Summer Games DFS plays: Men’s Basketball (8/4)

Just as the NBA season concludes, we get to go straight into FIBA with the Summer Games! We have a small two-game slate, featuring the four teams in Group C of Slovenia, Japan, Spain and Argentina. Spain is widely viewed as the favorites 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.

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Core

Patty Mills ($10,600)

The spend-up spot comes down to four names tonight. Those four names include Luka Doncic, Damian Lillard, Kevin Durant and Patty Mills. We know what we’re getting in Doncic, but his price is now $13,400, so he needs a ceiling game to be worth the spend up tonight. As for Lillard and Durant, the two have negatively correlated during the entirety of this Team USA run. Durant hit his ceiling against Spain and Czech Republic, Lillard hit his ceiling against Iran (and against Australia in the exhibition), while both underperformed against France. That leaves Patty Mills, who we know what we’re getting, as he’ll see 35 or so minutes, carry a 30% usage seeing somewhere between 18-25 field goal attempts, and add around 10 rebounds plus assists. USA has struggled against point guards throughout the duration of their summer, including against Mills in the exhibition last month. In terms of probability of reaching his ceiling, I believe Mills is ahead of Lillard and Durant tonight, with Doncic ahead of Mills. What it will come down to is whether Mills can outproduce Doncic per dollar, and finding the right build around Mills to make the Doncic fade worthwhile.

Nicolas Batum ($5,800)

One interesting storyline out of France’s knockout round game was the increase in playing time from their NBA players. While Batum, Fournier and Gobert saw 30 plus minutes against USA, their playing time took a step back against the Czech Republic and Iran, both of which were blowouts after essentially already locking up the group. With 30-35 minutes coming from Batum, his $5,600 price tag is suddenly extremely valuable in a game sporting a three-point spread.

Nick Kay ($5,300)

Lastly, I’m looking at the Aussie center Nick Kay, who has played 28 minutes per game over the Aussie’s four games in Tokyo, reaching double digits in every game. USA has struggled against bigs all tournament (and during exhibitions) with their own lack of size, so close to 30 minutes from Kay against this frontcourt should offer similar results from what he has offered throughout this tournament. In their exhibition in Las Vegas, Kay posted 8 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist over 25 minutes. Both Kay and Jock Landale are going to be key pieces for the Boomers if they are going to pull off the upset, and as long as Kay remains out of foul trouble, he should be a double-double threat with an expected increase in pace of play with this matchup.

Others To Consider