This article is part of our FanDuel NBA series.
We have a modest five-game slate on tap Tuesday night, and there are a number of noteworthy names on the injury report. That includes the Grizzlies' Ja Morant, who was the subject of an alarming Monday night report that indicated he'll miss the rest of the season due to shoulder surgery.
Slate Overview
For the latest spreads and over-unders, visit RotoWire's NBA Odds page. There, you can also find player props, futures, picks articles and sportsbook bonus codes.
Point spreads don't paint a particularly encouraging picture Tuesday, as there are two games with double-digit spreads and another at eight points on FanDuel Sportsbook as of very early Tuesday. Meanwhile, there are no lines under five points.
Projected totals do paint a more encouraging picture, as there are three figures of 233 points or higher as of early Tuesday.
Injury Situations to Monitor
For all the latest updates, visit RotoWire's NBA Injury News page and our comprehensive NBA Injury Report.
LeBron James, LAL (ankle): QUESTIONABLE
If James sits out, Anthony Davis (Probable-ankle) will be in line for an even bigger workload while Jarred Vanderbilt could be due for a start at power forward.
Cade Cunningham, DET (knee): OUT
In Cunningham's absence, Killian Hayes could be due for a start at point guard, while the likes of Jaden Ivey, Bojan Bogdanovic and Jalen Duren will likely see notable bumps in usage.
Jaren Jackson, MEM (knee): QUESTIONABLE
If Jackson sits out, David Roddy and Vince Williams could handle power-forward duties.
Deandre Ayton, POR (knee): DOUBTFUL
In Ayton's likely absence, Duop Reath is likely to draw another start at center.
Franz Wagner, ORL (ankle): OUT
In Wagner's ongoing absence and that of Joe Ingles (ankle), Caleb Houstan and Chuma Okeke should handle the majority of small forward minutes.
Other notable injuries:
Ja Morant, MEM (shoulder): OUT
Jakob Poeltl, TOR (ankle): OUT
Dereck Lively, DAL (ankle): OUT
Dante Exum, DAL (heel): OUT
Wendell Carter, ORL (knee): OUT
Luka Doncic, DAL (ankle): PROBABLE
Anthony Davis, LAL (ankle): PROBABLE
Elite Players
We have four players with five-figure salaries on Tuesday's slate – Luka Doncic ($12,200), Anthony Davis ($11,300), Domantas Sabonis ($10,100) and LeBron James ($10,000).
Assuming Doncic plays through his probable tag as expected, he'll look to score over 50 FD points for the 17th time in 18 games.
Davis could potentially take the floor without LeBron James and boasts tallies of 81.4 and 77.4 FD points in two of the last five games.
Sabonis has scored 52.5 to 70.6 FD points in three of the last five games, and he draws a highly favorable positional matchup against the Pistons.
LeBron will have to play through his questionable tag, and if he can, he'll aim to build on a stretch where he's scored 44.1 to 59.5 FD points in four of the last five contests.
Expected Chalk
Other likely chalk plays include:
Paolo Banchero, ORL ($9,700)
Banchero has scored over 60 FD points in two straight and hasn't been under 40 FD points since Dec. 21, which should make him very popular Tuesday.
Anthony Edwards, MIN ($9,500)
Edwards just put up 62.5 FD points against the Mavericks on Sunday and has at least 44.8 in five of the last six contests overall, which should keep him in plenty of lineups Tuesday.
Kyrie Irving, DAL ($9,300)
Irving's current three-game stretch of 52.3 to 64.1 FD points should help ensure he's in plenty of lineups Tuesday, especially considering his salary.
Julius Randle, NYK ($9,100)
Randle has posted 54.2 and 55.9 FD points in two of his last three games, and he's produced at least 43.4 in five of the last six contests overall.
Desmond Bane, MEM ($8,500)
With Ja Morant now out for the season and Bane already coming in having scored 38.8 to 49.5 FD points in his last three games, the latter should be extremely popular.
Key Values
RJ Barrett, TOR at LAL ($6,600)
Barrett has hit the ground running in his new Toronto digs, averaging 21.0 points (on 53.8 percent shooting, including 52.6 percent from three-point range), 6.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per contest in his first four games with the Raptors. Barrett is averaging an impressive 33.6 FD points in that span, a number significantly boosted by the 56.2 FD points he put up against the Warriors on Sunday. While that is a bit of an outlier score, Barrett does carry some solid upside at his salary, having scored 31.6 FD points or more in nine games overall. The Lakers have allowed 41.1 percent three-point shooting to shooting guards, along with the seventh-most FD points per game to the position in the last 15 games (44.0).
Alec Burks, DET vs. SAC ($6,000)
Burks is strictly a tournament play due to the volatility in his production, but Tuesday could certainly be one of the days where you catch lightning in a bottle with the sharpshooting veteran. The Pistons will be without Cade Cunningham, which will open up plenty of usage all the way around for the rest of the active roster. Burks boasts the second-highest usage rate on Detroit with Cunningham off the floor (26.4 percent), and he also averages 34.6 FD points per 36 minutes in that scenario. The struggling Kings are surrendering 42.8 FD points per game to shooting guards in the last 15 contests as well, along with the second-most made threes per contest to the position (4.2) during that span. Meanwhile, Burks comes in with a hot hand, having scored over 30 FD points twice in the last four games and shooting a significantly improved 51.0 percent, including 50.0 percent from distance, in that span.
Naz Reid, MIN at ORL ($5,700)
Even with a tally of just 7.4 FD points on New Year's Day against the Knicks factored in, Reid is averaging 25.1 FD points in his last five games, a sample in which he's averaging 13.0 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.0 blocks while shooting 54.2 percent. The big man has delivered over 5x his current salary in 11 of 35 games despite coming off the bench in each of those contests, and he now faces a Magic team that's allowing 50.2 percent shooting to frontcourt players and 48 FD points per game to power forwards in the last seven games.
ALSO CONSIDER: Jaden Ivey, DET vs. SAC ($6,400); Donte DiVincenzo, NYK vs. POR ($5,300); Caleb Houstan, ORL vs. MIN ($4,600)
