Summer Games DFS plays: Men’s Basketball (7/28)

Just as the NBA season concludes, we get to go straight into FIBA with the Olympic Games! Today, we have a small two-game slate, featuring the four teams in Group C (Slovenia, Japan, Spain and Argentina). Spain is widely viewed as the favorite to win this group and potentially challenge the United States for a gold medal, while Slovenia is led by Luka Doncic, and any team with a superstar of Doncic’s caliber is certainly dangerous in an international event. We will go over a trio of core plays to build around, in addition to pinpointing others to add into your builds, and projected lineups. With that, let’s dive right into the slate.

Core

Luka Doncic ($12,500)

This is just plug-and-play. No-brainer play given the usage, assist, rebound and touch rates he offers. Spread is definitely concerning for his ceiling, but he was still putting up production in the fourth quarter of a blowout against Argentina, so I’m not too concerned about it.

Gabriel Deck ($7,600)

Do not be alarmed if Deck comes off the bench once again. As Zac mentioned yesterday, in Europe, it isn’t uncommon to see a team put one of their best players on the bench, starting them off with the second unit with their workload still reaching that of a starting role. Deck carved out 26 minutes in the blowout loss to Slovenia, tallying 17 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, on 8/17 shooting. There’s usage with Deck in an offense that really revolves around Campazzo, Scola, and Deck as a bit of a three-headed monster. Spain struggled with Yuta Watanabe on the wing, and Hachimura saw a ton of usage, albeit inefficient with his usage. I’d prefer to take a discount on Deck from the Hachimura, Scola range today.

Alex Abrines ($3,400) and Sergio Rodriguez ($3,300)

Lastly, let’s discuss a pair of value guards from the Spaniard group. Both Abrines and Rodriguez came off the bench for Spain, but the pair saw a combined 40 minutes in the opener against Japan. Production in the 15-20 fantasy point range is more than suitable from either player, and Rodriguez generally sports a high touch rate in his minutes, as he’ll see a majority of his minutes with Ricky Rubio off the floor. Abrines is more scoring dependent, but against an Argentinian team that just allowed 16 three’s to Slovenia, there’s a lot to like about Abrines who sports a 75% three-point frequency (meaning 75% of his total attempts come from the perimeter), as a tournament play tonight.