The 2018 WNBA season is finally underway, and after a couple of appetizers Friday and Saturday, we have a full six-game slate as part of #WNBAAllDay. If you read any of my WNBA articles for FantasyAlarm last season, you know I love playing a full slate with a lot of options. I feel like the more options you have, the better chance you have to unearth a diamond with relatively low ownership.
If anything, there might actually be too many options in Sunday’s slate. Between players coming off of injury and players finishing up their seasons overseas, there are a lot of underpriced options this early in the season. The effects of this are twofold. First of all, I will probably play more lineups than normal just so I can get all of the players I like into at least one lineup.
The second effect of having so many value plays is you almost have to go stars-and-scrubs. I would be tempted to play someone like Krystal Thomas in what should be a good matchup against the Indiana Fever, but how do you play her when you can get Liz Cambage much, much cheaper?
Another wrinkle for Sunday’s slate is the number of players who aren’t in the player pool for FanDuel. Chiney Ogwumike, Angel McCoughtry and Tiffany Mitchell are all value plays on DraftKings, but they are nowhere to be seen on FanDuel after they sat out most or all of the 2017 season.
After a couple of successful one-game WNBA Playbooks in which we recommended Liz Cambage, DeWanna Bonner and Diamond DeShields, among others, we are back to our regularly scheduled WNBA programming. That means you can expect a WNBA Playbook and Optimal Lineups for every slate featuring three or more games. That means our next Playbook will be Wednesday, May 23. If you have questions for smaller slates or anything that isn’t addressed in this Playbook, hit me up on Twitter or in the comments below.
| Player | FanDuel Price | DraftKings Price | Comments |
| Angel McCoughtry, F, ATL | $ 3,000 | I had hoped McCoughtry would be underpriced after she sat out the 2017 WNBA season to rest, but this is ridiculous. McCoughtry averaged 19.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game in 2016. | |
| Tamera Young, G, LV | $ 3,000 | $ 4,500 | The Aces will likely need Young's scoring ability with Kelsey Plum, Kayla McBride and Moriah Jefferson out. |
| Chiney Ogwumike | $ 3,000 | Ogwumike is back after missing all of 2017 due to a torn left Achilles. She averaged 12.6 points and 6.7 rebounds per game in 2016, and she is a steal if she even comes close to those numbers Sunday. | |
| Liz Cambage, F, DAL | $ 3,500 | $ 5,400 | Unfortunately, any chance of her flying under the radar evaporated with her strong performance against Brittney Griner Friday. Even so, how do you fade her, especially on FanDuel? |
| Diamond DeShields, G, CHI | $ 3,500 | $ 3,900 | DeShields got the start against Indiana Saturday, and she finished with 18 points, eight rebounds and three assists. If she comes anywhere close to those numbers Sunday, she is an absolute steal. |
| Jewell Loyd | $ 6,800 | $ 10,100 | Loyd has never been particularly consistent, but she can be the best guard in the league on any given night. Is this the year she finally takes the reins from Sue Bird? |
| A'ja Wilson | $ 4,800 | $ 5,200 | A'ja Wilson is probably the best player on her team from day one. She could struggle, especially against a team with a deep frontcourt like Connecticut, but she should get a ton of shots up. |
| DeWanna Bonner, G, PHO | $ 3,000 | $ 3,900 | Bonner went 1-8 on threes Friday night and still finished with 17 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocks. |
| Elena Delle Donne, F, WAS | $ 7,800 | $ 11,300 | Indiana should be one of the worst teams in the WNBA again this season, and they are playing the second of a back-to-back on top of it. |
| Brittney Griner, F, PHO | $ 8,200 | $ 13,000 | In a tough matchup with Liz Cambage Friday, Griner had 13 points, seven rebounds and two blocks. This is basically her floor, and the Storm do not have anyone who can guard Griner the way Liz Cambage did. |
| Tina Charles, F, NY | $ 7,900 | $ 12,300 | |
| Jonquel Jones | $ 7,500 | $ 11,800 | On the one hand, I would really like to see how Jones and Chiney Ogwumike mesh together before I pay a premium for Jones. On the other hand, there is no reason to believe Vegas has the bigs to stop Ogwumike, Jones or anybody else. Jones is a GPP play, especially on FanDuel. |
| Candace Dupree, F, IND | $ 7,000 | $ 9,500 | Dupree got a lot of good looks against the Sky Saturday, but she didn't shoot it particularly well. It would be quite surprising if she has a second consecutive poor shooting game. |
| Jasmine Thomas, G, CON | $ 4,800 | $ 7,400 | Connecticut has a lot of talented players, and even if they can score at will against Las Vegas, it is anyone's guess how the fantasy points will shake out. |