NBA DFS: De’Aaron Fox and best/worst DraftKings daily fantasy basketball plays for Tuesday, Mar. 3rd

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. On top of that, I’ll bring you some news, statistical trends from the past few days, some studs/duds from the last slate of games, and much more!

Hoop Land Times: News and notes from around the Association

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• Japan has already delayed the start of its soccer and baseball seasons, and China is putting its basketball league on hold due to Coronavirus. What does this mean? Ex-NBA players such as Lance Stephenson won’t be playing there at least until April—and it’s expected for the season to be canceled altogether. Expect a 10-day contract being offered to the likes of Lance the minute the situation gets somewhat clearer.
• JR Smith vs Dion Waiters is happening. For real. God bless the Lakers for giving us this whole story to follow.
• The Wolves were this close to buying Evan Turner’s contract out, but ultimately Allen Crabbe was the casualty. Crabbe has said he’s still interested in the game and looking for a place to keep playing ball.
• Speaking of buyouts, the Grizz have waived Jordan Bell to make room for veteran Anthony Tolliver who was also bought out by Sacto a few days ago. Sucks for Bell, though, as he was cut one day after the deadline to remain postseason-eligible and thus he won’t be able to make a playoff run no matter if he’s signed by a postseason team. Ugh.
• Trae Young yesterday, asked about stopping nutmegging old-bum-asses: “Nah, I ain’t about to stop nutmegging. That’s going to be in my game until I’m done.” LOVE Young, folks, because he’s a treasure.
• Dame should be back tomorrow for the Blazers. Let’s hope he doesn’t mess too much with current-CJ because Mac has been thriving with Lillard out.

Duds and Studs: Last night slate roundup

• Not the greatest of nights in the NBA that of yesterday... CJ McCollum kept up his monster streak with Dame out dropping 41 pops on the Magic and completing that scoring outburst with 5 boards, 5 dimes, and a steal. He hit 6 triples and finished the night at 58.25 DKFP playing under 36 minutes with a great 37.7% usage rate.
• Only three more players broke the 50-DKFP mark: Harden got to 57.5 fantasy points with a 35-2-8-4 line, Vucevic got to 51.25 with a 30-11-2-1 dub-dub, and Sexton reached 50.25 with a nice 32-5-3-3 performance.
• Tyus Jones came out of left field for the Grizzlies and in just 19 minutes he racked up 37.75 DKFP while priced at just $3.2K to become the ROI King of yesterday’s slate. His line read 15-1-9-4.
• Two more great value-plays: Boban Marjanovic with 34 DKFP at $3.1K (14-12 with a steal and a block) and Patty Mills with 34.5 DKFP at $3.2K (24-0-1-3 with 6 treys).
• And the DOTS Award goes to... Trae Young! Ridiculously bad performance by our favorite nutmegger, who could only get 23.75 DKFP in 29 minutes priced at $10.4K. Don’t get accustomed to it though, because it is easier to find Trae hitting 60 DKFP any day than dropping to under 30, believe me.
• Other horrific plays from yesterday’s games: John Collins (19.75 DKFP at $8.9K), Khris Middleton (23.25 at $7.4K), and Eric Bledsoe (15 at $6.5K).
• Low fantasy-scoring night, but with plenty of dub-dubbers. We watched 12 double-doubles via points and rebounds (Taj Gibson missed by two points, five others by one board), and we had no dub-dubs mixing points and assists with Fultz getting 10 dimes but just 7 points, and Luka and Tyus Jones missing on the feat by a single assist.
• Shouts to Rudy Gobert, who isn’t going through his best days but blocked 5 shots yesterday. Good, I guess?

What’s cooking? Statistical trends from the past seven days

• Myles Turner is indeed turning his season around a bit. Domas was the lone name keeping Indy’s paint strong during the first part of the season, but Myles has stepped up a bit lately and become one of the greatest values out there. In four games this past seven days he’s played 31 mpg and averaged a neat 12-9-1-1-5 line in those matches. The usage is as low as it can get, but you can’t have it all.
• Terrence Ross has logged four more stat lines in the past seven days and in that span he’s put up numbers. Ross has averaged 23-5-2-1 in 29.8 mpg but is still going on a reasonable price/availability all around the fantasy world.
• Silly cheap values: Brandon Knight (16-2-6-1 in 24.3 mpg hitting 4.7 triples per game), Mycal Mulder (11-4 in 28.7 with 2 triples per ), Jerami Grant (22-4-3-1 in 30.7 shooting 54.4% from the floor)
• A little more expensive but still with massive ROI: Coby White (25-5-4 with 4.3 triples in 30.7 mpg), Juan Hernangomez (16-10-2-1-1 in 29.7 mpg with 3 triples per game shooting 54.5% from the floor), Robert Covington (15-12-1-1-2 in 33.7 with 3.7 3pm on just 15.9% usage rate)
• Some very expensive players not doing enough to help their owners: Devin Booker (20-2-6-1 in 38.7 mpg), Jrue Holiday (15-4-7-2 in 36.3), Chris Paul (18-3-7-1 in 30.7)
• Cheap points (min. 3 games played in the past seven days): Gary Trent Jr. (16.5 ppg in 33 mpg), Cam Reddish (16 in 29.7), Trey Lyles (15.3 in 33)
• Cheap threes: Patty Mills (3.3 3pm in 24), Bryn Forbes (3 in 23), Royce O’Neale (2.7 in 29.7)
• Cheap boards: Trey Lyles (8 in 33), Alex Len (8.8 in 19.8), Bismack Biyombo (7.5 in 23)
• Cheap dimes: Brandon Knight (5.7 in 24.3), DJ Augustin (5 in 19), Matthew Dellavedova (4.8 in 22.3)
• Cheap steals: Jordan McLaughlin (2.7 in 18.7), Justin Holiday (2.3 in 20.3), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (1.8 in 27.5)
• Cheap blocks: Maxi Kleber (2 in 25), Mo Bamba (1.8 in 13.3), Alex Len (2.3 in 19.8)
• Cheap shooting: Shake Milton (70.9 fg% on 13.7 fga), Bobby Portis (58.2% on 9.3), Eric Paschall (56.3% on 13)

Gotta Win The Day: Best/Worst DraftKings plays for tonight’s slate

• Love: (PG) De’Aaron Fox, SAC ($8000, vs WAS): You won’t believe me but the Kangz are trying to become Kings and are only 3.5 games behind the Grizz for the eighth and last spot in the Western conference playoffs. No team is closer to the spot with three—Portland, New Orleans, and Sacto—tied at that distance. So... how’s that possible? Well, enter De’Aaron Fox I guess. After a blistering month of January in which Foxy averaged 45 DKFP per game he lowered his business a bit in February but he’s been a steady and reliable play during the last month and is on a five-game streak after the break in which he’s dropped 20+ points each game he’s played. While not superb on the boards (reasonable, the guy’s a midget) he’s been dishing out almost 6 dimes per game in that stretch while stealing a rock per and shooting a pinpoint 50% from the floor while averaging 1.6 triples per game. Not bad. He’s doing all of that on a healthy 30% usage rate and only turning the ball over 2.4 times a game, which is a more than two times fewer than assists he’s sharing. The Wiz care about scoring but not about defending, so watch out for a potential explosion coming from DeFox.
• Hate: (PG/SG) Caris LeVert, BKN ($7200, at BOS): I Can’tLoVe Caris LeVert. I put his name in the column a few slates ago, and it’s been six games already since the ASW break for the guard in the starting lineup. He’s played an average of 33 mpg in those matches and put up nightly 21-4-5-2 lines. That’s nuts, to be honest. But in his last two games he’s hit the brakes and hard. Back-to-back 26- and 25-DKFP performances aren’t cutting it, and the first one of those came against the hapless Hawks... It’s been two games in which LeVert didn’t even hit 20 points, couldn’t grab more than 3 rebounds, and dished out just 7 dimes combined. Nah, at this price you can’t buy that low production as the ROI is non-existent and ground-level at the very best. Most concerning is the fact that the Nets keep letting him finish more than 30% of the offensive possessions he’s on the court, which given his horrific shooting as of late and his plain bad performance levels no one can’t understand. Boston isn’t any sort of cupcake, either.
• Love: (PG/SG) Lonzo Ball, NO ($7300, vs MIN): You can go and play any of Zion, Ingram, or Lonzo today. I picked the Ball Brother as he’s the one with the biggest upside, share the same chances of having a booming night as the other two, and enters the slate with the lowest price among the Three Amigos. Add some sweet recent performances and a stinky Wolves squad and you have the perfect recipe for what could be a very delicious winning bet here. Zo has played like a top-25 player in February and never dropped under 30 DKFP this past month. He can do it all, seriously, and he comes from his two best games since the start of February. Against Cleveland and Los Angeles in his last couple of matches he reached 42 and 51 DKFP to the tune of 5-6-12-4-2 and 19-9-9-3-1 stuffed lines that saw him got a dub-dub in the first one and finish this close to a trip-dub facing no less than the Lake Show. Surrounded by Bones, Zion, and the rest of the Pels Crew Zo’s numbers are only boosted. I mean, he’s averaged an 11-7-8-2-1 line in his last 11 games! No one is doing that on the season, and the only three guys close to it are Simmons, LeBron, and Luka. Big Bananas Brand.
• Hate: (SF/PF) Gordon Hayward, BOS ($7400, vs BKN): While a few Celtics are banged up—Tatum, Smart, and Kemba are all questionable/probable tonight—and that might make this one G-Hay Day, I’m still not trusting Gordon. It’s been five games for him since the break, but he just has one booming performance in that span... against Minny when he reached 48.25 DKFP dropping 29 pops. Other than that, Hayward has been moderately average or just bad with returns too low (32, 19, and 21 DKFP...) for his rather high price. Four games in a row not reaching 20 points, averaging just over four assists, and with a shooting percentage from the floor that would make mine look bright. The usage won’t go up, as he’s the third or fourth best option on offense for Boston, so it’s a matter of efficiency. That isn’t looking good for GH, though, as he needed more than 40 minutes (OT included) against Houston to just reach 38 DKFP in his last game finishing with an 18-6-4-3 line. Giannis is doing twice that in half the minutes. LOL.

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!