It’s fun to play DraftKings and FanDuel and hope to win six or even seven figures, but sims have broken the experience. Some DFS sites, a few of which are run by very sketchy characters, charge upwards of $400 or $500 per month for their sims. This creates a heavy imbalance between the sharks and the casual players. 

I’ve created a program that spits out analysis of what these sims provide. I can’t give you full lineups because DraftKings will ban me, but I can give you the thought process behind the sims lineup generation and a partial lineup to go with it. 

This is free, but if you’d like to contribute, please consider signing up for the ad-free version of the site. The Ad-Free Version of WalterFootball.com is $7.99 per month, but you’ll get a super-fast site with no ads. My developer will be adding new features to paid subscribers as well, so look for that in the near future. If you don’t want to pay, please spread the word about the site through word of mouth. That would also be a big help!  

This showdown slate is much different from a huge-field Milly Maker because:

• 19,024 entries is still large
• but duplication matters even more in showdown
• especially with a stars-and-scrubs build
• and especially when Cade projects 70% owned

For this type of contest, the sims prioritize:

• Captain leverage
• 5v1 and 4v2 game scripts
• avoiding duplicated constructions
• unique salary combinations
• raw ceiling at CPT

The field is very likely to:

• CPT Cade
• CPT Mitchell
• jam Allen value
• overplay Schroder
• leave little salary unused

That creates leverage opportunities.

Simmed Slate Takeaways

Best Raw Plays

Best Leverage Plays

Most Overowned

Best Captain Plays

Tier 1 CPT

• Donovan Mitchell
• Cade Cunningham
• Evan Mobley

Tier 2 CPT

• Jalen Duren
• Tobias Harris
• Jarrett Allen

Contrarian CPT

• Ausar Thompson
• Duncan Robinson
• Max Strus

The sims strongly preferred:

• Mitchell CPT over UTIL
• Mobley CPT over Allen CPT
• avoiding ultra-common Cade CPT builds

Top Simulated Tournament Lineups

Lineup 1 — Best Overall Tournament Build

Why it sims well

• Mitchell CPT less duplicated than Cade CPT
• balanced CLE shooting correlation
• avoids ultra-common midrange constructions 

Lineup 2 — Best Cade Build

Why it sims well

• more unique Cade construction
• avoids Allen chalk
• double cheap values lower duplication
• strong DET-centric script

Lineup 3 — Mobley Leverage Build

Why it sims well

• Mobley CPT massively underutilized
• keeps both elite ceilings
• Holland creates uniqueness
• strong if Mobley dominates defensively/rebounding 

Best Overall Strategy

Small-field approach

• more Cade CPT
• more Allen
• less salary left over

Large-field approach (this contest)

The sims strongly prefer:

• Mitchell CPT
• Mobley CPT
• Duren CPT
• leaving $2K-$8K salary unused
• avoiding Cade CPT chalk
• underweight Schroder/Reed

Check out our 2026 NBA Mock Draft.

Once again, if you’d like to contribute, please consider signing up for the ad-free version of the site. The Ad-Free Version of WalterFootball.com is $7.99 per month, but you’ll get a super-fast site with no ads. My developer will be adding new features to paid subscribers as well, so look for that in the near future. If you don’t want to pay, please spread the word about the site through word of mouth. That would also be a big help!