This article is part of our Yahoo DFS Basketball series.
Saturday brings six games on the NBA schedule, five of which will make up the main slate on Yahoo. That doesn't leave us with an overwhelming amount of options to choose from, but there are still some players who could be in favorable spots to thrive. Let's discuss them, as well as a few players to potentially avoid.
GUARDS
De'Aaron Fox, SAC at POR ($34): Fox has provided a high floor lately, scoring at least 34.4 Yahoo points in seven straight games. He scored at least 20 points in each of those contests and should continue to be one of the focal points of the Kings' offense moving forward. That could mean another juicy stat line for him against the Blazers since they have the fourth-worst defensive rating in the league.
Alec Burks, PHI at GS ($12): Reinforcements won't be coming for the Sixers on Saturday with Ben Simmons (back), Joel Embiid (shoulder) and Josh Richardson (concussion) all set to remain on the sidelines. That could leave Burks in a favorable position to thrive against his former team since the Warriors have the seventh-worst defensive rating. While he's still not logging a ton of minutes for the Sixers, he has scored at least 25.7 Yahoo points in two of the last three games.
Guard to Avoid
Jamal Murray, DEN at CLE ($27): Murray hasn't played poorly lately, but he hasn't scored more than 32.6 Yahoo points in five of his last six games. Even though this isn't a bad matchup, there are other players in this price range that might be better targets. Ja Morant ($29) has a favorable matchup against the Hawks and Collin Sexton ($27) has scored at least 50.5 Yahoo points in back-to-back games and should once again be very busy because of all of the Cavaliers' injuries.
FORWARDS
Tobias Harris, PHI at GS ($33): With how poorly the Sixers have played on the road this season, it was a bit surprising to see them defeat the Kings by 13 points in Sacramento on Thursday. Harris was the driving force behind the victory, scoring 28 points to go along with 14 rebounds and three assists. He's averaged 20.5 shot attempts across the last four games and should once again be extremely busy in this contest.
Mike Scott, PHI at GS ($10): Scott hasn't been overly involved this season, averaging only 18 minutes a game. However, with all of the Sixers' injuries, he's logged at least 25 minutes in each of the last three games. He's made the most of his opportunity, scoring at least 24.4 Yahoo points in each of those contests. While his ceiling isn't all that high, he can still provide value at the minimum price.
Forward to Avoid
Paul Millsap, DEN at CLE ($15): With the injuries that Millsap has dealt with this season, the Nuggets have been cautious with his workload. They can afford to be based on their talented depth chart, so don't expect that to change anytime soon. He's scored 19.3 Yahoo points or fewer in four of the last six games, so he's a risky option despite his reasonable price tag.
CENTERS
Jonas Valanciunas, MEM vs. ATL ($32): Valanciunas has normally been one to make the most out of limited playing time. Even though the Grizzlies are dealing with a couple of key injuries up front, Valanciunas has only averaged 28 minutes across the last five games. The good news is that he averaged 14.6 points, 17.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists during that stretch. That included posting 15 points and 15 rebounds against these same Hawks on Monday, who have allowed the most Yahoo points per game to opposing centers.
Gorgui Dieng, MEM vs. ATL ($16): Considering how poorly the Hawks have played against opposing big men, Valanciunas might not be the only center on the Grizzlies to pursue. If you need to save some money at the position, Dieng should also be on your radar. He posted a double-double against the Hawks earlier this week and is averaging 8.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.4 blocks across the last eight games.
Center to Avoid
Dewayne Dedmon, ATL at MEM ($14): Dedmon returned to action Friday after missing four straight games with an elbow injury. He only logged 20 minutes, which continued his trend of limiting playing time. He's averaged just 19 minutes despite starting each of his last five games, which contributed to him averaging only 6.2 points and 6.6 rebounds during that stretch. There's no reason to believe he will all of a sudden see a spike in minutes for the second game of a back-to-back set, either.
