It’s the first Friday of the NBA season and we have a nice nine-game slate on tap. Today I’ll tell you about some of my favorite plays on Draftkings tonight which feature several stars and a few value plays to squeeze said stars under the cap.
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Guards
Bradley Beal (SG – WAS): $8,600 @ OKC
Beal had a 38% usage rate and scored 1.43 fantasy points per minute (FPPM) despite shooting just 7/25 from the floor and 1/11 from three. The price is too low at $8,600 for one of the most active players in the league. The Wizards have one of the lower projection totals from Vegas tonight, but this price is just wrong on Beal so take advantage of it while you can.
Luka Doncic (PG/SG – DAL): $9,200 @ NO
Luka started his sophomore campaign off in a big way on Wednesday. He took 19 shots with a 37% usage rate while scoring 1.57 FPPM. He shot very well to get there, but also added nine rebounds, three assists, and two steals. You want a high floor of points when you’re spending big money on Draftkings, and Doncic offers that. It’s a good matchup to boot as the Mavericks are projected for 113 points, the seventh-highest on the slate.
It’s the first Friday of the NBA season and we have a nice nine-game slate on tap. Today I’ll tell you about some of my favorite plays on Draftkings tonight which feature several stars and a few value plays to squeeze said stars under the cap.
Create Optimal DraftKings lineups using our DFS Lineup Optimizer tool
Guards
Bradley Beal (SG – WAS): $8,600 @ OKC
Beal had a 38% usage rate and scored 1.43 fantasy points per minute (FPPM) despite shooting just 7/25 from the floor and 1/11 from three. The price is too low at $8,600 for one of the most active players in the league. The Wizards have one of the lower projection totals from Vegas tonight, but this price is just wrong on Beal so take advantage of it while you can.
Luka Doncic (PG/SG – DAL): $9,200 @ NO
Luka started his sophomore campaign off in a big way on Wednesday. He took 19 shots with a 37% usage rate while scoring 1.57 FPPM. He shot very well to get there, but also added nine rebounds, three assists, and two steals. You want a high floor of points when you’re spending big money on Draftkings, and Doncic offers that. It’s a good matchup to boot as the Mavericks are projected for 113 points, the seventh-highest on the slate.
Mike Conley (PG – UTA): $6,800 @ LAL
It was a wild Jazz debut for Conley as he made just ONE of his SIXTEEN shot attempts. That resulted in a price reduction to $6,800. There’s no reason right now to avoid the Lakers matchup, and Conley could really become the focal point tonight if Donovan Mitchell draws LeBron and Rudy Gobert is bothered by the very athletic Anthony Davis. I don’t know if Conley has the same high ceiling he did in his Grizzlies days, but this is a great price for a talented, high-usage point guard.
Chris Paul (PG – OKC): $7,200 vs. WAS
In his Thunder debut, Paul played 30 minutes and took 15 shots. He hauled in eight rebounds and looked like the very strong fantasy player we’ve always known him to be when healthy. Additionally, he averaged 1.33 FPPM in that game and has some room to go up from there as his assist rate was uncharacteristically low for him in that first game. Paul is a very strong play at just $7,200 and offers a very high ceiling tonight against the fast and beatable Wizards.
Dwayne Bacon (SG/SF – CHA): $5,700 vs. MIN
Kemba Walker left town and took a bunch of shot attempts with him, opening things up for guys like Bacon in that offense. Bacon shot the ball 21 times in 31 minutes, including eight three-point attempts, and notched a 33% usage rate while scoring 1.11 FPPM. Nicolas Batum is set to miss this game as well, which definitely gives us a little more confidence in his minutes and usage staying high enough to smash this price tag.
Forwards
Pascal Siakam (PF – TOR): $8,100 @ BOS
There is a big difference going up against the Celtics rather than the Pelicans for Siakam here, but the price just hasn’t moved enough after he reminded us what he’s capable of as the Raptors #1 option. Siakam took a ridiculous number of shots (26) in that overtime game. He played 38 minutes in that one, scoring 34 points and adding 18 rebounds with five assists and a block. He is a do-it-all player. He had a tough-to-sustain 1.74 FPPM rate in that ballgame, but even adjusting that down to 1.4 or so and giving him a 33 minute projection gives you 46 Draftkings points at $8,100 – which is great. If he was $9,000 I probably would save him for a day with a better matchup, but the price is the most important thing right now and he offers a really nice floor/ceiling combo at that salary.
Lauri Markkanen (PF – CHI): $8,000 @ MEM
The Bulls don’t have a great point projection tonight, but the good thing about them for fantasy is that their offense basically runs through two guys. Zach LaVine and Markkanen combined to take 40% of the Bulls shots and scored 38% of the team’s fantasy points in their first game of the year. Lauri was incredible with a 34% usage rate while grabbing 17 rebounds and putting up a 1.82 FPPM rate. He’s a very strong play at $8,000.
Thomas Bryant (PF – WAS): $6,600 @ OKC
Bryant was an incredible fantasy player last year after the John Wall injury, averaging 45 Draftkings points. He played big minutes and put up a double-double in his first game of the year. His price at $6,600 just seems way too cheap for a guy with his upside.
Centers
Karl-Anthony Towns (C – MIN): $10,800 @ CHA
Towns went wild in his first game of the year scoring 36 points, grabbing 14 rebounds, and contributing three assists, three steals, and three blocks in that overtime game. He scored a ridiculous 1.9 FPPM and his price has only come up to $10,800 on DK. The Hornets do not profile as a very good defensive team, and the price on Towns should probably be north of $11,000 here. He is my favorite five-digit salary on the board tonight.
Nikola Jokic (C – DEN): $9,300 vs. PHO
The Joker was quickly hit with three early fouls and played just 24 minutes in the Nuggets first game of the year. His price sits at $9,300 which is a very strong price for a guy of his caliber. In those 24 minutes, he took 14 shots and grabbed 13 rebounds for a 1.68 FPPM rate. He is the Nuggets #1 guy on offense and provides just an amazing floor/ceiling combination at $9300. Jokic has every bit of the upside that Towns does for $1,600 less so as a result, he’s an awesome play.
Richaun Holmes (C – SAC): $3,400 vs. POR
We need some cheap plays tonight with all these $7K+ options we love, and all of the value seems to be at this center position tonight. Marvin Bagley is out with an injury, so Holmes should push his minutes into the 20’s tonight. If you’ve played NBA DFS in years past, you know what kind of upside Holmes brings to the table, so it’s very unlikely that he doesn’t have a really strong game at $3,400 here.
Frank Kaminsky (C – PHO): $3,300 @ DEN
The suspension to DeAndre Ayton opens up a ton of center minutes for the Suns. Kaminsky seems to be the guy that will benefit most from this, and at $3,300, he’s a nice value. The matchup is tough with the Nuggets and we can’t be sure he’ll play 20+ minutes, so this isn’t a lock, and I prefer Holmes at just $100 more.
Robert Williams / Daniel Theis (C – BOS): $3,200 vs. TOR
Enes Kanter will miss this game, freeing up Williams and Theis to get some run. Theis will likely be the starter and play more minutes than Williams, but Williams has been the better fantasy contributor in his career. You can consider Theis as the safe option to hit value while Williams is more of the home-run play.
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Jon Anderson is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Jon, check out his archive and follow him @JonPgh.