Team LeBron and Team Durant are set to square off Sunday night in Atlanta in the 2021 NBA All-Star Game. While COVID-19 issues have sidelined a pair of stars in Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, the show must go on, and plenty of the league's elite talents will still be on display.
For fantasy purposes, the All-Star Game tends to be a major crapshoot. Rotations are difficult to predict and defense is mostly optional as many of the NBA's highest-usage players attempt to share one ball. Still, with the regular season on pause for a few more days, the game is a great opportunity for fantasy players to whet their appetite over the break.
Let's take a quick look at a handful of players to consider deploying in DFS lineups Sunday night.
LeBron James, Team LeBron: The leading scorer in All-Star Game history has never totaled fewer than 13 points in his 16 previous appearances. He has 12 games with at least 20 points, and he's reached the 30-point plateau twice -- most recently in 2015. James is usually good for his normal array of counting stats, though he has only two steals over his last five ASG appearances.
Zion Williamson, Team Durant: With Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid out, Williamson will move into the starting lineup for Team Durant. There's a decent chance he could still have his minutes monitored after missing the Pels' first-half finale on Thursday, but Williamson is one of the
Team LeBron and Team Durant are set to square off Sunday night in Atlanta in the 2021 NBA All-Star Game. While COVID-19 issues have sidelined a pair of stars in Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, the show must go on, and plenty of the league's elite talents will still be on display.
For fantasy purposes, the All-Star Game tends to be a major crapshoot. Rotations are difficult to predict and defense is mostly optional as many of the NBA's highest-usage players attempt to share one ball. Still, with the regular season on pause for a few more days, the game is a great opportunity for fantasy players to whet their appetite over the break.
Let's take a quick look at a handful of players to consider deploying in DFS lineups Sunday night.
LeBron James, Team LeBron: The leading scorer in All-Star Game history has never totaled fewer than 13 points in his 16 previous appearances. He has 12 games with at least 20 points, and he's reached the 30-point plateau twice -- most recently in 2015. James is usually good for his normal array of counting stats, though he has only two steals over his last five ASG appearances.
Zion Williamson, Team Durant: With Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid out, Williamson will move into the starting lineup for Team Durant. There's a decent chance he could still have his minutes monitored after missing the Pels' first-half finale on Thursday, but Williamson is one of the game's primary attractions, so he'll certainly get his fair share of looks around the basket and on the fast break. If Williamson has the ball anywhere remotely close to the basket, don't expect much resistance from Team LeBron.
Kawhi Leonard, Team Durant: While Leonard's game doesn't exactly lend itself to the All-Star setting, he grinded out 30 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals on his way to the MVP last season. He essentially treats the game like any other, so Kawhi is one of the few players who can be counted on for consistent effort on both ends.
Stephen Curry, Team LeBron: Curry has a surprisingly dubious All-Star history, shooting 37.6 percent from the field and 31.5 percent from three in six career appearances. He's only reached 20 points twice, though his assists and rebounds production has been strong, and his minutes have consistently sat in the mid-to-high-20s. Last year, Curry attempted 23 shots (6-23 FG), including 17 three-pointers, in his 29 minutes.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Team LeBron: The reigning two-time MVP has two 30-point efforts in four All-Star appearances, including a 38-point, 11-rebound, five-assist performance in 2019. Last season, his final line -- 25 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, three blocks, one steal -- resembled a pretty typical regular-season performance. Sharing the floor with Luka Doncic, LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Nikola Jokic could trim Antetokounmpo's usage, but he's still a pretty safe bet to rack up points and rebounds whenever he's out there. He also has perhaps the highest defensive-stat ceiling of any player in the game.
Nikola Jokic, Team LeBron: On a stacked Team LeBron, Jokic may have trouble handing the ball enough to rack up his typical assist numbers, as he'll share the floor with several other high-usage players. In two previous appearances, Jokic has been mostly quiet, totaling 11 points, 11 boards and one assist in 25 minutes. However, given his status as a first-time starter and MVP candidate, Jokic should be in position for a larger workload this time around.
Nikola Vucevic, Team Durant: In his one previous appearance (2019), Vucevic played only 12 minutes off the bench, but with Embiid and Anthony Davis both sidelined, he's the only true center remaining for Team Durant. Julius Randle and Zion Williamson will both spend time at the five, but Vucevic should be set for a slightly larger workload than anticipated. In 2019, he finished with four points, five rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Damian Lillard, Team LeBron: Lillard will come off the bench for the the sixth time in six appearances, but that hasn't stopped him from being productive in the past. An injury kept him out of last years game, but prior to that Lillard tallied 18 and 21 points in his last two All-Star Games. In 2019, he drilled six threes and added five assists with two steals in 25 minutes. The absence of Simmons gives Lillard a minor boost.
James Harden, Team Durant: While he'll come off the bench for the first time since 2016, Harden should be easily the first guard to replace Kyrie Irving or Bradley Beal. Harden has scored 12 points or fewer in each of his last four appearances, but he's averaging nearly eight assists per game in that span. Ultimately, his ceiling will come down to whether or not his stepback threes are falling. He's a combined 9-of-35 from three in his last three All-Star Games.
Kyrie Irving, Team Durant: Back in the mix after missing out last year, Irving will look to continue his history of All-Star success. Over his last three appearances, Irving averaged 16 points, 10.3 assists and 7.7 rebounds, headlined by a 22-14-7 line back in 2017. The 2014 All-Star Game MVP is one of the safer plays in Sunday's game, and he, too, could receive a slight bump from Simmons' absence.
