While college basketball is taking center stage in the sports world right now, we are rewarding our players with loads of cash in our NBA contests! Last week, we had three low-owned players that were the difference makers in NBA lineups winning thousands. The first player we will look at is a veteran point guard having a vintage performance.
Ricky Rubio 1.7X vs Lakers (3/16/21)
19 points, 12 assists, 3 steals, 85 FP, 2.8% owned
Like the rest of the Minnesota Timberwolves aside from Anthony Edwards, Ricky Rubio has been down bad. This is one of the worst seasons of Rubio’s career as this is the first time in six seasons Rubio has averaged under 10 points per game. He is also averaging a career low in steals (1.3) and has his third lowest average in assists per game at 6.7.
Despite that, he quietly has been playing better lately. In the three games prior to the Lakers game where he exploded for 85 fantasy points, he averaged 12.8 points, 8 assists, 1.3 steals and 31.5 FPPG. The takeaway here aside from Rubio is the Lakers defense vs opposing point guards. While the Lakers are 1st in defensive efficiency they are 19th in fantasy points allowed to opposing point guards. If you see a point guard with a juicy multiplier, you may get a game-breaking performance as you did from Rubio.
Will Barton 1.65X vs Pacers (3/15/21):
20 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks 75.08 FP, 1% owned
I gotta say I am pretty surprised Barton was only 1% owned in our Jumpshot contest on 3/15. The Nuggets were playing without Monte Morris who had been a consistent ball handler for the Nuggets all season. It was natural to expect Will Barton to have a higher usage rate. This happened against the Pacers and he was able to go for 75.08 fantasy points. The Nuggets played three more games last week and all of them were without Morris and the story remained the same with Barton.
Barton in the last four games without Morris in the lineup averaged 20.5 points, 5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 34.85 FPPG. When you include his 1.65X multiplier, the average goes up to 57.5 FPPG. If you are able to snag Barton at a multiplier around this range with a good matchup and no Morris, he should get heavy consideration for your lineup.
Aaron Gordon 1.6X vs Nets (3/19/21):
38 points 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 81.6 FP, 10.1% owned
There is no question that Aaron Gordon was the difference maker in our Friday night NBA slate as the players who rostered him cashed in. Gordon slid into that low-owned category almost exclusively due to injury. Before this game vs. the Nets, Gordon had missed 17 of the last 19 games. For SuperDraft players, this appeared to be an “out of sight, out of mind” sort of deal.
After this fantastic performance vs the Nets, I would absolutely keep your eye on Gordon for the type of value he can bring. With the rest of the Magic roster banged up, he should continue to shoulder a big load offensively. This is not going to result in monster performances every night, but at the right multiplier and with a good match-up he can definitely put up stats like this again.
Another thing to keep in mind is the Nets, despite looking like the title favorites at the moment, are still not a good defensive team. They are 21st in defensive efficiency and have given up the 7th most fantasy points per game to opposing power forwards. Do not forget that when you see a solid power forward facing the Nets!
This article expresses the personal views of the writer and does not reflect the view(s) of SuperDraft in any way
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