This article is part of our EuroLeague Primer series.
PREGAME UPDATES
- Real Madrid's Gabriel Deck and Jeffery Taylor will not play Wednesday.
- Isaiah Canaan will suit up Wednesday for UNICS.
- ALBA's Marcus Eriksson remains out for Round 24.
- Efes' Shane Larkin will start Wednesday. Vasilije Micic and Elijah Bryant will also suit up, but James Anderson will not.
- CSKA's Tornike Shengelia remains out for Round 24, but Marius Grigonis and Ivan Ukhov will both suit up.
STATS AND INFO.
- Betting Odds
- Starting Lineups
- Injury Report
- Team Stats
- Opponent Averages
- Team Trends
- Twitter - @RotoWireEuro
THE SLATE
Anadolu Efes Istanbul at 
CSKA Moscow
Status Check: Shane Larkin (EFS), Vasilije Micic (EFS), Elijah Bryant (EFS), James Anderson (EFS), Dogus Balbay (EFS), Tornike Shengelia (CSK), Marius Grigonis (CSK), Ivan Ukhov (CSK)
Best Bets for Success: Wednesday's slate won't lack excitement early, as games between these two teams are generally pretty entertaining. That was certainly the case last time they met in Round 2, when CSKA put an even 100 on the board and ended up winning by four points. Unsurprisingly, the over/under on this game is the highest among Wednesday's three games. The best player in the first matchup was Micic, who popped up on the injury report Monday. He is joined there by Larkin, which leaves both of Efes' best players uncertain for Round 24. If either or both play you could take a shot at them on DraftKings with their prices in the four-figure range, but there will be risk involved in that scenario. The safest option for Efes on Wednesday looks like Bryant Dunston, who averaged 24.8 DraftKings points over his last six appearances and faces a CSKA team that ranks bottom-5 against centers in points, rebounds, blocks and field goal percentage. Key players were in-and-out for CSKA the past couple weeks, and it's not yet clear what their roster will look like Wednesday. Regardless, we're going to go with Will Clyburn as the top pick for the Russian team in this one. CSKA's leader in average fantasy points was plenty productive in his return from a three-game absence, and he will face an Efes team ceding the most points, rebounds, assists and field goal attempts to opposing forwards. He capitalized on the matchup in the last meeting, putting up 32.3 points on DraftKings.
DFS Darlings: Luckily this game is first up, because based on who plays and who does not, there could be a lot of options to consider in this section or only a few. None of Shengelia, Alexey Shved, nor Nikola Milutinov cost more than $9,000 on DraftKings, and the matchups are only working against Milutinov. Given the matchup Shengelia is cheap enough to consider if he plays, and if he sits, Johannes Voigtmann will be pretty appealing at just $7,600. Krunoslav Simon looks like a good option if his backcourt mates play and a great one if either of them sits, as he got a lot more involved in recent Rounds and remains an affordable $7,800. Tibor Pleiss has been a bit quiet, but thanks to the matchup and the fact he is returning some of the most average value on the board, he could deliver at just $6,600.
Status Check: Isaiah Canaan (UNK), Marcus Eriksson (BER)
Best Bets for Success: Both teams will be in must-win mode in this game, as the visitors will be trying to stop their slide down the standings and the home team basically has to win out to make the playoffs. The oddsmakers expect this matchup to a little closer than expected, which bodes well for the players in this section. Lorenzo Brown deserves to be mentioned first, as he is the only player on the slate averaging over 30.0 fantasy points and is also returning the most average value despite being the priciest option available. Not far behind Brown is Mario Hezonja, who is averaging well north of 30.0 fantasy points over his last 11 appearances. Both players topped the 40-point mark when these teams squared off in Round 11, and with neither having a tough matchup to overcome, they could put up some big numbers again. ALBA also has two players producing at a high level in Luke Sikma and Maodo Lo. They aren't putting up the gaudy numbers of their counterparts, but they have both hit the 20-point mark on DraftKings in six straight appearances. Neither player has an appealing matchup, but Sikma's is notably worse, as the Russian team ranks top-5 against forwards in five of the six counting stats and field goal percentage.
DFS Darlings: Neither squad got steady production from anyone outside the players above over the past two Rounds, save for Tonye Jekiri, who averaged 22.4 DraftKings points during that span. With Canaan iffy and John Brown's minutes taking a bit of a hit, Jekiri will be worth a look against an ALBA team that is fairly friendly to centers. O.J. Mayo remains in dart-throw territory at just $4,600, and Jarrell Brantley is in that mix as well. A couple big men are interesting on the ALBA side, and those are Ben Lammers and Christ Koumadje. The former is showing signs of getting on track, while the latter dropped a double-double last time these teams met.
Olympiacos Piraeus at 
Real Madrid
Status Check: Giannoulis Larentzakis (OLY), Quincy Acy (OLY), Adam Hanga (RMB)
Best Bets for Success: Neither squad has a clean bill of health, but they are both in as good of shape as they have been in a while. That's good news for both teams of course, but not so much for the visitors, as with their squad relatively at full strength, first-place Real Madrid has been installed as a double-digit favorite. It may be hard to believe based on the spread, but Olympiacos took home the win when these teams met in Round 2, and Sasha Vezenkov played a big part in that, dropping a double-double. Vezenkov has hit the 30-point mark on DraftKings six times in his 18 appearances since, but the numbers say it will be hard for him to get there Wednesday, as the Spanish squad ranks top-3 against forwards in all of the points, rebounds, assists, FGA and FG% categories. Kostas Sloukas will have a tough time returning significant value with him again sitting in five-figure territory on DraftKings, but he is a safe bet to produce to some degree after averaging 29.0 DraftKings points over his last four outings. The leaders in the standings got big games from a number of players their last time out, but that contest went to double overtime and that's unlikely to happen again. Walter Tavares remains as safe as they come, putting up 24.5 DraftKings points in that game despite being in foul trouble, and Guerschon Yabusele has not been fazed despite the additions to Madrid's frontcourt, averaging 28.3 fantasy points over his last four appearances.
DFS Darlings: He's on the upper end of what might be considered a value play at $9,200, but with Vezenkov facing a tough matchup, a couple players out for Olympiacos and several others returning from recent absences, Tyler Dorsey could be a sneaky play. Thomas Walkup earns a mention for the same reasons. It's pretty tough to find a lot more to like on either side, as the minutes figure to be spread out pretty evenly, and Real Madrid will have to deactivate a potential fantasy factor or two. It's almost certain one of those will not be Gabriel Deck, who could be ready for a bigger role and has a decent shot to return 3x value at just $5,600.
