Daily Fantasy Basketball Preseason Picks For Tuesday Night

Monday got the NBA DFS preseason week started off right, as we nailed some stellar value plays in Zach LaVine, Kay Felder and Jordan McRae, among others.

Hopefully our look at the top daily fantasy basketball preseason value plays helped you win some cash. Either way, we’re back at it again tonight as we take a look at Tuesday’s awesome four-game slate, featuring Russell Westbrook.

Besty is going to be a staple in most NBA DFS preseason lineups (as he should be), while many will also try to fit the likes of Hassan Whiteside and Damian Lillard onto their squads. If that’s also your goal, you’ll undoubtedly need some reliable value picks to target.

Let’s break down each game and see which cheap options are your best bets for Tuesday night:

Note: This NBA DFS advice column focuses on value picks exclusively.

Brooklyn Nets @ Miami Heat

• Jeremy Lin – Nets ($6.2k)
• Bojan Bogdanovic – Nets ($4.4k)
• Trevor Booker – Nets ($4.6k)
• Goran Dragic – Heat ($5.8k)
• Derrick Williams – Heat ($5.1k)
• Tyler Johnson – Heat ($4.7k)
• Luke Babbitt – Heat ($4.2k)

Linsanity got rested in his last game, so he’s likely to be back on the court tonight. Randy Foye is out tonight, so that only increased the chances Lin plays and sees the floor a good amount.

Jeremy Lin puts up 21 in his @BrooklynNets #NBApreseason debut! pic.twitter.com/cLRTvXATTf

— NBA (@NBA) October 7, 2016

He excelled (21 points) in his Nets debut, so there is reason to believe he could be rather active in 20+ minutes tonight. Just keep in mind he’s been rather inconsistent in the past and may have Goran Dragic draping him in this one.

Sticking with the Nets, Bojan and Booker also offer even better value potentially. Bogdanovic can really pour it on thick as a scorer, but so far he’s been really limited after dominating in Rio this summer. If his minutes can’t climb up over 20 tonight, you’ll have to fade him. Booker could see around 20 minutes tonight and is always a double-double threat. He’s a good price and with PF looking weak tonight, has to be one of the top targets.

Brook Lopez is also very much in consideration as Brooklyn’s best offensive player. Going up against Hassan Whiteside and possibly having limited minutes hurts his upside, however.

Whiteside might be a must-play option on the other side, as we suggested before. He won’t be alone in Miami, as Goran Dragic fared well in his preseason debut and could get solid run with Miami needing to figure things out offensively this year. He looks like a strong value, but note that PG is loaded tonight and he probably won’t be a top option.

Johnson and Babbitt are solid value tries, as Johnson should get run at both guard spots as he tries to figure out his role with Miami this year. Dion Waiters and Josh Richardson are both nicked up, too, so he may see added run by default. Babs got hot in his preseason debut, but exited his last game due to a gash on his head. He should be good to go tonight and due to his stroke and rebounding, he could be a fun GPP value.

Derrick Williams is another guy to mention for Miami, as he is pretty versatile and even had a strong outing in his last game (27 minutes). He could look to build momentum with Miami banged up at the moment.

The Skinny: I’m not enamored with this game, as Hassan Whiteside is the only option I feel I “have” to use. Lin, Dragic and a few other guys are in play, but these teams typically play at slow paces and the minutes seem to be largely all over the place.

Philadelphia 76ers @ Memphis Grizzlies

• J. McConnell – 76ers ($5.5k)
• Sergio Rodriguez – 76ers ($4.3k)
• Jerami Grant – 76ers ($5.2k)
• Richaun Holmes – 76ers ($5.4k)
• Wade Baldwin – Grizzlies ($4.6k)
• J. Stephens – Grizzlies ($4.2k)
• JaMychal Green – Grizzlies ($4.6k)

Philly is a nice value spot for point guards, as Jerryd Bayless (wrist) remains out and may have suffered a setback recently.

As long as Bayless is out, both McConnell and Rodriguez are going to see a ton of run during the preseason, as the Sixers try to figure out who should start and play the most. They both have played well and are seeing well over 20 minutes of action, but McConnell feels like the safer play at the moment.

The Sixers are really banged up right now, so we can also consider forwards Grant and Holmes. Ben Simmons is on the shelf, Dario Saric won’t play on Tuesday and both Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor have been held back by injuries. With center Joel Embiid on a strict 12-minute limit right now, there are loads of big man minutes to go around.

A matchup with the Grizzlies isn’t ideal for Grant or Holmes, but they’re both pretty talented and are going to play a ton.

Over on the Grizzlies’ side, the team could be without Mike Conley, Chandler Parsons and Tony Allen. Parsons may not play at all during the preseason, while Conley and Allen could be kept out for at least one more game each. Of the three, Conley may be the most likely to suit up tonight, but he’d probably be quite limited.

All of that makes guys like Wade Baldwin and D.J. Stephens interesting value dives. Baldwin is a very versatile combo guard who can score and do a little bit of everything. He’s the preferred option of the two, but Stephens started Memphis’ last game and looked decent in 13 minutes.

JaMychal Green is also going to get solid run, as he’s shaping up to start for the Grizz and could see more time tonight with ZBo and Marc Gasol still limited. He wasn’t great in his season debut, but he can shoot the outside shot and hits the boards well. In a crummy PF position tonight, he’s one of the better plays.

The Skinny: Playing Sixers against Memphis normally spells trouble – and it still might – but Memphis isn’t 100% and shouldn’t play their top guys too much. Some of these Philly value plays are getting too much run to fade, too.

Oklahoma City Thunder @ Dallas Mavericks

• Andre Roberson – Thunder ($4.3k)
• Domantis Sabonis – Thunder ($4.5k)
• Deron Williams – Mavs ($4.4k)
• Dirk Nowitzki – Mavs ($5.4k)

There actually isn’t a ton of fun value to be had here. Roberson could see time at the two and three and did log some good run in his last game, but he’s woefully erratic. He isn’t a great scorer and depends heavily on defensive stats. Run could make him playable, but he’s a big risk.

The same might go for Sabonis, as the raw rookie still has a ways to go to lock down a spot in OKC’s rotation. He hasn’t been bad in preseason so far, though, and if Steven Adams (ankle) is out or limited again tonight, he could once again be an interesting value play.

The early word is Adams could be “available” however, so we’re souring on Sabonis a bit.

OKC is going to run their top guys quite a bit, as they really want to get young pups like Enes Kanter and Victor Oladipo feeling confident about bigger roles this year. They’ll get run and produce, while both have crushed early on in preseason games.

Russell Westbrook might still be held back to 18-22 minutes, but even a half of play is still worth paying for when it comes to the human triple-double. His $10k price at DraftKings really isn’t that insane when you note Damian Lillard isn’t all that far behind him.

For Dallas, they’re getting healthy across the board and tonight will be the 2016-17 NBA preseason debuts for both Dirk Nowitzki and Devin Harris:

Dirk Nowitzki and Devin Harris will make their preseason debuts Tuesday against the Thunder. Harris is coming… https://t.co/rYGeKQjTVU

— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) October 10, 2016

I’m not excited about either in limited action, but Dirk has scoring upside and is fun to watch, so he is mildly in play.

I’m more interested in Deron Williams, who continues to work his way back from groin surgery and could see a slight uptick in run tonight. He’s priced way below Seth Curry, so he could be a fun, cheap pivot.

The Skinny: We know OKC wants to play their key guys to get them ready, so targeting Kanter, Dipo and Russ is a no-brainer. Dallas is a little shakier, but the usual suspects like Seth Curry and Harrison Barnes should be in play. Barnes has not been good so far in preseason play, but you have to think Dallas wants to get him going to boost his confidence a bit.

Portland Trail Blazers @ Los Angeles Lakers

• Shabazz Napier – Blazers ($4.2k)
• Evan Turner – Blazers ($5.3k)
• Allen Crabbe – Blazers ($4.8k)
• Mo Harkless – Blazers ($4.4k)
• Noah Vonleh – Blazers ($4.1k)
• Lou Williams – Lakers ($4.6k)
• Brandon Ingram – Lakers ($5.1k)
• Larry Nance Jr. – Lakers ($4.8k)

The top plays to cap the night are obvious, as Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum, D’Angelo Russell and Jordan Clarkson all can score in bunches and probably will. DLo went nuts recently with 33 points, so he might be the best overall value of the group:

D’Angelo Russell is setting the NBA preseason on fire: https://t.co/OELLmYJzN0

— SB Nation (@SBNation) October 11, 2016

There is value worth targeting in an up and down and likely high-scoring affair, with everyone on this list being in play. Napier went nuts in his last game, as he saw tons of run and was very aggressive. That much run and him being that productive isn’t likely, though, so we’d probably shy away there.

The same is probably true with Ingram, Crabbe, Vonleh, Lou and Nance. All have fine talent, upside and could provide killer value, but Ingram is not connecting offensively, Crabee doesn’t do enough besides score, Vonleh’s run just isn’t there, Lou is severely scoring dependent and Nance needs more time on the floor to pay off, as well.

If we hear about enhanced roles or random inactives, though, these will be some of the top values to buy shares of tonight.

The guys I’m targeting here are Turner and Harkless. They’re competing for a key role this year and the way they’ve shown up in preseason games already, it’s hard to see either of them losing out on a spot in the rotation. Run is the only question here, but both have versatile skill-sets and should have their hands in a lot of stats tonight. Of the two, I mildly prefer Turner, who can play up to four positions and does a little bit more.

The Skinny: This is the main game to target the high-priced guys. If you can get Westbrook and three of the top guards from this game, you’re probably doing it right. That being said, it’s the last game of the night and we could easily here of some random inactives. Depending on who is out or limited, things could really open up for the guys on our NBA DFS value buy list.