Which players are must-starts in daily fantasy contests on Wednesday and which should stay on the DFS bench? Our experts weigh in with their picks and fades to help you set your lineups for daily fantasy hoops tonight.
Players to build around
Skal Labissiere, Sacramento Kings
The rookie first-rounder out of Kentucky is coming on strong in the final month of the regular season, and even though he's most a points and rebounds guy at this point in his career the 6-foot-11 big man is capable of contributing multiple blocks and steals as well. With two days to rest since playing at San Antonio on Sunday, and a salary that hasn't adjusted much during his hot streak, Labissiere is a low-priced player who has 30-point potential in DFS on Wednesday. -- Joe Kaiser
Jokic ranks dead even with LeBron James over the last 30 days on our Player Rater: averaging 17.7 points (on 56.3 percent shooting), 6.2 assists, and 11.3 rebounds since the beginning of February will do that for you. Danilo Gallinari (knee) is likely to miss his fourth straight game, something that only adds usage to the already full plate of Jokic (52 points, 22 rebounds, and 22 assists in 92 minutes over his last three games). This game has the highest projected point total and with the Cavaliers grading out as the sixth worst defensive rebounding team in basketball, I'll gladly pay top dollar for Denver's unicorn. -- Kyle Soppe
Even with the strong potential for Gobert to prove chalky given the inviting matchup metrics -- the Knicks have yielded the fourth-most fantasy points to centers on FanDuel's scoring model this season -- the price point for the "Stifle Tower" is too reasonable to fade. On a rich Wednesday slate, we can find paths to low ownership and contrarian lineup decisions in other spots. Gobert has averaged a stellar 1.2 fantasy points per minute over the past 15 games, which suggests his floor is quite high for this friendly matchup. -- Jim McCormick
Players to fade
Willy Hernangomez, New York Knicks
As much as the rookie has played well and opened up eyes in his first NBA season, there are two reasons to stay away from him tonight. First, he hasn't reached 20 minutes in either of the last two games, and the risk of that happening again tonight remains. As long as he's playing that little, his ceiling is no more than 25-30 DFS points. On top of that, he's faced with a matchup against one of the league's premier defensive centers in Utah's Rudy Gobert. This is a night to pass on New York's Hernangomez. -- Joe Kaiser
Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder
The point guard fairy has blessed this slate with plus matchups across the board, and while I have nothing against Westbrook, it's not out of the question for him to record a triple double and STILL not be the best use of draft capital tonight. On DraftKings, Westbrook and Isaiah Thomas are the only top-10 PGs (on FanDuel the only top-9) that face a primary defender that ranks as a top-30 defender at the position in terms of defensive RPM. John Wall, Kyrie Irving, and Kemba Walker are all in great spots, but how about a tandem in Jeff Teague and George Hill that cost less than Westbrook COMBINED on DraftKings? The pricing is slightly less friendly on FanDuel, but c'mon ... I'll take that value every night of the week and spend up elsewhere. -- Kyle Soppe
Carmelo Anthony, New York Knicks
Facing Utah's slow-paced scheme drives down scoring and lowers the fantasy ceiling for most opponents, thus we'll often want to fade stars against them. In addition to this general strategy, we specifically want to avoid Anthony with Jeff Hornacek stating the team will begin to limit their veteran star's minutes down the stretch. If this one is a bit too obvious, I'm also fading Greg Monroe, as he hasn't met value in the past three games on zero days rest. -- Jim McCormick
