We have reached the part of the WNBA season where it seems like the hardest thing to do is find cheap players you feel reasonably confident will give you some production and allow you to pay for an extra stud. Barring injury or a surprise shakeup of a starting lineup, anyone who provides even sporadic fantasy points probably costs a decent amount. In slates like this, I usually like to insert my cheap plays into the lineup first and then use whatever I have left for as many expensive players as I can. If I get to the end of my lineup and I can't afford Nneka Ogwumike, there will be some cheaper option I can plug in who will be almost as good. If I get to the last spot in my lineup with $4,000 and no one I want to spend it on, things can get ugly. Fortunately, there are a few cheap plays I actually do like in this slate, which certainly helps.
| Player | FanDuel | DraftKings | Comments |
| Candace Parker, F, LAS | $ 8,000 | $ 10,500 | Parker remains the cheapest of the top-tier forwards on DraftKings, and I would have thought her 19-point, 10-rebound performance Sunday would have proven she should cost more like she does on FanDuel. |
| Nneka Ogwumike, F, LA | $ 7,900 | $ 11,600 | Seattle has struggled to defend bigs this season, especially with Crystal Langhorne out. Liz Cambage and A'ja Wilson dropped 20 on the storm in Seattle's last two games, and Tianna Hawkins had a season-high 17 points against Seattle before that. I expect more of the same from Nneka. |
| Sylvia Fowles, F, MIN | $ 7,800 | $ 11,800 | Fowles is probably the safest player in the WNBA. She has at least 13 points and eight rebounds in every game this season. |
| Chelsea Gray, G, LA | $ 7,700 | $ 10,300 | I couldn't squeeze Chelsea Gray into any of my lineups, but she needs to be mentioned here as a solid cash play. Gray has scored at least 30.5 fantasy points on DraftKings in every game this season. |
| Jewell Loyd, G, SEA | $ 7,500 | $ 11,500 | Against Dallas on Saturday, Jewell Loyd shot below 40 percent for just the third time this season. After the first two times, she shot at least 50 percent in the following game. I'm expecting her to bounce back again Thursday. |
| Chiney Ogwumike, F, CON | $ 6,700 | $ 8,900 | Ogwumike is averaging 13.3 points and 8.3 rebounds in 25.2 minutes over her last three games. She is super safe, and a double-double is almost certainly coming. |
| Jonquel Jones, F, CON | $ 6,400 | $ 7,400 | Jones matched her season-high with 24 minutes Tuesday, and while she only scored five points on 1-5 shooting, she finished with eight rebounds, two assists, three blocks and two steals. I'm convinced more minutes are coming, but even if they don't, more shots almost certainly are. Jones scored 20 points in 16 minutes against Chicago last week. |
| Natasha Howard, F, SEA | $ 6,300 | $ 8,100 | I'm going to go ahead and chalk up Natasha Howard's 14 minutes against the Aces last week to the fact Seattle won by 27, because she has played at least 21 minutes and scored at least 26.75 fantasy points on DraftKings in her last four games if you toss out that game against Las Vegas. I don't love this matchup, but Howard should be pretty safe for her price. |
| Jasmine Thomas, G, CON | $ 5,700 | $ 7,800 | Thomas is coming off a 2-12 effort from the field, and I'm expecting a bounce back. Thomas is shooting 38.8 percent from the field after shooting 42.1 percent last season. |
| Sue Bird, G, SEA | $ 5,000 | $ 7,500 | Bird has had a week off after she sat out Seattle's loss to Dallas Saturday. I think the rest could lead to a better performance in this game, and even if it doesn't, Bird has scored at least 16.5 fantasy points on FanDuel in every game this season. |
| Courtney Williams, G, CON | $ 5,000 | $ 7,000 | She has scored almost exactly the same number of fantasy points this season as her teammate Jasmine Thomas, but she costs less and has been far more consistent. Sounds like a clear cash play to me. |
| Tianna Hawkins, F, WAS | $ 4,800 | $ 7,100 | Until her price goes up or Elena Delle Donne returns, Tianna Hawkins remains my go-to low-price forward, especially for cash lineups. Hawkins has played at least 24 minutes in seven consecutive games, and she has scored at least 10 points in six of those seven. |
| Kristi Toliver, G, WAS | $ 4,100 | $ 8,200 | When you see such a huge price disparity between the two sites, just go ahead and use the player on the cheaper site, no matter what. Kristi Toliver is 2-8 over her last two games after taking at least eight shots and making at least three of them in each of her first six games this season. We know she is going to start taking and making more threes any day now, and I think she has to be in at least one FanDuel GPP lineup every time she plays until further notice. |
| Ariel Atkins, G, WAS | $ 4,000 | $ 6,800 | Atkins has been a bit overshadowed by all the other outstanding rookies this season, but she has played at least 20 minutes and scored at least 10 points in five consecutive games. Atkins is 9-26 from the field over her last two games, and we can probably expect better shooting tonight. |
| Natasha Cloud, G, WAS | $ 4,000 | $ 5,300 | Natasha Cloud quietly returned to the Mystics Sunday and played 24 minutes. She finished with 17.0 fantasy points on DraftKings despite going 1-6 from the field. She has played at least 23 minutes in four consecutive games, and at the very least, she is a cheap cash play on DraftKings. |
| Alexis Jones, G, MIN | $ 3,300 | $ 3,800 | Alexis Jones played 28 minutes Sunday after playing 30 minutes total over her previous four games. Lindsay Whalen may get back to her usual 20 minutes per game Thursday, but if she doesn't, Jones could be a worthwhile punt play. |
| Danielle Robinson, G, MIN | $ 3,200 | $ 4,300 | Robinson played a season-high 24 minutes Sunday, and she may have played more if not for first-quarter foul trouble. She has played at least 18 minutes in five consecutive games and scored at least 14.25 fantasy points on DraftKings in four of those. |
| Alyssa Thomas, F, CON | $ 7,800 | $ 10,800 | Among the players going Thursday, only Breanna Stewart and Tina Charles are averaging more fantasy points per game. Both of those players cost significantly more and have tougher matchups. |