December 11th brings us another huge NBA slate, with eleven games on the board. These slates are tough, but I do think they are a bit easier to cash in as the best plays naturally find less ownership. As always, keep a close eye on the news, as this post is being written in the morning and the slate will surely look a bit differently by lock than it does not. For now, let’s go through some of the best ways to spend your salary cap on FanDuel tonight!
Check out today’s NBA Shot from FanDuel
Guards
Donovan Mitchell (SG – UTA): $8,100 @ Timberwolves
The Mike Conley injury makes Mitchell a much better fantasy option, and he was already a pretty solid guy to put in your lineups. He has not really capitalized on the increased opportunity through three games, so his price has stayed very manageable. In those games without Conley thus far, he has taken 24, 17, and 25 shot attempts with a 36% usage rate. The Timberwolves are one of the highest pace teams in the league, which is great news for Mitchell as a guy playing a lot of point guard minutes. This price should probably be closer to $9,000 tonight, so Mitchell is one of my favorite plays on the board.
December 11th brings us another huge NBA slate, with eleven games on the board. These slates are tough, but I do think they are a bit easier to cash in as the best plays naturally find less ownership. As always, keep a close eye on the news, as this post is being written in the morning and the slate will surely look a bit differently by lock than it does not. For now, let’s go through some of the best ways to spend your salary cap on FanDuel tonight!
Check out today’s NBA Shot from FanDuel
Guards
Donovan Mitchell (SG – UTA): $8,100 @ Timberwolves
The Mike Conley injury makes Mitchell a much better fantasy option, and he was already a pretty solid guy to put in your lineups. He has not really capitalized on the increased opportunity through three games, so his price has stayed very manageable. In those games without Conley thus far, he has taken 24, 17, and 25 shot attempts with a 36% usage rate. The Timberwolves are one of the highest pace teams in the league, which is great news for Mitchell as a guy playing a lot of point guard minutes. This price should probably be closer to $9,000 tonight, so Mitchell is one of my favorite plays on the board.
Kyle Lowry (PG – TOR): $8,000 vs. Clippers
This play is a much more interesting if Fred VanVleet is out tonight (he is currently questionable), so keep an eye on that news. Even if VanVleet plays, Lowry is a considerable option as he has come back from the injury playing some of the biggest minutes totals in the league. He is averaging close to 40 minutes per game in his last four, taking 14 shot attempts per game while contributing nicely in assists and rebounds as well. He was a bit disappointing in the last game against the Bulls, shooting just 20% from the field, but that has kept his price down on FanDuel and we should absolutely hammer Lowry into our lineups if VanVleet remains out. He will be forced to play a huge amount of minutes, which makes it very hard for him to fail as a three-category contributor.
Eric Bledsoe (PG – MIL): $7,000 vs. Pelicans
The Bucks sit at the top of my team projected fantasy points list tonight, and Giannis is always tough to get to, so Bledsoe becomes an attractive way to get some exposure to this matchup. New Orleans adds ten fantasy points per game onto their opponent’s averages and play at a fast pace, which is exactly the kind of time we want to get point guards against. Bledsoe is averaging 17 points, 6.5 assists, 5.4 rebounds, and a steal in games he plays above 25 minutes, so he brings a really solid floor to the table here with a huge ceiling if he can have one of his patented high steal rate games. He is a great option tonight.
Khris Middleton (SG – MIL): $6,800 vs. Pelicans
In the same light as Bledsoe, Middleton is another solid option for the price just due to this awesome matchup the Bucks find themselves in. He is playing full minutes again after seeing a few down games after the injury, and he has been very trigger-happy lately, shooting 40 times in his last two games. The Bucks are pretty much a three-man show, so with how well they project in this matchup I want at least one piece of them, and Middleton is a solid way to go.
J.J. Redick (SG – NOP): $4,300 @ Bucks
From a pricing perspective, Redick seems to be one of the more mispriced players on the slate. He had a miserable shooting night on Monday (1/10 from the field, 1/8 from three), which weirdly sent his price down $800. There is not a huge ceiling with Redick, but he is one of the strongest bets for a 6x return on the slate just given the goofy price tag. The Bucks have faced the second most three-point attempts per game in the league, so there is some evidence that Redick should have elevated opportunity tonight.
Forwards
Giannis Antetokounmpo (SF – MIL): $12,000 vs. Pelicans
As of right now I am probably leaning towards not paying up for one of the studs on the slate, but it is really hard to leave Giannis out of this post. We have talked extensively about the exploitable Pelicans defense. The question is really if this game will remain close – that has been the issue for the Greek Freak this year. If he plays 30+ minutes, he can murder even a $12,000 price tag and put you in the money almost by himself, but the Bucks come in as a 13 point favorite here so there is real risk that he fails to reach the 30-minute mark again and disappoints. I think it is more of a tournament play than cash, but he has the highest ceiling on the slate hands down.
Kevin Love (PF – CLE): $7,400 vs. Rockets
Love has been a frustrating guy to roster this year as his outputs have been all over the place, which makes him hard to pull the trigger on in cash. However, the Rockets have been getting torched by big men all year, and Love’s price is a bit depressed given this rough patch. In fact, his price is the lowest we have seen since the first game of the season. There is major blowout risk here with the Rockets being a 12 point favorite, and the Cavaliers have been quick to limit Love’s minutes, but if the minutes get into the 30’s I think there is a really strong probability that he gives you 40+ FanDuel points, which would be a smash at this price point.
T.J. Warren (SF – IND): $5,200 vs. Celtics
This is the lowest price we have seen on Warren this year, and he is still playing big minutes. He is very scoring dependent, which makes him very risky at any price point, but there is just massive upside for a guy like Warren when the price is this low. He is averaging 15 shot attempts per game, and I will always have interest in that many potential shot attempts at a price below $6,000. Sign me up for some tournament exposure to T.J.
Royce O’Neale (PF – UTA): $3,600 vs. Timberwolves
Minutes-wise, O’Neale is the biggest beneficiary from Mike Conley being out of the lineup. He has played 23, 28, and 26 minutes in the three games without Conley, but has not managed to do much. In their last game he went 0/6 from the field and scored just nine fantasy points. The pace-up nature of this game gives him a real chance to get towards 10 field goal attempts in this one, so if he can shoot well and add just a little bit in peripheral stats, he is a smash at near-minimum salary. Give O’Neale a shot.
Centers
Tristan Thompson (C – CLE): $6,900 vs. Rockets
Same story as Love here, the Rockets are just so exploitable with big men. Centers and power forwards are averaging close to a 6x return on their FanDuel salaries when facing the Rockets, and Thompson’s price is near the lowest we have seen this year. It does not really feel good to play Thompson, but this is a very strong option for your center spot tonight if you have some money to spend.
Aron Baynes (C – PHO): $5,400 vs. Grizzlies
Baynes returned from a short injury stint and played just 15 minutes on Monday, but his price dropped down to $5,400 as a result. If you feel confident about him getting his minutes back into the mid 20’s, he is a very strong option at this price point. For the year, Baynes has averaged 10 shot attempts, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and a 1.19 fantasy point per minute rating. The Grizzlies are an awesome matchup as they play at one of the fastest paces in the league. The Suns project very well tonight, and Baynes is a great way to buy low into them.
Cody Zeller (C – CHA): $4,700 vs. Nets
I think I recommend Zeller every time I write one of these posts, but that is just because these DFS sites do not seem to price him fairly. He has played over 20 minutes in three straight games, and when he does that this year he averages close to 30 fantasy points. The Nets have not been the awesome matchup for big men that they were last year, but they are not much better than average in that regard. Zeller is not likely to go for a huge 40+ point score or anything, but he is a really solid option at a price that is too low.
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Jon Anderson is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Jon, check out his archive and follow him@JonPgh.