NBA DFS: The SuperDraft Starting Five | 8/12/20

We’ve only got three more days of the NBA regular season to go, and I’m here to help you make them count. Here’s my starting five for the SuperDraft main slate — two guards, two forwards and a center — which locks at 4 p.m. EST today.

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JAMES HARDEN (1X MULTIPLIER)

Want some cutting-edge analysis? Here it goes: When Russell Westbrook is out, play James Harden. It’s really that simple. With Westbrook off the floor this year, Harden’s rocking a 43.8% usage rate and north of 64 fantasy points per 36 minutes. I have a natural proclivity as a GPP player to fade 1x multipliers on SuperDraft and seek out upside at other spots, but Harden’s floor and ceiling are unrivaled on this four-game slate. Let’s not overthink this one and move on.

MALCOLM BROGDON (1.55X MULTIPLIER), VICTOR OLADIPO, (1.75X MULTIPLIER), or AARON HOLIDAY (1.85X MULTIPLIER)

This one is completely contingent on the news we get before lock, as the Pacers are a banged-up unit at every position. T.J. Warren has already been ruled out and Myles Turner is questionable, as are Oladipo and Brogdon. Indiana is still jockeying for playoff positioning, so I fully expect that if any of these ‘Q’ tag guys can go, they will.

Brogdon grades out as the best stand-alone play if everyone is ruled in, but I’m much more excited to fire him up if Oladipo sits (same applies for Oladipo if Brogdon sits). Holiday I’m only really considering if both are ruled out, but in an up-tempo game against the Rockets with a slate-high 233 total, he could be a lucrative option if he gets the backcourt usage all to himself.

JIMMY BUTLER (1.4X MULTIPLIER)

There’s no ‘pricing’ per se on SuperDraft, but this multiplier just feels off. In only 28 minutes of action in his first game back in a week, Butler went off for 54.75 fantasy points despite only going 5-for-13 from the field (0-for-2 from 3) and seeing zero fourth quarter minutes in a blowout win. Butler already fills up the box score in a number of ways, so if his shot starts falling at a 1.4x multiplier, he could be easily put up the best SuperDraft score of the day.

SHAI GILGEOUS-ALEXANDER (1.45X MULTIPLIER)

With two games on the slate with next-to-nothing at stake, I want to get as much exposure to the secure minutes from the other two matchups as I can. Gilgeous-Alexander is off the injury report heading into Wednesday, and with Dennis Schroder leaving the bubble, Gilgeous-Alexander and Chris Paul will get all the minutes and usage they can handle.

While I’m not in love with the matchup against Butler defense, Gilgeous-Alexander is still averaging a 1.03 fantasy points per minute on the year and could see diminished ownership due to his sub-par performance since the restart. But I’m happy to take the 30 projected minutes for Gilgeous-Alexander and see what happens.

CHRIS BOUCHER (1.95X MULTIPLIER)

Center is a tough position today on SuperDraft with so many plays listed as questionable along with studs like Nikola Jokic that are expected to see limited run as their teams start prioritizing health before the playoffs. As a result, I expect Bam Adebayo to be fairly popular, as he feels like the safest option on the board to get his normal workload at a decent 1.3x multiplier. So I plan on getting off the grid at center and taking a stab on Boucher.

Boucher is coming off a ridiculous 56.75-fantasy-point performance in 29 minutes of work on Monday, and he theoretically should get similar run Wednesday as neither the Raptors nor 76ers have anything to play for. In these exhibition-like games, I flood towards high per-minute producers who have a shot at extended run, and Boucher’s 1.23 fantasy points per minute certainly fit that bill. If Serge Ibaka is ruled in, make the pivot to Adebayo in the later game, but otherwise I’ll be chasing the points.

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Eric Lindquist

Eric Lindquist hails from Sioux Falls, South Dakota (yes, that’s the one with Mount Rushmore). A steady diet of three SportsCenters a day at an early age led to his obsession with sports, one that 30 years later is paying dividends for him as a successful DFS player and sports bettor. Despite over half a million dollars in net career earnings, he’s most passionate about helping others achieve their financial goals, an energy you can witness on the daily in his current role as a host and analyst at Stokastic. He’s a former Division I golfer at Iowa State, wishes he was a former Minnesota sports fan, and is a proud father to a 100-pound Bernese Mountain dog named Duke that wishes he could just eat people food instead of the crap he and his wife feed him on the daily.