NBA DFS: Josh Richardson and best/worst DraftKings daily fantasy basketball plays for Saturday, Oct. 26th

Welcome to your daily NBA DFS digest at FakeTeams, gents. Every day I’m here with a handful of pro-tips to roster a winning team just a few hours from now.

You might be new to fantasy hoops, so let me tell you this: the world doesn’t end in LeBron James. Each night gives us a pretty good batch of surprising performances and leaves us in the dust with more than a few upsetting outings by those we played. First world problems, carry on. That’s the beauty of this game. There are so many matches going on every single day and such a big roster available that you can’t fixate yourself in the very same player on and on but instead you need to keep things fluid.

So read on, take note, play cool, and win the day. (Player salaries pulled from DraftKings.)

Who I’m looking at tonight

These are some plays with upside to paying dividends in tonight’s games, or with chances to ruin your day. Great values, ugly averages, hot streaks, and guys to skip.

• Love: SG Josh Richardson ($4900, PHI at DET) — More than 30 minutes played in his debut and 17 points in his bag to go with six rebounds and only two assists. He is not going to rule the creation stage in Philly but Richardson could easily put up some more dimes going forward, starting tonight in Detroit with the addition of a big salary drop.
• Hate: C Marc Gasol ($5800, TOR at CHI) — Good old Marc has played 57 minutes so far and has just seven points to his name to go with nine rebounds and six assists. That against New Orleans and Boston. Chicago doesn’t have its 90s roster, but I don’t think Gasol will make for a lot yet again. Not only that, but his salary has also seen a rise from the last time and he’s ranked last among tonight’s slate centers in DKFP per minute. Ugly.
• Love: PF Frank Kaminsky ($4000, PHO vs LAC) — You have to snatch Kaminsky before the world realizes how valuable he is, even more with Ayton out of commission. Kaminsky has one of the best values of the slate through two games, is cheap as they come, and has gone from 19 to 33 minutes to who knows how many more now—all of that a very sweet price.
• Hate: PG Darius Garland ($5200, CLE vs IND) — The rookie was given free rein in his debut for Cleveland playing up to 32 minutes, which he translated into 19.5 DKFP. That is, 0.6 points per minute, which let me tell you isn’t great at all. At his ridiculous price (which is $800 up from his debut’s one), you better fade him. His five dimes were good, his eight points and three turnovers not so much.
• Love: SF Rudy Gay ($4700, SA vs WAS) — One game for Gay with a competent 13 points and six boards in just 20 minutes sounds good to me, plus he keeps his salary at the same value it was for his first match. Throw three assists, a steal, and a block in, and you have a 1.38 DKFP per minute guy worth rostering every day.
• Hate: PG De’Aaron Fox ($7800 SAC at UTA) — Do I love Fox? Yes. At his price and against Utah’s Mike Conley? No sir. Fox comes with a great 18-point average couple of games and five assists per contests so far, but he’s turning the ball four times each eight periods and averaging less than a DKFP per minute. I’m not trusting him tonight.
• Love: C Al Horford ($5800, PHI at DET) — I can easily predict Horford losing tonight’s battle of the boards to Andre Drummond, but I can also tell you Horford wasn’t going to give you value through rebounds anyway. He comes with a palatable salary, Joel Embiid has been ruled out, and Horford already played 31 minutes and put up 16 points in his debut.
• Hate: PG Ricky Rubio ($6600, PHO vs LAC) — If projections are to be believed, you better stay away from Ricky tonight. Facing the new Clippers, Rubio’s value might crater going against Patrick Beverley. Yes, he’s playing 33 minutes per, but that is probably going to translate into a 30-min nightmare for him and his owners.