This article is part of our FanDuel NBA series.
Following an exciting Christmas Day, the NBA serves up a nine-game ledger Tuesday, but FanDuel is going with a seven-game slate for its contests, leaving off the Kings-Trail Blazers and Hornets-Clippers late-night clashes. The majority of the available games do have elevated projected totals, but there are some big-name injuries that will bear monitoring leading up to lineup lock.
Slate Overview
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We're projected to have a fairly competitive night if point spreads are any indication, as there are no spreads above 7.5 on FanDuel Sportsbook as of Tuesday morning, and four of the games have lines of 3.5 points or fewer.
Projected totals paint a favorable picture as well, considering five of the seven contests are sitting with numbers of 232 points or greater as of Tuesday morning. That includes a Spurs-Jazz game that lists a 241.5-point total, which, when combined with a 3.5-point spread, makes it the most appealing DFS scenario on paper.
Injury Situations to Monitor
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Victor Wembanyama (ankle): QUESTIONABLE
If Wembanyama can't suit up, Zach Collins is likely to remain in the starting five at center.
Trae Young, ATL (shoulder): QUESTIONABLE
If Young were to sit out, there would be big usage bumps for the rest of the starting five and Dejounte Murray would likely slide over to point guard while Bogdan Bogdanovic would have a chance to enter the starting five.
Karl-Anthony Towns, MIN (knee): QUESTIONABLE
If Towns is out, Naz Reid could potentially slide into the starting five at power forward.
Nikola Vucevic, CHI (hip): QUESTIONABLE
If Vucevic were to sit out, Andre Drummond and Terry Taylor could potentially draw the majority of minutes at center.
Other notable injuries:
Zach LaVine, CHI (foot): OUT
Jalen Williams, OKC (illness): QUESTIONABLE
Talen Horton-Tucker, UTA (foot): QUESTIONABLE
Josh Giddey, OKC (ankle): QUESTIONABLE
Tari Eason, HOU (lower leg): QUESTIONABLE
Zach Collins, SAN (knee): PROBABLE
Jalen Duren, DET (ankle): PROBABLE
Kyle Kuzma, WAS (knee): PROBABLE
Elite Players
We have five players with five-figure salaries who have a chance to play on Saturday's slate – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ($11,600), Tyrese Haliburton ($10,500), Victor Wembanyama ($10,200), Trae Young ($10,100) and Ja Morant ($10,000).
SGA has scored at least 56 FD points in three straight and 50.1 or more FD points in 12 of the last 13 contests.
Haliburton bounced back from multiple sub-40-FD-point tallies to score 59.9 FD points against the Magic on Saturday, but he draws another tough defensive matchup in the Rockets on Tuesday.
Wembanyama's status will have to be monitored carefully due to his ankle issue, but if he does suit up, he'll draw a favorable matchup against the Jazz frontcourt.
As long as Young is cleared from his shoulder sprain, he'll be looking to extend his streak of games with more than 50 FD points to eight straight games.
Morant has scored over 56 FD points in two of his first three games since his delayed season debut and should once again be heavily involved against the Pelicans on Tuesday.
Expected Chalk
Other likely chalk plays include:
Anthony Edwards, MIN ($9,700)
Edwards put up 56 FD points on Saturday against the Kings and has been over 40 FD points in five straight overall, which should keep him very popular Tuesday.
Fred VanVleet, HOU ($8,800)
VanVleet has seen a notable salary drop with two straight duds following back-to-back tallies of over 60 FD points, but the combination of upside and the discount should help place him in plenty of lineups.
Alperen Sengun, HOU ($8,800)
Sengun has provided production befitting a five-figure-salary player on multiple occasions this season, the most recent example being the 63.2 FD points he put against the Pelicans on Saturday.
Desmond Bane, MEM ($8,800)
Bane is proving he can still offer prolific production with Morant back in the fold, having scored 49.7 and 57.2 FD points in back-to-back games.
Key Values
Patrick Williams, CHI vs. ATL ($5,700)
Williams is an appealing play irrespective of Nikola Vucevic's (hip) availability, but he'll naturally become an even better value option should the latter miss. Williams checks in having offered solid production over the last month, averaging 26.9 FD points per contest while shooting 52.9 percent, including 52.6 percent from three-point range, over the last 15 games. The big man is averaging a robust 32.5 minutes per contest in that span as well, and he'll face a Hawks team allowing the seventh-highest offensive efficiency rating to power forwards (30.0), along with 51.9 percent shooting and the fifth-most FD points per game to the position (50.8).
Dorian Finney-Smith, BKN at DET ($4,600)
Finney-Smith could prove to be a sneaky value at his salary Tuesday due to his matchup against a Pistons team allowing the ninth-highest offensive efficiency rating to power forwards (28.2), as well as 49.9 percent shooting (40.8 percent from three-point range) to the position. Detroit is also giving up the fourth-highest offensive efficiency rating to second-unit players (46.3), and Finney Smith checks in having delivered over 5x his current salary in 11 of 27 games and shooting 48.5 percent, including 45.0 percent from behind the arc, in his last 13 games.
Ziaire Williams, MEM at NOP ($4,200)
Williams is strictly a tournament play due to the volatility in his production, but the combination of his salary and upside make him worth a look. The third-year pro has tallies of 27.2 and 30.9 FD points in his last four games alone, and he's been over 20 FD points in eight games overall thus far this season. The Pelicans have allowed the seventh-highest offensive efficiency rating to second-unit players (45.0) as well, furthering the potential for an efficient performance off the bench for the one-time first-round pick.
