LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers are in Los Angeles for a pair of Staples Center showdowns. The Cavs fell short to the Clippers 116-102 on Friday night despite 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists from King James. DeAndre Jordan exploded with a monstrous 20 point, 23 rebound game to lead the Clippers. After a day off on Saturday, the Cavs will finish up their weekend in LA with a much anticipated nationally televised duel with the Lakers. While much has been made of the Lakers being a possible destination for LeBron James in free agency, there are also several other significant storylines within this game. 

The Trade

By now, everyone has seen the well-publicized trade that the Lakers and Cavaliers agreed to just prior to the deadline. Laker fan favorites Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr. are now in Cleveland. They were dealt in exchange for Cleveland's 2018 first round pick as well as Isaiah Thomas and Channing Frye. Clarkson and  Nance Jr. don't seem to have much ill will towards the Lakers organization for a couple of reasons. It was almost inevitable that one or both would be traded sooner or later---Magic Johnson isn't exactly the type of person to keep anything quiet. 

Isaiah Thomas was rumored---and all but proven---to have an icy relationship with LeBron during their time together in Cleveland. Isaiah on the Cavs never felt quite right, to say the least. Thomas, along with several other Cavaliers, was dealt away at the trade deadline in a series of moves that netted the Cavs a quartet of young athletic players. 

Dealt Away	Acquired
Dwyane Wade	Jordan Clarkson
Isaiah Thomas	Larry Nance Jr.
Iman Shumpert	George Hill
Jae Crowder	Rodney Hood
Derrick Rose
Channing Frye

Cavs vs. Lakers: DFS Preview

All the narratives flowing into this game will surely have the attention of the majority of daily fantasy players on Sunday. There are plenty of reasons to roster players from both the Cavs and the Lakers other than just the narratives themselves. The Cavaliers are very banged up at the moment, with several players expected to miss this game. The Lakers, who are facing a nearly identical situation, will have no sympathy.

Cleveland

The recent injury of center Tristan Thompson combined with the prolonged absence of all-star Kevin Love have meant that Larry Nance gets all the minutes he can handle at center for Cleveland. A price tag on 7800 on FanDuel is much more than we're accustomed to paying for Nance, but due to depleted frontcourt depth, the Cavs will be forced to rely on him. A benefit of playing Nance in DFS is that he can pick up stats in a variety of ways other than points, as evidenced by his 13 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 assists at Denver on March 7th. Nance has a strong friendship with many of his former Laker teammates and has said nothing but positive things about the Lakers organization and front office. Don't be fooled by the bond he shares with his brothers and former teammates. Nance will want to come out with a strong performance in his first ever revenge game.

Jordan Clarkson steps into as good of, if not a better, situation than Nance. The Cavs have said that wings Rodney Hood and Cedi Osman will not play versus the Lakers. In addition, guard Kyle Korver is questionable with a foot injury and could sit out. Assuming Korver misses, this leaves Cleveland with only six prominent rotation players and deep bench guys.

Projected Cleveland starters:

• George Hill, PG
• JR Smith, SG
• LeBron James, SF
• Jeff Green, PF
• Larry Nance Jr., C

Available bench players:

• Jordan Clarkson, G
• Jose Calderon, G
• Ante Zizic, C
• London Perrantes, G
• John Holland, F

All available bench players besides Clarkson normally play little to no minutes for the Cavs. According to the Las Vegas odds, this game is easily projected to be the highest scoring game of the night. A game total of 229 points should make any DFS player's eyes light up. With the game projected to be close---Cleveland is favored by 2.5---and the Lakers league-leading pace of play, this game has everything we could ask for. The fact that the usage for Cleveland will be so condensed is just icing on the cake.

Category	Lakers Defense	Cavs Offense
Transition	Below average	Very good
Offensive Rebounds	Poor	Very good
Isolation	Below average	Good

George Hill may be the one Cavalier I would choose to avoid in this game. He profiles as a below average player in transition, which is less than ideal for this matchup. Clarkson, Nance, James, Green, and Smith all profile as very good or excellent players in transition, which is how much of this game will be played. The Lakers vulnerability to putbacks and offensive rebounds favor Nance tremendously. He should be able to collect 15 rebounds or more tonight and be active on both ends of the court. This gives him a very solid chance to exceed his price tag based value. Speaking of exceeding price tag based value, the Cavaliers are vastly underpriced given the situation: Smith (3700), Clarkson (4200), Green (3600). This makes LeBron James 12500 salary seem extremely easy to pay for. Rostering any and all of those five players and/or game stacking is a great strategy for Sunday's DFS slate. This game is as ideal for DFS as one could possibly wish for, and we haven't even gotten to the Lakers yet. 

Los Angeles

In terms of depth, the Lakers are just as limited as the Cavs due to injuries. Los Angeles will be without Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, and Channing Frye. Besides trading away Clarkson and Nance, the Lakers have also made moves this season to cut forward Corey Brewer and center Andrew Bogut. This profiles as a golden matchup for the Lakers, and there are more than enough fantasy goodness to go around.

Guard

Lonzo Ball (7700 on FanDuel), Isaiah Thomas (6300), and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (6800) are all outstanding options to target in this game. KCP and Lonzo are in for a field day if they can continue to knock down their spot-up threes. After a rough shooting start this season, Ball has elevated his game of late, shooting 44% from three in his seven games since returning from injury. KCP can get hot from the perimeter at any time and he also has a bit of a narrative on his side. Caldwell-Pope shares an agent with LeBron James and the two players know each other well. 

There isn't much needed to be said about Isaiah Thomas. Besides a soft defensive matchup yielding great spot up and isolation opportunities, Thomas will have all the incentive in the world to come out and stick it to LeBron and the Cavs. Rostering two or even all three of these Laker guards is a highly recommended strategy. These guards also get the same great benefits that Cleveland's do:

• Very high paced game
• Very high Vegas total
• Due to injuries, usage easy to predict
• Revenge narrative
• Exploitable defense

Forwards & Center

Ivica Zubac and Thomas Bryant should get some filler rotation out of necessity. Neither player is likely to make much of a fantasy impact, but there is definitely merit to rostering Zubac if you expect the Lakers to win comfortably. In this event, the Lakers could easily opt to give starting center Brook Lopez more rest and get Zubac some more experience. Zubac didn't look very comfortable or agile in his last game and the minutes aren't certain, so proceed cautiously if taking this route, knowing that it is a very high risk. 

The Cav's poor isolation defense sets up perfectly for multiple Lakers, not just the guards. Brook Lopez should be able to take advantage of Larry Nance in the post and on the perimeter. Lopez is in line for a good showing, as long as he doesn't get posterized again.

In a Lakers-Nets game last season, Larry Nance dunks on Brook Lopez who was with Brooklyn at the time. 

Julius Randle has a relatively good matchup as well, but he stands out more for his 8100 price tag than his style of play. It seems fair, but Randle is doubtful to be the best fantasy point per dollar play on the Lakers. This shouldn't scare anyone away from Randle; rather it should serve as a note that it probably isn't necessary to force him into every single lineup. 

Finally, Kyle Kuzma (6800) steps into a great matchup as well. Weak isolation defense and other factors (such as the up and down, fast pace of this game) will give Kuzma every opportunity to reach and exceed his price tag based value. After not appearing very aggressive or eager to shoot last game, I expect Kuzma to come out firing in this game. Lakers Head Coach Luke Walton has surely urged Kuzma to be more aggressive, especially with no Brandon Ingram on the floor. In Ingram's absence, Kuzma has started at the small forward position instead of his customary power forward spot. This isn't much of an issue for Kuzma, whose versatility and athleticism are among his greatest strengths.

Much like the Cavs, all the Lakers mentioned here are great options in the Sunday DFS main slate on FanDuel. The more exposure you have to this game, the better. If you think you might have too much exposure to this game---the answer is no. No, you do not. Stacking this game is extremely appealing and likely the solution to winning a FanDuel tournament on Sunday. The data and matchup profiles here should give you the edge you need, but with the way this game shapes up, there is no need to overthink it. You're going to want to play Lakers. You're going to want to play Cavs. After all, it could be the last time LeBron James ever faces the Lakers...