Happy Monday, everybody! We’ve got the perfect cure for your early-week blues — a fantastic 10-game slate in the NBA, and plenty of value all around. DraftKings has released a new fantasy format for DFS players to attack — Snake Drafts are now available in the DraftKings lobby.

If you’ve ever played season-long fantasy before — either for NBA or any other sport — you’re likely familiar with how a Snake Draft works. In short, for these contests, once the allotted number of entries are filled in a contest, the draft will begin one minute later. The entrants are assigned a random draft order and will commence in that order. The player with the first pick gets dibs on anyone while the player with the last pick will get a double pick, as it’ll end the first round and thus begin the second.

Roster requirements for lineups: G – 2, F/C – 2, Util – 2

Visit the DraftKings NBA lobby to view all the available NBA Snake contests!

Set your DraftKings fantasy basketball lineups here: NBA $600K Fadeaway [$100K to 1st]

Favorable Early Round Targets:

Luka Doncic, G, Dallas Mavericks
Snake Classic Rank: 2^nd

Let’s see ... soft matchup, all of the shots ... MVP candidate ... game of the night ... yeah, all systems should be go on Luka Doncic. With several key pieces still out for the Mavericks, Luka should be taking on almost all of the scoring load in this one, and he has the benefit of facing one of the league’s weakest defenses. Denver ranks 26th in DKFP allowed to the point guard position, and Jamal Murray owns an unsightly 114 defensive rating. This game should be high-scoring, close and fun, which is a recipe for a huge Luka night.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, G, Oklahoma City Thunder
Snake Classic Rank: 21^st

I figured I’d go with someone a little bit easier to find in the early rounds after going with the No. 2 option above. SGA has played in two back-to-backs this season: In the first, he went for 20 points, nine rebounds and two assists, and in the second he scored 17 points against the top-ranked defense in the league in the Los Angeles Lakers. The minutes have been there in these scenarios, and he hasn’t seemed fazed at all by the fatigue normally brought on by back-to-backs. Considering the Trail Blazers don’t defend the point guard position all that well, and are coming off a game in which they allowed 30 points to Immanuel Quickley, this is a pretty nice spot. SGA is Oklahoma City’s entire offense, and he should be able to have whatever he wants here.

Early Round Player to Avoid:

Andre Drummond, C, Cleveland Cavaliers
Snake Classic Rank: 18^th

Anthony Davis is listed as probable, the Cavaliers are second-to-last in Offensive Rating this year and the Lakers own the league’s top defense. This is an incredibly adverse matchup, and considering that now Cleveland is without Larry Nance, Jr., Los Angeles can focus plenty of attention toward slowing Drummond. It’s been impossible to have a good game against the Lakers down low this year, please don’t make this mistake.

Late Round Fliers:

OG Anunoby, F/C, Toronto Raptors
Snake Classic Rank: 45^th

The Raptors may be without Pascal Siakam and Kyle Lowry in this one, opening the door for massive minutes once again for Anunoby. He’s averaging a whopping 35.2 minutes and 30.6 DKFP per game this season, and his usage skyrocketed on Sunday without Siakam, seeing him score 30 points and post 53.5 DKFP. He’s an incredible find late in snake drafts with or without the injuries to Lowry and Siakam, but he becomes a must-draft should they miss the game.

Tim Hardaway, Jr., F/C, Chicago Bulls
Snake Classic Rank: 79^th

Yes, now we’re getting deep in snake drafts. You might not be looking down this far in the final round, but Hardaway is in a pretty great spot here. Not only does he have the benefit of matching up with one of the league’s worst defenders in Gary Harris, Jr., but Hardaway has been taking all of the shots without Dorian Finney-Smith in the lineup. The problem? While he’s taken six 3-pointers per game over the past four, he’s averaging just one made from deep. You know the shots will be there, and nothing cures a shooting slump like a matchup against the team ranked 27th in defending the shooting guard position. Hardaway is one of the surest bets to shoot, shoot, shoot, and you can get him in the final round of your draft. I don’t hate it.

Visit the DraftKings NBA lobby to view all the available NBA Snake contests!

Set your DraftKings fantasy basketball lineups here: NBA $600K Fadeaway [$100K to 1st]

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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is jetsfan196) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.