Welcome to NBA FanDuel Saturday. We’ve got a myriad of trades and injuries to sort through so let’s get to it. As always, this lineup is designed for GPP play.
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Point Guards
Patty Mills (SA): $4,300 @ GSW
It’s going to be tough to pass up Patty Mills with both Dejounte Murray and Tony Parker out against the Warriors. Golden State is slightly below average defending PGs with a Defense v. Position (DvP) of nearly 47 points per game. Mills will be a chalk play and may end up being over-owned, but it’s very risky to pass him up at $4,300.
Elfrid Payton (PHO): $7,000 v. DEN
As if the Suns didn’t have enough disappointing lottery picks with Alex Len, Marquess Chriss, and Dragan Bender, they went ahead and snagged Elfrid Payton from the Magic for a second-round pick. Speaking of the Magic, I was informed by a good friend of mine and fellow FanDuel addict that the Magic have now managed to trade Tobias Harris (traded to the Pistons for Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova), Victor Oladipo (traded to the Thunder for Serge Ibaka), and Elfrid Payton for Terrence Ross (traded by the Raptors to the Magic for Serge Ibaka) and a second-round pick. That’s impressively terrible, even for the Magic.
Welcome to NBA FanDuel Saturday. We’ve got a myriad of trades and injuries to sort through so let’s get to it. As always, this lineup is designed for GPP play.
Create FanDuel lineups using our DFS Lineup Optimizer tool
Point Guards
Patty Mills (SA): $4,300 @ GSW
It’s going to be tough to pass up Patty Mills with both Dejounte Murray and Tony Parker out against the Warriors. Golden State is slightly below average defending PGs with a Defense v. Position (DvP) of nearly 47 points per game. Mills will be a chalk play and may end up being over-owned, but it’s very risky to pass him up at $4,300.
Elfrid Payton (PHO): $7,000 v. DEN
As if the Suns didn’t have enough disappointing lottery picks with Alex Len, Marquess Chriss, and Dragan Bender, they went ahead and snagged Elfrid Payton from the Magic for a second-round pick. Speaking of the Magic, I was informed by a good friend of mine and fellow FanDuel addict that the Magic have now managed to trade Tobias Harris (traded to the Pistons for Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova), Victor Oladipo (traded to the Thunder for Serge Ibaka), and Elfrid Payton for Terrence Ross (traded by the Raptors to the Magic for Serge Ibaka) and a second-round pick. That’s impressively terrible, even for the Magic.
Back to FanDuel, Elfrid Payton will make his Suns debut with both Tyler Ulis and Devin Booker doubtful. He’s by no means a good real-life basketball player, but he’s fine in FanDuel-life as long he’s carrying a heavy load like he will be on Saturday night. Look for Elfrid to try and make a good first impression with his new team.
Shooting Guards
Gary Harris (DEN): $6,700 @ PHO
This was more of a “he fits” type of play, but Harris makes sense with a good matchup with the Suns at a reasonable price point. Harris hasn’t really had a big game since last month, but only played 23.5 minutes in a blowout loss last night in Houston. He’s averaging 31 points on no rest so look for a bounce-back.
Justin Holiday (CHI): $5,800 v. WAS
I don’t love taking Holiday for this much, but he should see increased usage with Zach Lavine sitting out the back-to-back. Shooting guard is the toughest position on the slate to peg tonight with Beal’s price skyrocketing past $9,000 so Holiday is a play despite the elevated price.
Small Forwards
Denzel Valentine (CHI): $4,900 v WAS
Denzel Valentine is another Bull expected to benefit with Lavine taking a rest tonight. He’s reasonably priced at $4,900 and may even enter the starting lineup for the first time since early January.
T.J. Warren (PHO): 7,000 v. DEN
The previous game against the Spurs was a complete embarrassment and should be thrown out for FanDuel purposes. A better indicator of Warren’s value without Booker in the lineup is the game against the Lakers two games ago in which he played at a 30.4 USG without Booker in the lineup. It will be interesting to see how he is affected with Elfrid Payton running point, but Warren has torn apart the Nuggets in two games this season with at least 38 points in both.
Power Forwards
Khem Birch (ORL): $3,800 v. MIL
The Bucks are weak defensively inside and typically struggle against big men which is good news for Khem Birch who has been seeing around 20 or so minutes per game with Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucecvic still out. His price has now dropped back below $4,000 so expect Birch to be a strong value play at the PF position.
LaMarcus Aldridge (SAS): $8,800 @ GSW
Aldridge has been on fire with back-to-back 50 point games and still hovers below $9,000 in a matchup with the Warriors. The Spurs are going to need everything they can get from LMA in order to pull of an upset. Aldridge posted 49 points in an earlier meeting with the Warriors this season.
Center
Anthony Davis (NOR): $11,700 v. BKN
Oh boy. Anthony Davis always seems to have to leave in the middle of the second quarter with a paper cut every time I take a chance on him, so that’s just a warning to all of you out there. AD is now center-eligible and gets the prime center matchup with the Nets who are completely inept at defending the position. Despite his goldfish-like durability, AD is too tough to pass up.
That’s it for Saturday. Good luck.
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Joey Korman is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Joey, check out his archive and follow him @leaveit2divac.
