3 NBA DraftKings Value Plays to Target on 1/8/18

Bobby Portis, PF/C, Chicago Bulls

DraftKings Salary: $4,400

Bobby Portis was already in play as a tournament option in what is expected to be the second-highest scoring game on the slate. With news that Nikola Mirotic is doubtful tonight, Portis could become one of the strongest tournament values available.

He needs just 22 DraftKings points to hit value (5 points per every $1,000 in salary), a feat he was already accomplishing fairly regularly in limited playing time. He has gone for 22 DraftKings points in three of his past four games and six of his past nine, a span during which he has averaged 22.5 DraftKings points in just 18 minutes per game.

If Mirotic is out tonight, that would mean roughly 25 additional minutes of playing time will likely be split among Portis, Lauri Markkanen, and Robin Lopez. Lopez's minutes will probably be a bit capped by the small-ball nature of the Houston Rockets squad they're facing, while Markkanen is already averaging more than 30 minutes in January, so he isn't likely to receive more than a few additional minutes either. As such, it is probably fair to expect Portis to be somewhere around the 21.6 minutes and 24.6 DraftKings points he averaged in 14 games without Mirotic earlier this season.

Portis has too much volatility to his game to lock into cash-game lineups on a large slate, especially if we don't have word on Mirotic's status prior to lineup lock. However, the upside at this price is too good to ignore in tournaments.