There are seven games on the FanDuel main slate tonight. There are some exciting games on tap with the marquee game being Golden State traveling down state to play the Los Angeles Clippers. The Warriors are favored by 6.5 but the game total is a whopping 241.5. New Orleans travels to Portland in a game game that has a 233 projected total. The final game that should be fun to watch has San Antonio going to Minnesota. The game total is 225 and the Timberwolves are only favored by 1.5.
Even though it is a seven-game slate, there are 12 players that are priced at $9,000 or higher with Anthony Davis being the top-priced player by a clear margin at $13,800. He is priced nearly $3,000 more than Karl-Anthony Towns ($10,900). Kevin Durant ($10,600), Rudy Gobert ($10,500), and Stephen Curry ($10,400) round out the 10k players.
There are a lot of ways to construct lineups. Targeting the highest scoring games of the night isn’t a terrible decision. You could conceivably look at tonight as a three-game slate and make your roster using only players from the Clippers-Warriors, Spurs-Timberwolves, and Pelicans-Trailblazers games. Also, there are a number of very good mid-tier plays tonight and if you decide to fade Anthony Davis, you could get away with a balanced lineup. Finally, you can also look to take the Stars-and-Scrubs approach, where you essentially play higher-priced players and then find low-cost value plays to round out your roster. There are many ways to construct your lineups tonight. What you decide about Anthony Davis and then the center position can take you down various rabbit holes as there are no obvious builds.
There are seven games on the FanDuel main slate tonight. There are some exciting games on tap with the marquee game being Golden State traveling down state to play the Los Angeles Clippers. The Warriors are favored by 6.5 but the game total is a whopping 241.5. New Orleans travels to Portland in a game game that has a 233 projected total. The final game that should be fun to watch has San Antonio going to Minnesota. The game total is 225 and the Timberwolves are only favored by 1.5.
Even though it is a seven-game slate, there are 12 players that are priced at $9,000 or higher with Anthony Davis being the top-priced player by a clear margin at $13,800. He is priced nearly $3,000 more than Karl-Anthony Towns ($10,900). Kevin Durant ($10,600), Rudy Gobert ($10,500), and Stephen Curry ($10,400) round out the 10k players.
There are a lot of ways to construct lineups. Targeting the highest scoring games of the night isn’t a terrible decision. You could conceivably look at tonight as a three-game slate and make your roster using only players from the Clippers-Warriors, Spurs-Timberwolves, and Pelicans-Trailblazers games. Also, there are a number of very good mid-tier plays tonight and if you decide to fade Anthony Davis, you could get away with a balanced lineup. Finally, you can also look to take the Stars-and-Scrubs approach, where you essentially play higher-priced players and then find low-cost value plays to round out your roster. There are many ways to construct your lineups tonight. What you decide about Anthony Davis and then the center position can take you down various rabbit holes as there are no obvious builds.
The roster and comments that I provide are intended to be taken as an early first look. In no way, should you blindly enter this lineup in a contest, nor plug and play these players automatically without examining all the information available to you. Remember that you roster nine players on FanDuel but only count your best eight scores as FD drops the worst scoring player from your lineup.
As always, more value should open up as the day goes by that may allow you to get even better plays into your lineup. All of the plays that recommended are plays that I will be considering for my lineups, as well. That doesn’t mean that I will end up with all of these guys as updated news and constructing rosters might lead me to a different play. Remember to check the news and injury reports, especially in the 30 minutes prior to lock. Have a solid process, using all the information available to you to make the best decision possible for your lineup. Good luck and have fun!
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POINT GUARD
Stephen Curry (GSW): $10,400 at LAC
Other than Anthony Davis, Curry is my favorite play on tonight’s slate. He has a great floor with plenty of upside. He has earned 40+ fantasy points in 10 straight games. Six of those have been 50+ and he had 71.7 FDFP at Dallas last week. This game has a crazy 241.5 projected total. The last time Curry played the Clippers, he had 55.2 FDFP.
Damian Lillard (POR): $9,800 vs. NOP
There are so many ways to construct your rosters tonight. I like Lillard as an equity play against a porous Pelicans defense in a pace up situation. I don’t like his price on FanDuel. If you are playing multiple sites, then I’d suggest getting your exposure to Lillard somewhere else. He is not a bad play on FanDuel, just expensive. This game should be high-scoring and close throughout. If Vegas is correct, then Lillard will have a lot to do with that. Lately, he hasn’t shown the ceiling we’ve come to expect from him. His floor is high, though, and in a fast-paced game like this, we might see a 50+ fantasy performance. At lower ownership than normal, this could be very beneficial to your tournament lineup. If you want to save salary at this position, then I’d suggest Jeff Teague going against the Spurs. Tyus Jones is out of the lineup for the Timberwolves so that frees up a lot of minutes for Teague.
SHOOTING GUARD
Donovan Mitchell (UTA): $9,000 vs. CLE
My second favorite play is probably Lou Williams who is in a nice spot against the Warriors. You can save a lot of salary with him, but I am going to ride Mitchell again tonight. He has been good for my lineups ever since all of Utah’s point guards got hurt. His usage has been through the roof. There is a chance of a blowout and Mitchell’s minutes being cut substantially. But he also has top-5 fantasy point potential tonight. Plus, remember that when there is a blowout, it happened for a reason. Oftentimes, the stars did what stars do and blew the game open. The floor for a star is normally unaffected in a blowout but his ceiling is limited. I am going to roll the dice that he can continue his nice little pace of 46.8 FDFP that he’s averaged in the last five games.
Alec Burks (CLE): $5,000 at UTA
I am a sucker for a good DFS revenge narrative, especially when the player in question has been playing well. Burks never played to his potential in Utah for whatever reason. He has earned 32+ fantasy points in three of his last five games. He has returned at least 5X value in eight of his last 10 games. This isn’t the first time he has played Utah since the trade. He had 25.6 FDFP back on January 4 but that game was in Cleveland. I say he will be a little extra focused going back to Utah for the first time. You could say many of the same things for Rodney Hood and he is $700 less than Burks (though with slightly less upside). However, Hood is a SF on FanDuel so you’d have to rework your roster a little bit. I also like Andre Iguodala if you want to get more pieces to this Warriors-Clippers game. Terrence Ross is an interesting option as well, as he has averaged 29 fantasy points in his last five games.
SMALL FORWARD
Nikola Mirotic (NOP): $6,200 at POR
I like playing Mirotic whenever possible as he has had a nice floor in the past with a high ceiling, as well. He is not a sure thing, though, since he is still shaking off the rust from his injury that kept him out of the lineup for nearly a month. However, once I decided I wasn’t going to fit Anthony Davis in this first-look lineup, I hit the lock button on Mirotic in this potentially explosive game. He is coming off a 45.5 fantasy performance against the Warriors on Wednesday and this looks to be a similar type game. He did have 46.1 FDFP back in November at Portland.
Jaron Blossomgame (CLE): $3,600 at UTA
He has played 20+ minutes in nine games since his call-up from the Canton Charge in December. In four of those nine games, he earned 24+ fantasy points. He had 8 points and 10 rebounds in 28 minutes against the Trailblazers on Wednesday for 27.5 FDFP. Even if he gets similar minutes, he is not a sure thing. But the Cavs are depleted in the frontcourt right now and have to play somebody. This game will probably be a blowout, but he should be immune to that because he is the reserve that would play in a blowout. I think he plays a good deal no matter what the game flow is tonight. At a near-minimum price, I will take my chances.
POWER FORWARD
Aaron Gordon (ORL): $7,200 vs. BKN
If I am not playing Vucevic, then I still want to try and pick on the Brooklyn Nets’ defensive frontcourt. Gordon has 40+ fantasy point upside every night he is healthy. He has 42 FDFP in two of his last three games. Overall, he is averaging 32.3 FDFP this season. If I end up deciding to play Vucevic, I’d probably pass on Gordon. I think Anthony Davis is the absolute best play from an equity standpoint tonight but he is just so expensive. If you can get him in your lineup, I’d suggest it. I also don’t hate playing Draymond Green or Montrezl Harrell instead of Gordon if you can find the additional salary.
Rodions Kurucs (BKN): $4,400 at ORL
At first glance, this would appear to be a safe pick, but I don’t trust the Brooklyn Net’s rotations from game to game. If you disagree, then you obviously have never rostered Spencer Dinwiddie or D’Angelo Russell. He is averaging 34.8 FDFP in the last six games that he has played at least 28 minutes. He has earned 28+ minutes in four of his last five games. He had 29 minutes Wednesday against Houston before fouling out. The rookie has seemingly gained the trust of the coaching staff. However, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson has returned from his injury. He is still supposed to be on a minutes restriction (played only 7 minutes Wednesday). If it looks like RHJ is going to get a lot of run tonight (despite the stated minutes restriction), then you might want to look elsewhere. Nobody will be on Kurucs so you get a great value play at low ownership. He has returned at least 5X value in four of his last five games and he is actually $100 lower than he was Wednesday night when he earned 24 FDFP. Taj Gibson is also a fine option at this position in a game with a 225-point total.
CENTER
Ante Zizic (CLE): $4,200 at UTA
I may teeter totter back and forth all day today with this position, which will also impact the rest of my lineup. It will come down to your risk tolerance and whether or not you have a good feel for some of these players and the game scripts as to whether you pay up or punt this position. If I punt, I will look at Ante Zizic. He has had 30+ fantasy points in two of his last three games. He might not be a great NBA player, but he is serviceable and more importantly, the Cavs don’t have anyone else at this position. Someone must play and in NBA DFS, minutes equals money. Even if he isn’t great tonight, he’ll most likely play 20+ minutes and rack up enough stats to pay off his low salary.
If I pay up, I am only considering Jusuf Nurkic or Nikola Vucevic. Nurkic had five blocks on Wednesday to go with his interesting and very balanced 10-10-10 triple double. He has 50-point upside every time that he laces up his sneakers, especially in a high-scoring, close game like this one is projected to be with the Pelicans. Though unlikely, we’ve even seen 88 FDFP out of him this month. If I decide to pay up tonight, he will probably finish second behind Vucevic but I don’t hate the play. Vucevic is having a monster year. He is averaging nearly 1.5 fantasy points per minute on FanDuel. He has a massive 27.7% usage rate for the Magic. In his last 16 games, he has 42+ fantasy points in 11 of those games. This includes four games when he went 50+ FDFP. The Nets have not been good this year defending this position. Talent plus minutes plus matchup equals a very good play for tonight. But once again, we are going to be faced with a philosophical decision at this position. If you want to fit more studs in elsewhere then Zizic is a great punt. If you don’t feel as good about the other studs tonight (or like a different punt play), then by all means go that route. As for me, I will be jamming in as many studs as I can and that means going with the “obvious” punt plays when they present themselves. The $5,300 difference is just too much to ignore and I can do so much with this elsewhere.
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Jamy Bechler is an NBA, NFL, and PGA fantasy contributor for FantasyPros. His DFS twitter is @WinningDFS101, and his website is www.FantasyFocusFootball.com. When he is not playing DFS, Jamy is an author, host of the “Success is a Choice” podcast, and is a leadership trainer, working with businesses and teams across the country (including the NBA). Even though he offers his advice on players and contests, after additional information and consideration, he may end up using different players and strategies than what he recommends
