This article is part of our EuroLeague Primer series.
PREGAME UPDATES
- Valencia's Fernando San Emeterio will not play Tuesday.
- Christ Koumadje will not make his ALBA debut in Round 27.
- Real Madrid's Trey Thompkins will not play Tuesday, but Carlos Alocen will be available.
- Arturas Gudaitis and K.C. Rivers will not play for Zenit on Tuesday. Tarik Black is set to make his team debut, and Dmitry Khvostov is ready for action as well.
- Dairis Bertans and Khimki have parted ways, so he will not play Tuesday against Madrid. Devin Booker, Janis Timma and Stefan Jovic remain out as well.
THE SLATE
Real Madrid at 
Khimki Moscow Region
Status Check: Trey Thompkins (MAD), Sergio Llull (MAD), Carlos Alocen (MAD), Rudy Fernandez (MAD), Anthony Randolph (MAD), Devin Booker (KHI), Stefan Jovic (KHI), Janis Timma (KHI),
Best Bets for Success: The first game we will break down has a big chance to be highest scoring, as usual when Khimki is involved. Alexey Shved has recovered from minor injury and was involved in domestic league game on Sunday. Him and Jordan Mickey will unsurprisingly be the top plays in this game, although they are both most expensive picks for their positions on DraftKings - $12,000 and $10,000 respectively. Walter Tavares played very well for Real in last weekend's Spanish league game scoring 27 points. His matchup against Mickey will be particularly interesting as they are second and third best in blocking shots in EuroLeague this season. Nicolas Laprovittola seems to be back up to speed after COVID-19 related absence. He scored 26.5 DFS points in last game against Zalgiris in 21 minutes on the court. Argentinian has a good chance to get another start in the game against Khimki, most generous to opposition backcourt's team in the league. Gabriel Deck started last four out of five as a small forward averaging 26.7 DFS point per game. With Rudy Fernandez not available, Deck should see more minutes on the court again.
DFS Darlings: There's a wealth of value players to choose from in Khimki's roster. Errick McCollum, Vyacheslav Zaytsev, Sergei Monia and Dairis Bertans will all be good plays and all have a good chance to spend over 20 minutes on the court. Matteo Spagnolo ($3,500 on DraftKings) didn't get a chance to debut in EuroLeague yet but, with Carlos Alocen possibly missing this matchup, he may feature as one of backup guards. This game has a big chance for blowout which makes it even more likely. In the same scenario, Alex Tyus will likely take a chunk of Tavares' minutes on the court.
ALBA Berlin at 
Zenit Saint Petersburg
Status Check: Jayson Granger (BER), Louis Olinde (BER)
Best Bets for Success: Alex Poythress systematically improves his stats since coming back from injury that kept him sidelined for seven games at the beginning of the year. He was back at full speed in last game against Valencia, scoring 22 DFS points and his records should improve against ALBA, team that is second in the league in conceding most points to opposition forwards. Kevin Pangos' last outing was a bit disappointing, he scored below 20 DFS points for just second time in last 12 games. Zenit's guard will have a great chance to bounce back in Tuesday's game as his opponents are 2nd worst in EuroLeague in conceded assists, most dangerous weapon in Pangos' repertoire. He is 4th best assistant in the league. Ben Lammers was ALBA's top performer in reverse matchup, earning 36.5 DFS points and posting a double-double in his best game this season. Maodo Lo averages 26.5 DFS points in last three games, scoring in double figures in all, but he will face Zenit's tough defense -- best in the league in limiting opposing guards.
DFS Darlings: Johannes Thiemann has showed great skill in shooting from downtown last time out, making four out of five against Panathinaikos and contributing greatly to his team win. ALBA's big man could be a great option if Zenit will play their usually very effective defense against backcourt. Tarik Black is yet to appear in EuroLeague game this season, but he will possibly get a chance on Tuesday as Zenit plays Real Madrid just two days later so Arturas Gudaitis may be be rested a bit.
Valencia Basket at 
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
Status Check: Guillem Vives (PAM)
Best Bets for Success: After his incredible performance in last week's win in Istanbul's derby it would be difficult not to mention Vasilije Micic in this section. Anadolu's guard stole the show by scoring his season best 37 points with 100% efficiency in three points and free throws shooting. He is now averaging 32.4 DFS points in last five games and will be one of most popular plays on Tuesday's slate. Krunoslav Simon has started last four games in small forward slot of Anadolu's line-up, averaging 19.7 DFS points. He is contributing to his team wins in all areas and getting closer to achieving his performance levels from first half of the season. Like Micic, Nikola Kalinic led Valencia to decisive win against Zenit in last Round. EuroLeague MVP for February recorded his first career double-double in the competition and is top Valencia's DFS points scorer in last three games with the average of 31.6. Bojan Dubljevic will face a difficult matchup in Bryant Dunston, one of EuroLeague's best in blocking shots, but he often performs best against league leading defenders. Valencia's center averages 29.1 DFS points over last three games, including double-double against CSKA Moscow.
DFS Darlings: Rodrigue Beaubois form seems to be on the rise. He scored in double figures in last two outings, including this year's best 14 points against Fenerbahce. Beaubois started last four games for Anadolu. Valencia's Sam Van Rossom scored in double figures in his last two appearances, including a season-high 29.3 DFS points against Real Madrid in Round 24. He is available on DraftKings at just $6,600.
Status Check: Derrick Walton (ASV), Antoine Diot (ASV), Thomas Walkup (ZAL), Arturas Milaknis (ZAL), Patricio Garino (ZAL)
Best Bets for Success: Marius Grigonis became home court specialist in last weeks, averaging excellent 29.6 DFS points over last five outings at Zalgiris Arena. On the top of that, ASVEL is 4th in the league in terms of fantasy points conceded against guards so Grigonis will have perfect opportunity to bounce back from disappointing performance in last week's game against Real Madrid. Nigel Hayes led Zalgiris' frontcourt in last two games, averaging 24.5 DFS points, including his best game since the calendar flipped to 2021. He had rather quiet January, but seems to be back at his best again. After unexpected win against Barcelona in last Round, Norris Cole has a record of scoring at least 20 points in last three out of last five games. He also missed just one free throw in last 13 outings, while converting 38 from the line. Cole is most regular ASVEL's performer in fantasy competitions, averaging 26.8 DFS points in last five games. William Howard was only two rebounds short of double-double in the game against Barcelona. Despite missing on that opportunity, he recorded his season-high 31 DFS points, also starting for first time in EuroLeague.
DFS Darlings: With Derrick Walton and Antoine Diot injured, Matthew Strazel will most likely spend more time on the court this week as a backup for Cole. He's yet to make real impact this season but all circumstances are working in his favor now. Veteran Paulius Jankunas played his best game this season so far in last Round. He scored season high 13 points over 22 minutes and returned no less than 26.3 DFS points in the game against Real Madrid.
FC Barcelona at 
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
Status Check: Pau Gasol (BAR), Mario Hezonja (PAN), Nemanja Nedovic (PAN), Ioannis Papapetrou (PAN), Leonidas Kaselakis (PAN)
Best Bets for Success: Brandon Davies averages 26.4 DFS points in last three games, scoring in double figures in last five. He will get a great opportunity against Panathinaikos to extend this run as Greek team is one of the worst in the league in stopping opposition centers. Nikola Mirotic continues to be one of most effective players in EuroLeague. In last game against ASVEL he was back at his best with 28.8 DFS points earned over 22 minutes at the court. Mirotic failed to score in double digits in just two games this season. Aaron White's form is on upside in last weeks. He was excellent in last game against ALBA, scoring 14 points, claiming eight rebounds in addition to two steals and two blocks. His DFS average over last three games is 26.4 points. Konstantinos Mitoglou continues to deliver great service for fantasy players averaging 28.1 DFS points in last five games. In last game he was again very close to third this season double-double, recording nine points and rebounds each.
DFS Darlings: Barcelona's bench should be boosted by return of Victor Claver, making it even more difficult to point out good plays. Mario Hezonja, the fifth overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft and an instant fan favorite in Athens, can make an immediate impact against his former team, especially with Papapetrou unavailable. Ben Bentil scored a season-high 20.8 DFS points in last outing, not only scoring and grabbing rebounds but also recording three steals.
CSKA Moscow at 
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv
Status Check: Nikola Milutinov (CSK), Yovel Zoosman (TEL)
Best Bets for Success: Mike James is the EuroLeague leader in average points scored per game but in last game he was upstaged by Iffe Lundberg. Danish guard, most recent addition to CSKA's roster, had an excellent debut against Olympiacos last week. He recorded 13 points, four rebounds, three assists and stole the ball twice in 26 minutes on the court. Lundberg's playing time could decrease a bit with Daniel Hackett available, but he will likely be eased back in and Darrun Hilliard played only 21 minutes over the last two games, so Lundberg should still spend plenty of time out there. Tornike Shengelia missed just one game due to knee problem and looked good in his first outing back. It should be just a matter of time when he will pick up his form from January, when he averaged 27.1 DFS points per game. Ante Zizic has shown glimpses of his form from beginning of the season, delivering double-double in last EuroLeague outing and scoring 20 points in domestic league game two days later.
DFS Darlings: Micheal Eric ($4,600 on DraftKings), another winter addition to CSKA's squad, also saw his first action with new team last week. While it's not likely that he will take starting line-up spot from Joel Bolomboy, Eric's minutes should increase from game to game as he seems fit to play again at EuroLeague level. Another encouraging fact is that Maccabi is second in the league in DFS points allowed against centers per game.
FC Bayern Munich at 
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade
Status Check: Nihad Dedovic (MUN), Leon Radosevic (MUN), Landry Nnoko (RED), Quino Colom (RED), Langston Hall (RED), Duop Reath (RED)
Best Bets for Success: Jordan Loyd was a standout performer in Red Star's last three games, averaging 27.9 DFS points and scoring double digits in each. He is available on Tuesday's slate at a bargain price of $8,500. Ognjen Kuzmic will likely be again the only fit center for home team. His stats are on the rise: in February he averaged 17.6 DFS points against only 8.4 over five January appearances. Wade Baldwin continues to deliver great numbers for Bayern. In three February's games he averaged impressive 34.9 DFS points, stuffing stat sheets in every game. Jalen Reynolds continues great scoring form this season, his 14.46 points per game makes him top EuroLeague center in this ranking. Although he spend only 32 minutes on the court in last two games, Bayern's big man still managed to add 27 points. Reynolds' reduced playing time recently was most likely due to help him in physical recovery after busy first weeks of this year, but with Leon Radosevic struggling with minor injury, he will likely spend more time on the court.
DFS Darlings: Aleksa Uskokovic, despite young age and presence of more experienced players in the roster, has started last three games for Serbian team. He averaged 14.8 DFS points in February, his best run of form so far this season. Ognjen Dobric and Dejan Davidovac, both continue to perform very well from the bench. They are available on DraftKings at bargain prices: $6,200 and $6,300, respectively.
