Yahoo Sports is giving fans another way to play fantasy basketball with Perfect 5, a free-to-play game featuring each week’s NBA on Prime doubleheader. The rules are simple: pick five players, stay within a $15 budget and rack up fantasy points through scoring, rebounds, assists, defensive stats and 3s.
Friday’s slate features the 76ers at Cavaliers (7:30 p.m. ET) and Trail Blazers at Lakers (10 p.m. ET). There’s plenty of star power, but the key to building a competitive lineup is finding the right matchups and the values in the $1 tier.
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Using RotoWire’s data and Yahoo projections, I ran 20,000 simulations of the slate. I’m paying up for Luka Dončić and leaning on two $4 bigs with great setups. Here’s my lineup:
|
Player |
Team |
Salary |
Proj. pts |
|
Luka Dončić |
Lakers |
$5 |
50.14 |
|
Evan Mobley |
Cavaliers |
$4 |
42.46 |
|
Walker Kessler |
Lakers |
$4 |
37.90 |
|
Sidy Cissoko |
Trail Blazers |
$1 |
17.58 |
|
Meleek Thomas |
Cavaliers |
$1 |
12.00 |
|
Total |
$15 |
159.91 |
In my sims, this group averaged 159.91 fantasy points and finished in the top 1% of the field 21.7% of the time, the best rate of any lineup I tested.
Luka Dončić – PG, Los Angeles Lakers – ($5, 76% picked)
The chalkiest pick in the pool feels necessary because he’s been one of the best, if not the best, players to start the season. Dončić is averaging 38.5 points, 8.2 rebounds, 8.0 assists and 5.9 3s, and he’s gone for 40+ points in three straight games. Portland is middle of the pack against point guards, but when a guy is as hot as Luka, with a usage rate north of 40%, you play ’em.
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He was in the single best lineup in 55% of my simulations, more than any other player. Portland beat the Lakers 136-129 in L.A. on Oct. 27, even though Luka went for 41 points, nine assists and 6 3s. He’ll want this one back. Lock him in.
Evan Mobley – PF, Cleveland Cavaliers – ($4, 12% picked)
Mobley is projected for 42.46 fantasy points at $4, within about a point of Donovan Mitchell, whose salary is $5. He’s putting up 18.8 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.3 blocks, while hitting 2.1 3s a night. The matchup is neutral (Philly ranks 19th in fantasy points allowed to power forwards), and his usage has ticked up to 23.6% over the last three games.
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Jarrett Allen is questionable with a right knee contusion, after leaving Monday’s contest after just seven minutes. If Allen sits, Mobley soaks up even more of the paint work against a light Philly frontcourt. At 12% picked, he’s still the best combination of value and leverage on the slate.
Walker Kessler – C, Los Angeles Lakers – ($4, 12% picked)
Portland gives up 60.4 fantasy points per game to centers, the second-most in the league and about eight more than average. He’s putting up 14.4 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per night. I originally had Deni Avdija in this spot, but the matchups flipped it. The Lakers are one of the toughest defenses against small forwards, while Kessler gets one of the league’s softest frontcourts. Now Kessler grades out better, and he’s picked at the same 12% rate. Avdija is still a fine pivot if you’d rather have his playmaking, and that version of this lineup was a close second.
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Sidy Cissoko – SF, Portland Trail Blazers – ($1, 41% picked)
Cissoko is the most popular non-Luka pick on the board. He’s projected for 17.61 fantasy points at a $1 salary; I think he might be the best points-per-dollar mark on the slate. While the matchup isn’t great (the Lakers are 26th in fantasy points allowed to small forwards), his minutes have held to around 21 a night. Trusting the math here, as he showed up in the optimal lineup in 45% of my sims.
Meleek Thomas – SG, Cleveland Cavaliers – ($1, 14% picked)
Here’s where I’m going against Yahoo projections. Thomas is projected for only 12.00 fantasy points: that’s too low. Over the last three contests, he’s averaging 13.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 2.6 3s, which works out to roughly 21 fantasy points. His minutes match his production: he played 22.3 minutes over that span with a 25.4% usage rate.
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He was listed with right foot soreness on a recent injury report, so give it a look before tip. I’d originally pegged Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as the safe swap, but his minutes have dropped to 21, 13 and 18 in his last three, so I’m sticking with Thomas.
Not quite. Using Yahoo’s projections, the highest-scoring possible lineup is Dončić, Mobley, Jaylen Brown, Cissoko and Caldwell-Pope at 163.85 fantasy points. Mine comes in 3.94 points behind it.
|
Player |
Team |
Salary |
Proj. pts |
|
Luka Dončić |
Lakers |
$5 |
50.32 |
|
Evan Mobley |
Cavaliers |
$4 |
42.46 |
|
Jaylen Brown |
76ers |
$4 |
39.31 |
|
Sidy Cissoko |
Trail Blazers |
$1 |
17.61 |
|
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope |
76ers |
$1 |
14.15 |
|
Total |
$15 |
163.85 |
The max lineup is a good build. It averaged 164.0 points in my sims and finished in the top 1% about 13% of the time. Brown is a strong play, since Cleveland gives up the fifth-most fantasy points to small forwards. The weak spot is Caldwell-Pope and his shrinking minutes. The other problem is that everyone reading the same projections gets to this exact five, and it’s the chalkiest high-projection build. In a game where you’re trying to finish top-three against the whole Yahoo community, tying a bunch of people doesn’t help much. Swapping Brown for Kessler and Caldwell-Pope for Thomas gives up 3.53 projected points but buys better matchups and more separation.
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You can start building your Perfect 5 roster for Friday’s slate now, including going up against me in my Perfect 5 group. Good luck!
