Thursday's four-game main slate was an interesting one. Frequent headliners like Luka Doncic, Paul George, and Kawhi Leonard fell significantly short of expectations. Others stuffed that stat sheet and put on their best showings of the young 2022-23 season. Jayson Tatum paced all players in Fantasy points with one of his most well-rounded stat lines of the year, and we'll get into who else stood out before identifying a player worth buying in the back half of Week 12 and a Friday DFS target. here.
Who's hot
The Boston Celtics dominated the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night, and Tatum posted his first triple-double of the season along the way. He scored 29 points to go along with 14 rebounds and 10 assists against one of the league's premier defenses. Tatum's scoring has been down as of late, but he has scored at least 25 points in 10 consecutive contests for the top team in the Eastern Conference.
Markkanen's still strengthening his All-Star claim and erupted for a career-high 49 points against the Houston Rockets his last time out. He made 15 of his 27 field goal attempts and grabbed eight boards. The Finnish wing has now gone over his 2022-23 scoring average in six straight games. He's tallied 33.8 points and 10.5 rebounds per contest on 51.2 percent shooting during that span. Markkanen has thrived enough to place among the top five in Fantasy points among small forwards and power forwards so far, and it wouldn't be surprising if he finished the year there.
The Memphis Grizzlies' top rim protector posted his best stat line of the season against the Orlando Magic on Thursday. He scored a season-high 31 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and swatted three shots. He was extremely efficient from the field and hit 12 of his 14 shots, which included a pair of 3-pointers. Jackson's now blocked multiple shots in nine consecutive games, and only three players have recorded more rejections this season. Not bad for a player who's appeared in just 22 games so far this campaign.
Who to buy
Oladipo is rostered in 38 percent of CBS leagues right now, and I expect that number to climb in the coming weeks. The often shorthanded Miami Heat have lost Duncan Robinson to a finger injury, and he won't return for at least four weeks. But while Max Strus is also a candidate for a bump in playing time, Oladipo's logged more minutes in three straight games while averaging 16.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 4.7 assists. His more versatile skill set and defense could make him a more valuable asset than Strus in the long run.
DFS play
Johnson is having a career year and appears destined to carry on a much heavier workload in the back half of this season. The San Antonio Spurs forward lost his co-star, Devin Vassell, to a season-ending knee injury and has played phenomenally without the Florida State wing this year. Johnson's only fallen short of 25 points in one of his eight games without Vassell this season. In fact, he's averaging 26.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists on 49.8 percent shooting without him. I love his matchup against the Detroit Pistons' lowly defense and his price is sure to rise soon. Cash in on Johnson now before that happens.
Still deciding who to lock in for your DFS roster? We've identified a player worth locking in and one to avoid ahead of tip-off below, but you can get my full selection of stud and value plays at each position by heading over to SportsLine.
