NBA DFS: Kristaps Porzingis and best DraftKings daily fantasy basketball plays for Monday, Nov. 18th

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.)

Love: (PG) Devonte’ Graham, CHA ($6900, at TOR)

Oh yes. Devonte’ just caught his first body in the NBA and left it on the cold. No other than the Knicks in their very own MSG did he stabbed the dagger into. The stuff of the dreams and food for memories, folks. Golden Graham has been a revelation and he’s currently doubling on his career-average numbers for all points (18.8), rebounds (3.5) and assists (7.1), while also improving on both his steals (0.7) and (blocks). Look like he got that sweet 2.0 skills update for his sophomore season. And it came with no flaws on the shooting line (41/41/79) nor the usage rate (24.3%), so Devonte can’t ask for better software. Only nine players are currently at 18 PPG and 7 APG and you guessed it right, our favorite cereal is one of them.

Love: (SG) RJ Barrett, NYK ($5600, vs CLE)

Imagine passing on RJ to pick Zion! That kid hasn’t even played a game! Shaking my head. No, no, I was joking, but Barrett’s salary tonight makes me laugh a bit as it is at underground-level. Don’t be surprised if RJ has a field day and provides the highest value of the slate. Sure, he died along with the rest of the Knicks in their last game against Charlotte, but he’s been reborn from his ashes and will be going full-force against Cleveland. There have been up and downs, but the new hope of New York is scoring in double-digits more often than not (15.8 PPG) and he’s more than capable at grabbing boards (5.9 RPG). The dimes are good at 3.8 per for a shot-first guy like he is and he’s had a couple of games reaching eight and nine, so that’s fine. The growing pains are notable at the charity stripe (48.6%) but other than that he’s producing all around the stat sheet and given his surroundings that’s a positive. Good matchup today, could explode against the bad Cavs leading his worse Knicks.

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Love: (SF) Bojan Bogdanovic, UTA ($5800, vs MIN)

BoBo stole my heart and it’s going to be hard for any other man to get it back. They say you have to get out of the comfort zone to improve at life, but let me tell you something: BoBo’s zone is so comfortable I’m not planning on leaving it any time soon. He’s the play, full stop. Bojan is putting up 19.8 points in 32.3 minutes of playing time. He’s pairing those with some good 3.9 boards and most of all 1.7 assists and 1.2 stocks. Even better is his 2.5 turnover-mark considering his high 25.4% usage rate. You might think he could be producing a little bit higher numbers in all cats, but look at his salary again and then tell me he’s not giving you the buck for the bang. And he’s been shooting lights out so far. He’s launching 15 shots from the floor and scoring them at a 45.5% clip while shooting 6.5 treys with a cool 43.7% success rate. The free throws are ridiculous at 90.2%, too. He’s been a little bit on the low-low lately but he’s yet to drop from 12 points and he’s averaging almost three treys a day.

Love: (PF) Kristaps Porzingins, DAL ($7500, vs SAS)

The return of Myles Turner is making me balk on Domantas. No big deal, as I have no problem walking all of the needed miles to go pick KP down in Latvia. The Zinger makes the column for the first time this season after 11 games. About time, dawg. His salary is palatable and his upside fashionable, so perfect combination. Oh, and the Spurs are kinda meh this year allowing middle-of-the-pack DKFP per game, so it’s cool. Krispy hasn’t been overly great in Dallas but come on, he hasn’t been as bad as some folks are saying. I mean, he’s playing 32 minutes and averaging 18.6 points and 8.8 boards. He’s this close to having a monster rebounding game and put the dub-dub in his season line. The dimes are low but I’ve been told he plays next to some Luka or something. But look at those blocks. He’s stopping 2.4 shots from reaching the rim nightly. Two. Point. Four. That’s rude and nasty, Mr. Porzingis.

Love: (C) Hassan Whiteside, POR ($6700, at HOU)

Sure, Houston has improved on defense a bit and they’re “only” allowing the eight-most DKFP per game through 11 games, but still. Hassan isn’t not a scoring prodigy, mind you, but he’s on a dub-dub mood and a blocking spree. Contract year or not—shouts to my man Chuck!—this man is putting up a 15-12 nightly line. Not blaming you if you misinterpret it as a hotline. He’s dishing almost a dime per game, and his 1.8 blocks are only matched by eight other players with 10 or more games played. When you have Dame and CJ in your team you don’t need your big men to do much. When you have Hassan that doesn’t matter. He’s averaging 1.29 DKFP per minute play, which is to say, he’s playing mad crazy hoops right now. That’s the 18th-best mark among all players eligible in tonight’s main slate, the 11th-best among those playing at least 20 minutes, and the second-best in the center spot only behind the KAT. Hassan’s about to get his bag full of Benjamins.

If you have any comment or question about the daily column, tonight’s games, players involved in them, or even season-long fantasy NBA topics, just drop it below or reach out to me on Twitter at @chapulana and I’ll get back to you as soon as I grab a keyboard!