Which players should you lock into your lineups tonight, and who should stay on the daily fantasy bench? ESPN's Joe Kaiser and Kyle Soppe and DFS expert Renee Miller provide their picks for Tuesday's slate.
Players to build around
Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder
If there was ever a time to lock down Westbrook, it's tonight. On a small slate like this, it's going to be hard to win anything if Westbrook goes for 70 or 80 fantasy points and you don't have him. My preference is to pair him with another pricey guard -- Kyrie Irving or Damian Lillard -- and save at the forward positions. Brooklyn is just terrible in every category except pace of play, and Vegas has this game as the second-highest point total and with a much closer spread than you'd expect (Thunder -6). Westbrook's upside is basically unparalleled tonight and there are multiple ways to fit him in without destroying the rest of your lineup. -- Renee Miller
Lopez has scored five times his salary in three of the last four games and remains priced to buy on Tuesday against Oklahoma City, a team he scored 22 points against in the first meeting of the season. Though Lopez may not have an extremely high ceiling like some of the others on tonight's slate, the key here is value. As long as he's priced at $7,000 or below -- as he is on both sites -- he has an excellent chance to be worth his salary. -- Joe Kaiser
With a sluggish start to March (9.0 points per game on 39.6 percent shooting and 5.8 rebounds) and his price tag actually inching up, I expect Turner to be a low-owned option with considerable upside. It is no mistake that Turner has racked up 56 points and 29 rebounds in his three games against the Knicks this season, as the home team ranks dead last in defensive rebounding rate and gives up the fifth most paint points per game. With Westbrook looking nearly impossible to fade, Turner makes for a reasonably priced center that can produce strong value. -- Kyle Soppe
Players to fade
LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
I do hate to fade James, especially when he just posted a triple-double against the Pistons last week, but that's how strongly I feel about Westbrook tonight. There are ample cheaper SF options on this slate, and Detroit, who has been effective in limiting non-superhuman wings this season (fourth-fewest fantasy points allowed to small forwards), will certainly try to do a better job on James tonight. That said, this is really about money and how I'm allocating it tonight. James is a hedge/contrarian play where you're just hoping Westbrook falls waaaayyyy short. -- Renee Miller
DeMarcus Cousins, New Orleans Pelicans
Cousins has seen his salary drop all the way to the $9,000-$9,600 range, which makes him a more tempting option, especially against a team like Portland that has been one of the worst defensively for much of the season. However, there's a reason Cousins' salary is diving -- his production is way down since joining the Pelicans (20.8 PPG, 16.4 FGA and 42 percent shooting compared to 27.8 PPG, 20.3 FGA and 45.2 percent shooting in Sacramento this season). Matched up against another large human in Portland's Jusuf Nurkic, Cousins may have a hard time getting enough rebounds to make up for his drop in scoring in this one. -- Joe Kaiser
On a night with only five games but a reasonable amount of star power, there is no circumstance in which I will be constructing my lineup around Boogie. His production has been far too volatile lately (in five March games, he is shooting just 37.5 percent from the field and has as many games with eight or fewer rebounds as he does games with 15-plus boards). While the Blazers aren't a good defensive team, they've looked better since acquiring the 22nd best defender in Jusuf Nurkic. Speaking of Portland's new big man, his strong play and usage over the last month has me considered about Cousins' ability to stay on the court (at least five fouls in five of six games). Even if New Orleans is able to put a bunch of points on the board, there is no guarantee that Cousins gets a piece of the action. -- Kyle Soppe
