This article is part of our FanDuel NBA series.
As is often the case on Tuesdays, we have a compact three-game slate. The injury report is encouragingly light, however, which is certainly welcome when the player pool is already small. There's still a bit of a challenge finding trustworthy value, however.
Slate Overview
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All three games carry totals over 220 points, but none are above 224.5 as of early Tuesday, so it's accurate to say there aren't any premium DFS game environments based on that metric alone.
The fact the three games have spreads between 4.5 and 8.5 points is a positive, especially in a Mavericks-Nuggets clash where we want to be able to have confidence that the likes of Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic will play their normal minutes.
Injury Situations to Monitor
For all the latest updates, visit RotoWire's NBA Injury News page and our comprehensive NBA Injury Report.
Anthony Davis, LAL (back): PROBABLE
Davis is expected to continue playing through his lower back tightness and handle his normal workload.
LeBron James, LAL (ankle): PROBABLE
James has been playing through his ankle soreness without issue, logging between 32 and 37 minutes in his last six games.
Jarrett Allen, CLE (back): QUESTIONABLE
If Allen misses a sixth straight game, Mamadi Diakite could receive another start, while Kevin Love should also log some extra minutes off the bench.
Other notable injuries:
Cade Cunningham, DET (lower leg): OUT
Michael Porter, DEN (heel): OUT
Dean Wade, CLE (shoulder): OUT
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, DEN (wrist): QUESTIONABLE
Elite Players
We have four players with five-figure salaries on Tuesday's slate: Anthony Davis ($12,300), Luka Doncic ($11,800), Nikola Jokic ($11,300) and LeBron James ($10,900).
Davis remains highly effective despite his ongoing lower-back tightness, scoring 71 and 83.9 FD points in the last two games and more than 50 in each of his last 10 games.
Doncic has scored 57.1 to 83.4 FD points in each of his last four games and draws a very favorable matchup against a Nuggets team he scored 64.9 and 43.8 FD points against in two prior meetings.
Jokic just scored 69.7 FD points over 37 minutes against the Pelicans on Sunday, and he's posted at least 47.8 in his seven games since returning from the COVID-19 protocols.
James isn't showing any limitations due to his ankle soreness, scoring over 50 FD points in three of the last five contests, including 60.1 two games ago.
Expected Chalk
Other likely chalk plays include:
Jimmy Butler, MIA ($9,400)
Butler scored 50.5 FD points two games ago in his return from a knee injury, and although he produced a more modest 35.2 in 33 minutes against the Grizzlies on Monday, he should be very popular on a small slate.
Bam Adebayo, MIA ($8,900)
Despite Adebayo's surprisingly modest 26 FD-point showing in 38 minutes Monday night against the Grizzlies, he should still be in plenty of lineups after scoring more than 40 in three of the previous four games.
Donovan Mitchell, CLE ($8,800)
Mitchell still carries the ceiling of a player with a five-figure salary, but his price tag has dropped due to him being under 40 FD points in seven straight.
Tyler Herro, MIA ($7,700)
Herro has been over 40 FD points in four straight games and has both a double-double and triple-double in that span, which should keep him in plenty of lineups.
Killian Hayes, DET ($7,400)
Hayes has been impressive in his starting point guard role recently, averaging 36.2 FD points while shooting 50.0 percent over his last five games.
Key Values
Bojan Bogdanovic, DET at MIA ($6,000)
Bogdanovic has the upside of an $8K player, as he's scored 32.7 to 44.8 FD points in 10 of 24 games. The veteran wing is shooting a career-high 50.8 percent, including 41.9 percent from three-point range, leading to a career-high 20.6 points per contest. Bogdanovic has been even hotter recently, putting up 21.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists while shooting 52.6 percent in his last 12 games. Meanwhile, the Heat checks in allowing the highest offensive efficiency rating to small forwards (30.9), along with 49.9 percent shooting, including 40.7 percent from behind the arc, to the position.
Tim Hardaway, DAL at DEN ($5,700)
Hardaway has left a recent slump behind by scoring 25.6 to 44 FD points in his last four games, eclipsing 20 actual points in three of those contests while also supplementing his offensive production with 4.8 rebounds per game and four total steals in that sample. Hardaway already has one tally of 28.8 FD points across 24 minutes against the Nuggets this season as well, and with the luxury of only having played 23 minutes in Monday's surprisingly easy win over the Suns, the second night of the back-to-back set shouldn't have any influence on his play.
