This article is part of our EuroLeague Primer series.
PREGAME UPDATES
- Red Star's Stefan Markovic will be in uniform Wednesday.
- Maodo Lo, Jaleen Smith and Johannes Thiemann will sit out Wednesday for ALBA, but Ben Lammers will suit up for the first time this season.
STATS AND INFO.
- EuroLeague Betting Odds
- EuroLeague Starting Lineups
- EuroLeague Injury Report
- EuroLeague Team Stats
- Opponent Averages
- Team Trends
- Twitter - @RotoWireEuro
THE SLATE
Panathinaikos Athens at 
ALBA Berlin
Status Check: Nate Wolters (PAO), Maodo Lo (BER), Marcus Eriksson (BER), Jaleen Smith (BER), Ben Lammers (BER), Johannes Thiemann (BER)
The Breakdown: The first game on the docket features a Panathinaikos team coming off its first victory against an ALBA squad off to a surprising 2-0 start. Four players on the German club are questionable for this one, so it remains to be seen what their roster will look like. However, ALBA won last week without three of the players listed above, and the oddsmakers have them favored by 3.5 points. Both teams like to get up and down the court, but ALBA has been one of the most efficient offenses in the league. Panathinaikos has been pretty stingy on the opposite end, but ALBA knocked off a defense of similar caliber on the road in Round 2.
Best Bets for Success: While we don't yet know everyone who will suit up for ALBA, we do know Luke Sikma will play, and that makes him a cinch for the safest option on his team. It's tough to beat the 10.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.0 steals and 1.0 triples he has put up to date, particularly at just $8,900 on DraftKings. Georgios Papagiannis did not have the game we expected last week, but he looks primed to get on track in Round 3, as he will face a team he averaged 33.5 DraftKings points against a season ago. It's possible Papagiannis -- averaging just 22.0 minutes -- may not be out there long enough to return 3x value, so if you pass on him Marius Grigonis would be the next man up. We're expecting Grigonis to produce at the level he did two seasons ago and he did just that in Round 2. He looks good in the EuroLeague Fantasy Challenge at 9.5 credits and great on DraftKings at just $7,100.
Fantasy Factors: If Lo and Smith are both ruled out you could probably include Tamir Blatt in the section above. Blatt shined last week with Lo out, and despite a $1,500 price jump on DraftKings he is returning the most average value on the board. All of Blatt, Louis Olinde and Christ Koumadje are potential bargains both on DraftKings and in the Fantasy Challenge, but note that nine players spent at least 12 minutes on the court in each of ALBA's first two contests, so they won't necessarily be the ones who capitalize if they are down a few teammates. Panathinaikos also has a trio of potential value plays, but really only on DraftKings. Arturas Gudaitis has been sharing the center minutes with Papagiannis, and he is plenty capable of 3x value at just $5,900. He might not have much height to contend with if only one ALBA center suits up for Round 3. Derrick Williams and Mateusz Ponitka have both had a 24.5-point DraftKings night already, and you could consider each of them with neither being listed above $7,300.
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade at 
Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
Status Check: Nemanja Nedovic (CZV), Luca Vildoza (CZV), Stefan Markovic (CZV), Steven Enoch (BKN)
The Breakdown: The next game on the slate features two teams with opposite records, as the home team off to an undefeated start. They also stand at opposite ends in the pace department. with Baskonia racking up the most possessions per 40 minutes and their opponent the fewest. The over/under suggests the game will be played closer to Red Star's speed, but Baskonia is still favored by over a handful of points. The Serbian squad should have both Nedovic and Vildoza active soon, but they won't suit up for this one.
Best Bets for Success: Field goal attempts tend to be a good prognosticator of points, and the three players who have gotten up the most shots on the Baskonia side have combined for just one fewer shot than the rest of the roster, so we feel pretty good about all three of them continuing to find success. We will list two of them here, and those are Darius Thompson and Rokas Giedraitis. While we are banking on Thompson producing, it should be noted that his price jumped significantly on DraftKings, which diminishes his chances of returning 3x value. He is still averaging that at his current price point, as is Giedraitis, and both players are easily leading their club in minutes. While Baskonia has been top-heavy, Red Star has been anything but, spreading out the minutes among nearly everyone who has suited up to date. Ben Bentil's stay in this section may be brief, but he has easily been his team's most productive player through two Rounds, so he has earned his way here. As his team's top option, Bentil can garner consideration in both the Fantasy Challenge and on DraftKings at an affordable $8,200.
Fantasy Factors: The only thing preventing Markus Howard from landing in the section above is playing time, as he was on the court for no more than 23 minutes in either of the first two Rounds. We figured Howard could score in bunches in Europe, and he now also has the confidence he can do so after putting 33 points on the scoreboard last week despite the lack of minutes. It would be a good time to grab him in the Fantasy Challenge and hope the outbursts become regular. We'll also toss out Vanja Marinkovic as a name to consider on the same website. It's pretty tough to find a lot to like on the Red Star roster, but Nikola Ivanovic racked up both the most field goal attempts and minutes on their side over the first two Rounds, and that makes him a player to look at Wednesday at $6,800 on DraftKings and 7.8 credits in the Fantasy Challenge. With two talented guards shortly joining him in the same backcourt, Ivanovic could be looking to make a case to maintain a key spot in the rotation.
Olympiacos Piraeus at 
Real Madrid
Status Check: Kostas Papanikolaou (OLY), Rudy Fernandez (RMB), Nigel Williams-Goss (RMB), Adam Hanga (RMB), Anthony Randolph (RMB), Carlos Alocen (RMB)
The Breakdown: These teams also aren't afraid to get out and run, and in fact, five of the top six teams in pace will take the court Wednesday. Real Madrid will be playing its first home game of the season against one of the top teams in the league, so you can be sure the atmosphere won't be lacking. Real Madrid was installed as a five-point favorite, but Olympiacos went to Spain and knocked off Barcelona in Round 1, so they won't be intimidated. That's in no small part due the presence of Sasha Vezenkov, who -- dare we say -- is the frontrunner for MVP through two Rounds.
Best Bets for Success: Vezenkov is the priciest player on the DraftKings slate and the second costliest option in the Fantasy Challenge, so there's no doubt who the man is for the Greek team. Even at $11,000 only two players are returning more average value on DraftKings than Vezenkov, who heads into Wednesday's contest top-5 in the league in all of points, rebounds, field goal attempts and index rating per contest. Walter Tavares was held in check a bit his last time out, but he remains the most likely player to produce for Real Madrid and one of the priciest players to add to lineups on both websites. Tavares will be in position to bounce back, as he averaged 28 minutes and over 30 DraftKings points in two matchups against Olympiacos last season.
Fantasy Factors: The Spanish squad has several more players to consider across the two contests. We'll start with the two who qualify on both websites, and that would be Gabriel Deck and Dzanan Musa. Deck has gotten up more shots than any of his teammates, but Real Madrid's embarrassment of riches at the forward spots keeps him from going in the section above. Though his price jumped noticeably on DraftKings he remains beneath the $9,000 mark and is returning over 3x value. Musa had a dud in Round 2, but that also brought him down to just $7,800 on DraftKings, and he remains 10.0 credits in the Fantasy Challenge. He still has the potential to produce any time out, as does Mario Hezonja. He needs to do more to hold down a spot in Fantasy Challenge lineups, but he's now $1,400 cheaper on DraftKings than he opened the season at, so there's reason to gamble on a breakout. Petr Cornelie got a chance to play last week and showed enough to be considered on DraftKings at $5,600. Real Madrid's imposing frontcourt and Olympiacos' backcourt depth limits their options here, but you can't ignore Thomas Walkup -- who is averaging at least three tallies four categories -- in either contest.
