Tuesday's seven-game slate offers a balanced mix of star power, injury-driven opportunity and competitive spreads, making it an ideal night for DFS players. With several big names appearing on the NBA injury report, shifting starting lineups and usage spikes are once again shaping roster construction. This breakdown leans on recent NBA news, evolving NBA lineups and matchup-based NBA projections to highlight elite targets, emerging value plays and potential fantasy basketball sleepers. Whether you're tracking fantasy basketball stats, monitoring NBA player injuries or fine-tuning a DFS build, this slate provides multiple paths to upside across the salary spectrum.
NBA Games Today
For the latest spreads and over-unders, visit RotoWire's NBA Odds page. There, you can also find player props, futures, picks articles and sportsbook bonus codes.
Listed spreads/totals are from FanDuel Sportsbook and current as of Tuesday, Jan. 20 @2:30 a.m. ET:
Phoenix Suns at Philadelphia 76ers (-1) (O/U: 224.5)
Los Angeles Clippers at Chicago Bulls (-3.5) (O/U: 226.5)
San Antonio Spurs at Houston Rockets (-4.5) (O/U: 220.5)
Minnesota Timberwolves (-11.5) at Utah Jazz (O/U: 244.5)
Los Angeles Lakers (-3) at Denver Nuggets (O/U: 228.5)
Toronto Raptors at Golden State Warriors (-3.5) (O/U: 226.5)
Miami Heat (-2.5) at Sacramento Kings (O/U: 237.5)
It would be fair to say that projected totals are somewhat depressed Tuesday, at least by this season's lofty standards. And, while there is a massive number attached to the Timberwolves-Jazz clash, Minnesota is also the heaviest favorite of the night. Meanwhile, the rest of the spreads all portend very close games, and the Heat-Kings matchup that caps off the slate looks like the best potential game environment of the night.
NBA Injury Report Today
For all the latest updates, visit RotoWire's NBA Injury News page and our comprehensive NBA Injury Report.
Kawhi Leonard, LAC (knee): OUT
In Leonard's ongoing absence Tuesday, Kobe Sanders is likely to remain in the starting five while James Harden's usage should remain even higher than usual
Jimmy Butler, GSW (knee): DOUBTFUL
In Butler's likely absence, Buddy Hield and Gary Payton may absorb most of the minutes at small forward, while Stephen Curry and Draymond Green will be set for plenty of extra usage.
Lauri Markkanen, UTA (illness): QUESTIONABLE
If Markkanen remains out, Cody Williams will likely remain in the first unit.
Josh Giddey, CHI (hamstring): QUESTIONABLE
If Giddey can return Tuesday, he'll likely be on some sort of minutes restriction, so Tre Jones could retain a solid allotment of minutes.
Other notable injuries:
Nikola Jokic, DEN (knee): OUT
Austin Reaves, LAL (calf): OUT
Tyler Herro, MIA (ribs): OUT
RJ Barrett, TOR (ankle): OUT
Jakob Poeltl, TOR (back): OUT
Naz Reid, MIN (shoulder): QUESTIONABLE
Paul George, PHI (knee): QUESTIONABLE
Tari Eason, HOU (ankle): QUESTIONABLE
Draymond Green, GSW (ankle): GTD
Aaron Gordon, DEN (hamstring): PROBABLE
Elite NBA DFS Picks
We have five players with a five-figure salary who have a chance to play on Tuesday's slate – Luka Doncic ($12,100), Victor Wembanyama ($10,900), Tyrese Maxey ($10,400), Jamal Murray ($10,100) and Alperen Sengun ($10,000).
Doncic dipped under 40 FD points against the Raptors on Sunday, but he'd scored 47 or more in eight straight games prior and naturally carries a ceiling north of 60 FD points.
Wemby finally got back to the 30-minute mark two games ago, and he's scored 58.3 and 57.5 FD points in each of his last two games.
Maxey delivered a spectacular 70.8 FD points against the Pacers on Monday with the help of eight steals and posted 60.5 FD points the game prior against the Cavs, making him well worth his recent salary bump.
Murray scored 22.2 FD points in a modest 25 minutes against the Hornets his last time out; he'd eclipsed 59 FD points in two of his previous three games.
Sengun has scored over 47 FD points in three of his last four games and is back to a normal allotment of minutes, but he'll draw a tough matchup against the Spurs.
Expected NBA DFS Chalk
Other likely chalk plays include:
James Harden, LAC ($9,900)
Harden has scored over 50 FD points in three of the last four games and will once again take the floor without Kawhi Leonard on Tuesday, which should keep him very popular on the six-game slate.
Anthony Edwards, MIN ($9,800)
Edwards is coming off having scored a career-high 55 points against the Spurs on Saturday, a performance that netted 62.3 FD points and should ensure he's very popular again Tuesday.
LeBron James, LAL ($9,500)
LeBron has scored over 42 FD points in four straight games and has eclipsed 51 FD points in five of his last eight contests overall, factors that should keep him highly rostered Tuesday.
Joel Embiid, PHI ($9,300)
Embiid has proven capable of delivering strong returns when healthy and has scored over 45 FD points in each of his last two starts, so he should be in plenty of lineups Tuesday.
Scottie Barnes, TOR ($9,200)
Barnes has scored over 38 FD points in four of the last five games and will continue working without Jakob Poeltl and RJ Barrett on Tuesday, which should lead to continued elevated usage.
Key NBA DFS Value Picks
Donte DiVincenzo, MIN at UTA ($6,200)
DiVincenzo continues to offer solid and diversified production in a starting point guard role, most recently contributing 14.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.3 steals across a healthy 34.5 minutes per contest in his last seven games. DiVincenzo is struggling from in front of the arc, but he's drained a blistering 44.1% of his attempts from behind the arc in the same span on an average of 8.4 attempts from distance per game. Tuesday, he has a premium matchup for point guards, as the Jazz are surrendering an NBA-high 54.8 FD points per game to ones on the season, including a Western Conference-high 56.6 in the last 15 games. They're also yielding an NBA-high 15.7 made three-pointers per game, furthering DiVincenzo's case.
Jalen Smith, CHI vs. LAC ($5,800)
Smith has been very effective as a complementary frontcourt presence of late, contributing three straight double-doubles and averaging 11.2 points, 9.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.5 blocks across 24.8 minutes in his last 11 games. The veteran big is capable of stretching the floor effectively on occasion as well – he's shooting 34.3 percent from long range on the season – and he's being used at power forward as part of a frontcourt duo with Nikola Vucevic in certain games and producing with the opportunity. Tuesday, he'll face a Clippers team that's surging but has been more generous to power forwards in recent contests, surrendering 47.5 FD points per game to the position in the last seven, along with bottom-five figures in rebounds (10.7) and blocks (1.8) per game surrendered to fours in that span.
Jordan Miller, LAC at CHI ($5,400)
Miller makes for an intriguing option on the other side of the Clippers-Bulls matchup Tuesday, given he's due to continue seeing extra opportunity as a result of Kawhi Leonard's ongoing absence. Miller has been taking advantage in recent games, averaging 29.2 FD points over his last six on the strength of 15.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.8 steals and 56.3 percent shooting, including 42.9 percent from three-point range. Miller is logging an encouraging 31.7 minutes per game in that span, and if he's in that neighborhood again Tuesday, his prospects are bright against a Bulls team allowing the sixth-most FD points to small forwards in the last seven (50.4), along with the ninth-highest offensive efficiency rating to second-unit players (45.8).
ALSO CONSIDER: Jalen Pickett, DEN vs. LAL ($5,300); Sandro Mamukelashvili, TOR at GSW ($5,200)
