alright, back to Ben Simmons, he gets a Nets team allowing the most fantasy points per game to opposing PG this season, and the third most over the last ten games. In that span, the Nets are allowing 2.8 steals per game to point guards, and a whopping 30.8 points. I am still looking at Simmons if Embiid plays, but if Embiid sits Simmons goes to new levels. He has averaged 1.19 FPPM without Embiid this season, and has seen a 26.3% usage rate. Dario Saric would get a sizable bump as well.

DK Salary: $5,200 / FD Salary: $4,700

Miami is dealing with a heap of injuries right now, as mentioned in the intro. James Johnson is coming off a fantastic game against the Kings, and with the injuries I would expect him to play around 30 minutes tonight. This bodes well for Johnson in a fast-paced matchup against the Lakers where he can rack up peripheral stats. With Richardson, Waiters, Wade, and Whiteside off the court this season -- Johnson has averaged 1.04 FPPM and has seen a 21.4% usage rate. The Lakers are allowing 110 points per game this season, and rank 29th in turnovers. With depreciated price tags on Johnson across both sites, we can use him comfortably. He holds a bit more value on FanDuel where he is only $4,700. Bam Adebayo, Justise Winslow, and Kelly Olynyk are still all viable options as well.

DK Salary: $7,000 / FD Salary: $7,200

Everybody is still out for the Celtics, but they look to regain Al Horford. Now I haven't been a big advocator of Horford in GPPs due to the lack of upside, but he is very intriguing tonight against Orlando. With all the names listed out, Al Horford has seen a 30.4% usage rate, and has averaged 1.26 FPPM. Look for the offensive to run through him, especially against a poor defense of Orlando. They rank 19th in defensive efficiency over the last ten games, and have allowed the fifth most fantasy points per game on the season. Horford is a bit cheaper than some of high upside centers we have used often on the slate, so I am looking for a bit of discount here. Horford may still not gain the ownership tonight despite a high usage, as Embiid, Vucevic, and Jordan are high upside options that are fairly obvious as well.

DK Salary: $6,500 / FD Salary: $6,900

D'Angelo Russell has averaged 31 fantasy points per game over the last five, and is shooting 45% from the field in that span. In addition, he is shooting 48% from three. With Russell playing more shooting guard in the second half, this is a strong matchup against a Philly defense that has been pretty good against surrounding positions. The 76ers rank 20th in defensive efficiency against SG over the last ten games, allowing them to shoot 47% from the field and 48% from three. They are also allowing the 7th most fantasy points per game to SG in that span. Given you are going to have some Philly exposure tonight, Russell is the correlation I want on the other side. Russell has a solid points-per-dollar potential return here being under $7,000 on both sites.