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It’s Friday and you ain’t got nothing to do, most likely. If you aren’t trying to find a re-run of Friday — or the million movies that followed — on VH1 or BET or TBS, then we have simulated basketball for you. This afternoon it’s the Sacramento Kings vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves. Here’s a link to the contest and be sure to check out the rules before locking in a lineup.
Captain’s Picks
This is a pretty easy pick, perhaps the easiest of picks I will make all week (there haven’t been many picks to make). Karl-Anthony Towns ($17,100) is the highest-priced player in this contest and he’s the one you’ll be captaining most likely. It’s hard to argue for anyone else. Maybe you can go for a cheaper option to fit in a more balanced lineup, but getting 1.5x fantasy points out of KAT seems important. Maybe we can consider D’Angelo Russell ($15,000) and De’Aaron Fox ($14,100), but both are streaky and inconsistent with ceilings that don’t rival KAT’s.
FLEX Options
You’re going to be limited in what you can do if you end up captaining KAT. Even if you FLEX Towns, he’s going to cost the most at that spot anyway. There are a few players to go over before considering them in any position. Malik Beasley ($4,800) is interesting. While his price is way down compared to his Timberwolves production (20.7 points per game in 14 starts), we need to remember what he did with the Nuggets before the trade. That would be uhhhh, not as much scoring. Beasley isn’t a bad idea given that this is a large tournament format and you need leverage. Beasley is volatile, but intriguing.
Juancho Hernangomez ($2,400) and Naz Reid ($2,000) are both in the same boat as Beasley, but are safer plays for value. Reid has a handful of appealing box scores filling in for Towns in the starting lineup. Juancho had also been seeing a ton of playing time with Towns out and Robert Covington out of town. You’ll also need value since KAT will be pricey.
As fo the Kings, I’m not crazy about a lot of their plays but Richaun Holmes ($5,200) stands out. Holmes has only played in 39 games this season and 33 of those are starts. In the month of December — before the injury — Holmes averaged 15.4 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. If you land on any of Holmes’ December box scores at this price, you’ll be in good shape.