This article is part of our FanDuel NBA series.
The postseason officially begins Tuesday with a play-in game in each conference. We have a very light injury report in terms of likely/confirmed absences, and two of the noteworthy names on it stem from what was a wild regular-season finale for the Timberwolves. Despite the small player pool, the fact there are plenty of stars and fairly well-rested players (by April standards) still makes for what should be an entertaining night of DFS action.
Slate Overview
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Both home teams, the Heat and Lakers, are unsurprisingly comfortable favorites heading into Tuesday. Miami and Los Angeles have projected advantages of five and 7.5 points, respectively, but given the stakes at play, it's certainly possible both games are closer than expected.
Projected totals are encouraging, as the Hawks-Heat and Timberwolves-Lakers tilts carry figures of 226.5 and 231.5 points, respectively.
Injury Situations to Monitor
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Rudy Gobert, MIN (suspension): OUT
With Gobert suspended due to his fight with teammate Kyle Anderson in the regular-season finale, Karl-Anthony Towns figures to move into the starting center role, while Taurean Prince will likely enter the starting five at power forward.
Karl-Anthony Towns, MIN (calf): QUESTIONABLE
Towns was also listed as questionable for the last six games of the season and suited up for each, so he's likely to suit up and play an outsized role with Gobert and McDaniels sidelined.
Jaden McDaniels, MIN (hand): OUT
With McDaniels out due to having broken his hand while punching a wall in anger Sunday, Kyle Anderson is likely to shift to small forward in his place.
Kyle Lowry, MIA (knee): QUESTIONABLE
If Lowry can't suit up, Gabe Vincent is likely to draw the start at point guard.
Other notable injuries:
Dennis Schroder, LAL (Achilles): GTD
Jaylen Nowell, MIN (knee): GTD
Anthony Davis, LAL (foot): PROBABLE
LeBron James, LAL (foot): PROBABLE
D'Angelo Russell, LAL (foot): PROBABLE
Max Strus, MIA (finger): PROBABLE
Elite Players
We have two players with five-figure salaries on Tuesday's slate: Anthony Davis ($11,600) and LeBron James ($10,900).
Davis finished the regular season with an average of 56.6 FD points across his last seven games, and he put up 38.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, 1.0 assist, 2.0 blocks and 1.0 steal while shooting 56.3 percent over his two games against the Timberwolves.
James was able to play eight straight games at the end of the regular season despite his troublesome foot, averaging 44.2 FD points over that span while shooting 48.7 percent, including 40.4 percent from three-point range. James averaged 23.0 points, 8.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.0 block across 34.5 minutes in two games against the Timberwolves, but he notably shot just 39.5 percent, including 22.2 percent from behind the arc, in that pair of contests.
Expected Chalk
Other likely chalk plays include:
Jimmy Butler, MIA ($9,800)
Butler will come into Tuesday well-rested after last having played Thursday, and he'll be extremely popular on the small slate while sporting a four-figure salary yet boasting five-figure upside (59.6 and 58.6 FD points in two of last three games).
Trae Young, ATL ($9,700)
Young finished the regular season by averaging 52.5 FD points over his last three games before resting Sunday, although the caveat is he shot just 35.6 percent, including 20.8 percent from three-point range, in four games against the Heat during the regular season.
Anthony Edwards, MIN ($9,400)
Edwards sees a team-high +2.7% bump in usage rate when Gobert and McDaniels are off the floor, and he averages 46.9 FD points per 36 minutes in that scenario as well.
Karl-Anthony Towns, MIN ($9,000)
Towns should be in for plenty of minutes at center with Gobert out and averaged 45.5 FD points over the final three games of the regular season, seemingly putting any concerns about his health to rest.
Bam Adebayo, MIA ($8,200)
Particularly with Gobert out, Adebayo should be very popular considering the reduced player pool at center, and he averaged an impressive 24.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.8 blocks in four games against the Hawks during the regular season.
Key Values
Mike Conley, MIN at LAL ($6,100)
The 35-year-old Conley ironically discovered quite the second wind down the stretch, averaging 30.7 FD points over the last 15 games of the regular season on the strength of 16.1 points, 5.1 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.2 steals while shooting 48.4 percent, including an elite 44.0 percent from three-point range. The veteran guard eclipsed 45 FD points on three occasions during that span, outstanding upside for his current salary. The Lakers gave up 46.1 FD points to Conley on March 31, and Los Angeles finished the regular season allowing the eighth-highest offensive efficiency rating to point guards (27.7), along with the second-most FD points per game to the position (51.4).
De'Andre Hunter, ATL at MIA ($5,400)
Hunter draws a highly appealing positional matchup against the Heat, which finished the regular season allowing an NBA-high 26.8 offensive efficiency rating to small forwards, along with 48.9 percent shooting, including 37.8 percent from three-point range. Miami also gave up the fifth-most FD points per game to threes in the last 15 contests of the campaign (46.1) and conceded tallies of 25.6 and 29.6 FD points to Hunter in two of three meetings this season.
Taurean Prince, MIN at LAL ($4,700)
As mentioned earlier, Prince is inevitably going to be in for an enhanced role Tuesday due to the domino effect of the absences of Gobert and McDaniels. Prince averaged 25.4 FD points per 36 minutes without his two teammates and Naz Reid (wrist) off the floor this season, and he scored 25.8 and 21.6 FD points coming off the bench in the final two games of the campaign. The Lakers finished ranked 19th in offensive efficiency rating allowed to power forwards (26.2), and they allowed 46.5 FD points per game to power forwards in the last 30 contests. Prince scored 34.5 and 42 FD points in two of his four starts this season, making him a high-upside tournament value play if he does run with the first unit Tuesday.
ALSO CONSIDER: Austin Reaves, LAL vs. MIN ($6,000); Bogdan Bogdanovic, ATL at MIA ($5,300); Malik Beasley, LAL vs. MIN ($5,100); Gabe Vincent, MIA vs. ATL ($4,900)
