With 12 games on the schedule, Wednesday will be a busy night in the NBA. In terms of DFS, there are going to be a lot of different ways you can go with your lineups, as five of those games (Cleveland at Indiana, Washington at Brooklyn, LA Lakers at Detroit, Denver at Atlanta, LA Clippers at New York) opened with an over/under of at least 215 points, while DraftKings has eight active players (John Wall, LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Isaiah Thomas, Steph Curry, Anthony Davis, Karl-Anthony Towns and Kevin Durant) priced at $9,500 or above. Throw in DeMarcus Cousins' one-game suspension, potentially opening up some massive value for certain Kings players, and it's likely going to be a night where you need a huge score to do some damage. With that in mind, you can click through the gallery for my ideal DraftKings lineup, and you can click here for even more DFS analysis and NBA picks. (Getty)
PG: Derrick Rose, New York Knicks
Opponent: vs. Los Angeles Clippers
Price: $5,500
Rose returned from his injury to play 32 minutes Monday, and while he wasn't very good, it was a positive sign that he played that much. Now, he gets an ideal matchup at home against the Clippers, who are last in the NBA in defensive rating (120.0) since losing Chris Paul. Though the Knicks are a bit of a mess, Rose should get whatever he wants offensively against Raymond Felton, who owns an atrocious 124.8 defensive rating (384th out of 385 players averaging at least 10 minutes per game) since entering the starting lineup. (Getty)
SG: Kelly Oubre Jr., Washington Wizards
Opponent: at Brooklyn Nets
Price: $3,700
Not only has Oubre had been consistently playing over 20 minutes per game and showing he can put up good numbers in that time, but there are a couple of reasons to suggest he might see even more time against Brooklyn. One, it could be a blowout (the Wizards are nine-point favorites), which would lead to garbage time, and two, Bradley Beal and Otto Porter may play less than usual after each logging 45 minutes in the overtime thriller against the Cavs on Monday. It wouldn't be surprising if Oubre approached 30 minutes here, making him an excellent value play against the league's fastest (and worst) team. (Getty)
SF: Gordon Hayward, Utah Jazz
Opponent: at New Orleans Hornets
Price: $7,600
Hayward has been lights out over his last three games, averaging 30.0 points, 2.3 threes, 6.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 2.0 steals and 48.08 DraftKings points per contest. As long as he's under $8,000 and putting up those kind of numbers, I'll keep riding the hot streak until he cools off. (Getty)
PF: Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers
Opponent: at New York Knicks
Price: $9,300
With so many expensive options who will likely get more attention, Griffin makes for an intriguing low-ownership pivot to build your team around. In the six games since returning from his injury, he's averaging 23.5 points, 8.3 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.3 steals and a beautiful 30.0 usage percentage. With a huge role, with most of the Clippers games sans Chris Paul turning into shootouts, and with the Knicks struggling defensively (20th in defensive rating over the last 10 games), Griffin has massive upside. (Getty)
C: Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
Opponent: at Atlanta Hawks
Price: $8,700
On the season, Jokic is averaging 1.38 DraftKings points per minute. That's a better rate than guys like John Wall and LeBron James, and I imagine it's even higher if you only look at his numbers from the last month. As we've seen the last couple of games, foul trouble and blowouts are really the only things holding the magisterial second-year man back, and as long as he passes the 30-minute mark, he's a good bet for a monster night. In fact, here are his DK points in the last six games he's played 30-plus minutes: 59.25, 64.5, 55.25, 61.0, 56.25 and 60.25. Yeah, I'm going with that kind of upside for under $9,000 every time. (Getty)
G: Darren Collison, Sacramento Kings
Opponent: vs. Boston Celtics
Price: $5,300
With DeMarcus Cousins (one-game suspension) and Rudy Gay off the court, Collison owns a team-best 27.0 usage percentage. He hasn't been all that efficient in those moments, averaging just 0.83 DK points per minute, but it's tough to pass up a likely huge role against Isaiah Thomas, who isn't great defensively. (Getty)
F: Jae Crowder, Boston Celtics
Opponent: at Sacramento Kings
Price: $6,400
A model of consistency, Crowder has tallied at least 27.0 DraftKings points in 13 straight games, averaging 17.9 points, 3.0 threes, 6.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.1 steals during that stretch. You know what you're getting with him, and he should have no trouble putting up big numbers against an under-manned Kings squad. (Getty)
UTIL: Willie Cauley-Stein, Sacramento Kings
Opponent: vs. Boston Celtics
Price: $3,500
With his ability to score, rebound and rack up defensive stats, the big man has a fantasy friendly game. We've seen that several times over the last couple of weeks, and now with DeMarcus Cousins sidelined, he's likely to see a good chunk of minutes. There's still some risk here, as it's unclear how the Kings frontcourt rotation will shake out, but his upside at $3,500 is difficult to ignore. (Getty)
DraftKings NBA Lineup: Picks, Advice & Preview for February 8