This article is part of our FanDuel NBA series.
Tuesday's four-game slate doesn't have much star power, as Kawhi Leonard ($10,000), John Wall ($9,800) and Damian Lillard ($9,600) are the highest-priced options. The largest over/under of the day is 230.5, courtesy of Clippers at Wizards. Nets at Heat has the lowest over/under (215.0). The largest spread is -8.0 in favor of the Trail Blazers over the Knicks, who are at home. The smallest spread is -1.0 in favor of the Wizards, who are at home against the Clippers.
Point Guard
Kyle Lowry ($8,100), TOR at ORL
Lowry is listed as questionable with an ankle injury that he suffered during the Raptor's previous game. Following the game, he insisted that he's fine, so he may be trending more towards probable. Lowry has reached or surpassed 40 fantasy points in eight of his 17 appearances this season. However, none of those performances have occurred during the past six games. On this recent cold stretch, Lowry has averaged 11.0 points, 8.2 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals (28.8 fantasy points). Lowry's decreased production hasn't been the result of significantly fewer opportunities, as he's still been taking 10.2 shots per game, 5.8 of which are threes, plus 3.0 free-throw attempts. Prior to the past six games, those numbers were 12.5 shots, 6.5 threes and 3.4 free-throw attempts. A slight dip in scoring is to be expected, but the main issue is that Lowry has been shooting poorly, hitting just 36.1 percent of his shots from the field and 20.0 percent from deep. He's due to bring those percentages up again soon, and it makes sense to take the gamble against a subpar opponent while Lowry's price is as low as it is relative to his upside.
Shooting Guard
Lou Williams ($6,400), LAC at WAS
Williams' price hasn't quite caught up to his upside yet. He's reached at least 30 fantasy points in six of the past eight games, including going for 40.4 FP against the Warriors and, most recently, posting 37.9 FP against the Hawks on Monday. More than anything, it's been Williams' increased opportunities that have driven up his fantasy value. During this stretch, he's seeing 29.4 minutes per game and taking 16.9 shots, including 7.0 free-throws and 3.8 threes. Williams is also shooting just 36.3 percent from the field over the past eight games, suggesting he even has room to improve his production.
Small Forward
Josh Richardson ($7,700), MIA vs. BKN
With Goran Dragic (knee) out, I'm expecting Richardson to be a chalky play Tuesday, though with good reason. In the four games that Dragic has missed previously, Richardson has averaged 34.7 fantasy points, which is about what you're hoping for Tuesday given his price. Deploying Richardson may be as much about the other options at small forward as it is his situation. If you don't want to deploy Kawhi Leonard at his $10,000 price, your other options have inconsistency issues. Danilo Gallinari ($6,700) is nursing an illness and has only hit 30 fantasy points once in his past seven games. Otto Porter ($5,800) has had more games under 20 fantasy points than over 20 fantasy points this month. After that, we get into the likes of Jonathan Isaac ($5,100), Kelly Oubre ($5,000) and Justise Winslow ($5,000), who have been inconsistent for as long as they've been in the league. Your second small forward spot may be a position to punt.
Power Forward
Montrezl Harrell ($7,500), LAC at WAS
Harrell has quickly become the Clippers' most reliable option at center from a real-life perspective and fantasy perspective. He's seeing 29.2 minutes per game over the past six and is averaging 20.5 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.3 steals (35.1 FP). Over this stretch, he hasn't dipped below 32.7 fantasy points and even posted 59.7 FP during the Clippers' most recent contest against the Hawks. With or without Dwight Howard (lower body), who failed to practice Monday, the Wizards have struggled against centers, which is where Harrell has spent 100 percent of his minutes despite being listed as a power forward on FanDuel. Washington has allowed the sixth-most fantasy points to the position over the past 10 games.
Center
Jarrett Allen ($6,600), BKN at MIA
Allen has played well over the past two games after recovering from an illness that caused him to miss a pair of contests. He saw 31 minutes and 28 minutes, respectively, and averaged 40.8 fantasy points on the back of 20.0 points, 11.5 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.0 assist. We know Allen can put up fantasy points in a hurry, evidenced by his mark of 1.2 fantasy points per minute. The main cause of Allen's fluctuating fantasy output has been his fluctuating workload. If he can stay around 30 minutes Tuesday, there's a strong chance he could rack up 30-plus fantasy points.
