Welcome to the Core 4! My name is Michael aka @MadnessDFS on Twitter, make sure to give me a follow as I’ll occasionally make updates to the article throughout the day as news breaks. But, you’ll mostly find me in our VIP coaching forums where I provide detailed lineup maneuvers and answer all lineup questions. With that said, let’s get it started!
Purpose of the Core 4: These four players are guys that I want to lock into my cash game lineups and if doing multi-entry, using the Domination Station lock them in or set high exposure percentages to them. These are players that I see as underpriced, in great matchups, in play because of injuries, increased usage, etc. I also need to mention that these plays are normally geared toward Draftkings pricing and scoring, I’m not a huge fan of NBA for Fanduel, so if you see my list has three small forwards or two centers, etc. it’s because of the multi-position eligibility on Draftkings. With that said, let’s jump right into it!
Luca Doncic – $9,500
Doncic is just playing at a new level this season and has scored at least 50 Draftkings points in every game and 60+ in two of those three. He has an elite usage rate at 30.6% on the year and gets a matchup with a Denver team that maybe isn’t as good against point guards as we may think. On the season they are ranked 27th against opposing point guards and at $9.5k he just feels too cheap. If he can continue what he’s been doing all year he will hit and exceed value fairly easily.
Bam Adebayo – $7,000
Jimmy Butler will be back for the Heat which will likely take some usage away from guys on this offense, but I don’t think it really impacts Adebayo as much as people may think. Normally centers aren’t huge usage monsters and they pick up a lot of their production in rebounds and peripheral stats, so this addition may actually help him. That to go along with the fact that Bam is playing phenomenal this season with 1.26 fantasy points per minute and gets a Hawks team that will throw Alex Len at him in hopes to slow him down. They rank 27th in defense against opposing centers, get you some Adebayo on this short slate.
Trae Young – $9,000
We’ve been kind of expensive with these first three guys, but don’t worry I’ll get you guys a value piece as the fourth piece. I just couldn’t avoid this spot for Trae. He has an incredible usage rate of 38% on the season and has averaged 56.2 Draftkings points per game. He will be the main piece for the Hawks in the highest implied total game on the slate against the Miami Heat. He’s played at least 34 minutes in each of his three games this season and has over a 1.6 fantasy point per minute. Considering what he has already done this season, he is far too cheap here, give me a ton of Trae Young on this short slate.
Malik Beasley – $3,300
Alright, so we spent up at our first three spots of the core, so let’s go all the way down to Malik Beasley here and get as some value to make this core work. Beasley has scored at least 18 Draftkings points in two of the first three games and has played at least 20 minutes in each of the past two games. He has a 20% usage rate coming off the bench for this team and is scoring 0.83 fantasy points per minute. He can put up point in a hurry and at just $3.3k he doesn’t need to do a whole lot to make the rest of the core work. I like getting me some Beasley here.
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