We’ve got a big eleven-game slate on the board as the long NBA season progresses! As you can imagine, there are all kinds of stars to decide between and we should be able to pay up for a few because of all the value available. Let’s talk about some FanDuel plays for tonight.
Check out today’s NBA Shot from FanDuel 
Guards
Damian Lillard (PG – POR): $9,600 @ Grizzlies
I am writing this before we have all of the Vegas lines, but this is likely to be the highest total of the night. The Grizzlies add 8.2 fantasy points to opponent’s average totals, and the Blazers add 7.3. Both of these teams play fast, and do not play good defense (from a fantasy perspective, at least). Lillard has been humming right along lately, being the league’s leading scorer over the last few weeks. He has recently scored 50, 48, 36, 51, 42, and 33 points – he is just shooting the ball whenever he wants to. This is a high price to pay, but Lillard gives you the highest usage rate in the highest projected scoring game, so you have to consider him at guard in this spot.
Khris Middleton (SG – MIL): $7,200 @ Pacers
The big news of the slate is that Giannis Antetokounmpo is out for personal reasons. This opens things up for Middleton in a big way. In 522 minutes this year with Giannis off the court, Middleton has scored 1.40 Fanduel points per minute. That is a huge boost as his usual rate is 1.20. The Pacers are a good defensive team, shaving off eight fantasy points from opponent’s average totals, but the added usage is more than enough to compensate for that. Middleton is a really strong play even at the $7,200 price tag.
We’ve got a big eleven-game slate on the board as the long NBA season progresses! As you can imagine, there are all kinds of stars to decide between and we should be able to pay up for a few because of all the value available. Let’s talk about some FanDuel plays for tonight.
Check out today’s NBA Shot from FanDuel
Guards
Damian Lillard (PG – POR): $9,600 @ Grizzlies
I am writing this before we have all of the Vegas lines, but this is likely to be the highest total of the night. The Grizzlies add 8.2 fantasy points to opponent’s average totals, and the Blazers add 7.3. Both of these teams play fast, and do not play good defense (from a fantasy perspective, at least). Lillard has been humming right along lately, being the league’s leading scorer over the last few weeks. He has recently scored 50, 48, 36, 51, 42, and 33 points – he is just shooting the ball whenever he wants to. This is a high price to pay, but Lillard gives you the highest usage rate in the highest projected scoring game, so you have to consider him at guard in this spot.
Khris Middleton (SG – MIL): $7,200 @ Pacers
The big news of the slate is that Giannis Antetokounmpo is out for personal reasons. This opens things up for Middleton in a big way. In 522 minutes this year with Giannis off the court, Middleton has scored 1.40 Fanduel points per minute. That is a huge boost as his usual rate is 1.20. The Pacers are a good defensive team, shaving off eight fantasy points from opponent’s average totals, but the added usage is more than enough to compensate for that. Middleton is a really strong play even at the $7,200 price tag.
Eric Bledsoe (PG – MIL): $6,700 @ Pacers
Bledsoe gets the biggest boost with Giannis off the court, adding 0.30 fantasy points per minute to his normal 1.10 rate. His rates increase in every single category, he shoots more, dishes more assists, and gets more rebounds while Antetokounmpo is not present. If you do not want to play both Middleton and Bledsoe against the tough Pacers defense on the road, I would recommend going with Bledsoe as the guy that gets the bigger boost at the cheaper price tag. It’s also true that the Pacers have been more gracious against point guards this year, giving up an average salary return of 5.4x to guards, while they hold everybody else below 5x.
R.J. Barrett (SG – NYK): $4,400 vs. Wizards
The Knicks draw the nut matchup of the night, as the Wizard have been the worst defense in the league for fantasy purposes. Barrett missed a few weeks with an injury recently, but has now played three games in a row and he should be looking at elevated minutes in this one. Before the injury, he was playing 30+ minutes a night, which had his price near the $6,000 range. You can get him for a big discount in this awesome matchup here as his minute should keep pushing towards 30. Barrett is a fine salary saver at guard tonight.
Forwards
Kelly Oubre (SF – PHO): $6,900 vs. Warriors
The streaky Oubre has been on a bit of a heater lately, scoring 30, 39, and 20 real-life points in consecutive games before a bit of a dud in the Suns’ last contest against the tough Lakers defense. Before that game, he had taken 18 or more shot attempts in five straight games, really taking over a lot of usage in this offense. Tonight he gets the Warriors defense at home, which is an amazing spot for a guy that wants to shoot the ball a lot. Golden State adds 9.6 fantasy points to their opponent’s totals and gives up an average salary return of 5.6x to wing players this year. Oubre is more of a tournament play with how volatile he can be and the increasing price tag, but I like him a lot in this spot.
Jaren Jackson Jr. (PF – MEM): $6,600 vs. Trail Blazers
We talked about how juicy this game is in the Lillard write-up, and Jackson is a nice way to get a piece of that from the Grizzlies side of the ball. He has played 30+ minutes in three of his last four, and as long as he stays out of foul trouble the guy has been really consistent this year. He has taken double-digit shot attempts in all but one game since the calendar turned to 2020, and he is a big time contributor in rebounds and steals to boot. The Blazers give up an average salary return of 5.7x to big men, so Jackson’s minutes are very valuable tonight. He is probably my favorite salary considered Grizzlies player tonight.
Centers
Andre Drummond (C – CLE): $10,200 vs. Hawks
Any doubt about how the Cavaliers would use Drummond was immediately expelled on Sunday, as Drummond played 29 minutes, took 17 shots, and grabbed another 14 rebounds. The outlook on him has not changed, in fact it may have gotten better as the Cavaliers do not have a Derrick Rose to hog a ton of shot attempts. In his second game with his new team, Drummond gets one of the juiciest matchups in the league for centers. The Hawks have given up an average salary return of 5.9x to centers. This is a great spot for Drummond, who could easily get you 60 fantasy points.
Hassan Whiteside (C – POR): $8,800 @ Grizzlies
If you like the look of a Blazers game, you have to consider Whiteside. He has been one of the highest upside centers in the league this year, and the minutes have been rock steady. He has scored 1.50 fantasy points per minute, and the Grizzlies have given up an average return of 5.5x to centers this year. The price is steep, and you probably have to pick between him and Lillard, but Whiteside is absolutely one of the better center plays on the slate tonight.
Mitchell Robinson (C – NY): $5,700 vs. Wizards
All Robinson really needs to be a useful fantasy player is minutes, and he got those minutes in his last game. He played 35 minutes against the Hawks on Sunday, scoring 15 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, blocked three shots, and even added three steal. Big minutes are never guaranteed with the Knicks, and especially so with Robinson – but if you can see him playing 25+ minutes here, he should perform very well. The Wizards have been torched by centers all year long, giving up an average salary return of 5.8x to the big men while adding 16 fantasy points to opponent’s averages this year. A couple of Knicks are going to go off tonight, and Robinson has as much upside as anybody on that squad.
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Jon Anderson is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Jon, check out his archive and follow him@JonPgh.
