Draftkings Women’s Basketball Showdown Picks: Japan vs. USA 7/29/24

On Monday afternoon, the 2024 Olympics presents a women’s basketball matchup between Japan and the USA. Let’s take a look at this game from a Draftkings perspective.

Before we dive into the Japan vs. USA game let’s review the rules for the Draftkings single game showdown contest.

Draftkings Single Game Showdown Contest Rules

You have $50,000 to utilize on five players from either team. However, one of those players will be designated as your team captain. The captain accumulates 1.5 times the standard fantasy points. Additionally, the captain is 1.5 times the standard cost of the flex position.

The remaining four players in your lineup will receive the standard fantasy points. Having stated that, it is highly important for you to identify the correct player for your captain position if you hope to win a large field DFS GPP (guaranteed prize pool) showdown contest.

If you have additional questions regarding the rules for the single Game showdown contest, I recommend that you check out the Draftkings website for more details.

*I recommend that all readers review the starting lineups for both teams prior to setting your DFS lineup for this one game slate.

Here are my Draftkings picks for this week’s Japan vs. USA matchup.

Draftkings Picks: Japan vs. USA

Captain-A’ja Wilson, Forward, USA $11,000

Talented USA center A’ja Wilson has been the leader in the paint that the Team USA Women’s National Basketball team has needed to win games. Now that the WNBA is on an extended break for the Olympics, let’s take a look how Wilson has been playing from an offensive standpoint for the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA this season.

In the 24 games that Las Vegas center A’ja Wilson has played for the Las Vegas Aces in the 2024 WNBA regular season, Wilson averaged a whopping 27.2 points, 12.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.9 steals, and 2.9 blocks a game.

Looking closer at the data just presented, in the 17 games that Wilson has played for the Aces this season, Wilson averaged a robust 52.6 Draftkings points a game.

Now that we have ascertained how well A’Ja Wilson has played in the 2024 WNBA regular season, let’s shift our focus to Wilson’s performance in USA basketball exhibition play entering this afternoon’s contest with Japan.

In Team USA’s final exhibition Game on the schedule five days ago, USA center A’ja Wilson made a resounding statement with a convincing performance in the USA’s dominating 84-57 win over Germany. A’ja Wilson led the way for the United States team accumulating 19 points, 14 rebounds, in only 25 minutes played. It has to be said, those are the type of numbers I need to see from players that I select for my captain position.

In my opinion, A’ja Wilson is the most likely player to post the most Draftkings points in this afternoon’s matchup with Japan. For that specific reason, I am rolling with USA center A’ja Wilson as my captain for this one Game DFS Showdown slate.

Flex Plays

Jackie Young, Guard, USA $4,000

How important has Las Vegas point guard Jackie Young been to the Las Vegas Aces offense? Let’s take a look at Young’s relevant game data to answer that question.

Through 23 Games played this season, Jackie Young is averaging 18.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 1 steal a Game.

I think Jackie Young represents the best fantasy value of any player on this one game DFS slate at the low Draftkings price of only $4,000.

Additional players I like (Draftkings price noted): Kelsey Plum, Guard (USA) $4,800: Mai Yamamoto, Guard (Japan) $8,000: Jewell Lloyd, Guard (USA) $7,800: Stephanie Mawuli, Guard (Japan) $3,600.