RADIO
Three WNBA games on Tuesday, including a huge showdown between the Sun and the Storm.
Can Connecticut remain undefeated? And will the other games of the night -- Mystics/Fever and Dream/Sky -- produce some solid game play?
In this article, I'll be providing you with some daily fantasy WNBA lineup picks for DraftKings and FanDuel on 5/25/21. These lineups picks will range from elite players to mid-priced options and value plays. Want to talk more about the WNBA? I'm always available on Twitter and always down to discuss women's basketball: @juscarts.
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WNBA - DFS Guards
Kelsey Mitchell (G, Indiana Fever) – vs Washington Mystics (DK: $8,000, FD: $6,000)
Mitchell's having a solid season, but her three-point field goal percentage has slipped to 28.1 percent. The good news is she had her best shooting night of the season in Indiana's win over the Mystics on Sunday, a game in which she made three three-pointers and finished with 18 points plus four rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Her lack of assists lower her fantasy ceiling, but Mitchell remains the most lethal scoring threat on this Fever team. Keep that in mind when building lineups.
Diamond DeShields (G, Chicago Sky) – vs Atlanta Dream (DK: $7,900, FD: $5,100)
DeShields is on the upward swing after a poor 2020 season, averaging 13.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 4.3 assists so far on 37.8 percent shooting. You'd like to see DeShields score more efficiently, but she doesn't necessarily have to for fantasy reasons as long as she converts on enough of her 12.3 attempts per game, right?
Anyway, I like DeShields a lot in this one because it seems Candace Parker will still be sidelined with an ankle issue. Last game, that meant DeShields played 35 minutes, scoring 22 points and adding three assists and three rebounds. If Parker is surprisingly available, I'd pivot off DeShields, but with the Sky dealing with injury issues, I think we see another strong showing from Diamond.
Tiffany Hayes (G, Atlanta Dream) – @ Chicago Sky (DK: $6,700, FD: $5,400)
Hayes is really struggling from the floor, shooting just 20 percent through two games. But she's getting 25-plus minutes per contest and is averaging nine shot attempts per game, plus is getting to the line effectively and has five steals already.
This should be a fast-paced game, which will play into both team's hands when it comes to offensive production. I want a lot of exposure to players on both sides, and Hayes feels like a good value here: cheaper than teammate Chennedy Carter (though lacking Carter's high-end upside), and just a better play than Odyssey Sims and Aari McDonald, the latter of whom has been a non-entity so far.
WNBA - DFS Forwards
Breanna Stewart (F, Seattle ) – vs Connecticut Sun (DK: $10,800, FD: $8,900)
Don't think you can go wrong between Stewie and Jonquel Jones as a high-priced forward, but Stewart has the higher ceiling since Jones is sharing scoring duties with DeWanna Bonner, while Stewart shares them with Jewell Loyd. Loyd's great, but isn't the same threat to fantasy production that Bonner is.
This matchup could be tough for Stewart with Jonquel Jones potentially on her, but Stewart's also averaging 25.8 points and 10.5 rebounds per game so far despite tough matchups against the Aces in the first two games. Stewart having a big game is basically inevitable at this point, and it's hard to not have some exposure to her in your lineup.
Teaira McCowan (F, Indiana Fever) – vs Washington Mystics (DK: $8,700, FD: $6,700)
There's always a chance that McCowan's minutes get funky, but with Bernadett Hatar already ruled out, we should see McCowan with a lot of minutes. When these teams faced off Sunday, McCowan played 30 minutes, her second-most of the season, and posted her second double-double, finishing with 17 points and 10 boards. She did fail to block a shot for the first time this year, but I don't want to hold that against her.
Tina Charles has been playing the five a lot for Washington, and while Charles is still a really good offensive players, her ability to stop a player like McCowan on the other end isn't what it once was. Maybe with Myisha Hines-Allen seeing a larger role on Tuesday the Mystics will have a better shot to slow McCowan down, but ultimately I'm going to take a lot of chances on her.
Azura Stevens (F, Chicago Sky) – vs Atlanta Dream (DK: $7,200, FD: $4,400)
Stevens played just 13 minutes in her season debut after missing the start of the season with an ankle injury, but I liked what I saw in that limited time: six points and five rebounds, including a made three and five field goal attempts. Considering Stevens played 27.3 minutes per game last year and Candace Parker will likely be out again, I'd expect us to see Stevens with a workload in this game that looks a lot more like her 2020 numbers. That should mean some Stevens threatens to get (or gets) a double-double based on how she was rebounding and scoring in the Liberty game. And hey, I could be wrong here and the team could keep bringing her along slowly, but Stevens could be their best healthy big, so how long can they afford to bring her along slowly? (And again, she passed the "does she look healthy" eye test last game!)
