Today is one of the best days of the year. This marks the opening night of the NBA season! While the DFS games themselves aren’t necessarily great, it does mean we have an entire season to look forward to. There’s still a lot to discuss, though, so let’s go ahead and get into it!
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Schedule and Odds
BKN at MIL (MIL -1.5) O/U: 236.5
With these likely being the two best teams in the east, we should be in for an opening night gem. The 1.5-point spread is juicy enough, but it pairs beautifully with the 236-point total. The only concern is the pricing of the players, but we’ll get into that later!
GS at LAL (LAL -3.5) O/U: 228
Both of these clubs are better defensively than you’d expect. That should lead to the lower-scoring game of the two, but a 3.5-point spread is a good indicator that we’ll be in for two nail-biters.
Injury Report
Core Plays
James Harden (PG/SG – BKN): $9,300 DraftKings, $10,600 FanDuel
This is all about this DraftKings price. With Irving out, Harden should be back to his usual ways, which is an $11K player on DraftKings. We don’t want to say that 50 fantasy points are guaranteed, but it’s close with his absurd 54-point average.
Today is one of the best days of the year. This marks the opening night of the NBA season! While the DFS games themselves aren’t necessarily great, it does mean we have an entire season to look forward to. There’s still a lot to discuss, though, so let’s go ahead and get into it!
Claim Your Deposit Bonus and Free Credit Now
Schedule and Odds
BKN at MIL (MIL -1.5) O/U: 236.5
With these likely being the two best teams in the east, we should be in for an opening night gem. The 1.5-point spread is juicy enough, but it pairs beautifully with the 236-point total. The only concern is the pricing of the players, but we’ll get into that later!
GS at LAL (LAL -3.5) O/U: 228
Both of these clubs are better defensively than you’d expect. That should lead to the lower-scoring game of the two, but a 3.5-point spread is a good indicator that we’ll be in for two nail-biters.
Injury Report
Core Plays
James Harden (PG/SG – BKN): $9,300 DraftKings, $10,600 FanDuel
This is all about this DraftKings price. With Irving out, Harden should be back to his usual ways, which is an $11K player on DraftKings. We don’t want to say that 50 fantasy points are guaranteed, but it’s close with his absurd 54-point average.
Jordan Poole (SG – GSW): $4,800 DraftKings, $4,900 FanDuel
Poole was one of the best players in the preseason, averaging 22 points per game in just 23 minutes a night. That has him locked in the Klay Thompson role and makes him way too cheap on both sites.
Anthony Davis (C – LAL): $8,800 DraftKings, $10,000 FanDuel
This is another DK price that I simply don’t understand. AD can be the best player in fantasy when he’s healthy, which shouldn’t be an issue in game 1. In addition, Golden State has one of the worst frontcourts in basketball, allowing Davis to feast even more.
Cash Game Considerations
LeBron James (SF – LAL): $9,000 DraftKings, $10,500 FanDuel
These price tags are down a bit from recent years, and it’s hard to understand why. LeBron still averaged 24.8 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 7.8 assists in yet another spectacular season. We certainly don’t mind the fact that Golden State had a 30th OPRK against opposing small forwards either, allowing LBJ to average 47.4 DK points in their four meetings last year.
Russell Westbrook (PG – LAL): $8,600 DraftKings, $9,500 FanDuel
This pricing is ridiculous. It appears that these sites are scared of Russ in his new role, but this is still one of the best DFS players around. He led all players with 58.4 DK points per game, and even if that drops by 10 DK points, Westbrook will still be one of the best cash game plays on the slate.
Draymond Green (PF – GSW): $6,800 DraftKings, $7,000 FanDuel
Green had a bounceback season last year, and he’s a completely different player when Stephen Curry is healthy. Draymond averaged 34 DraftKings points per game last season, which is way too much from a player sitting around $7K. Not to mention, he’ll have to play extra minutes against this huge Lakers team.
GPP Targets
Bruce Brown (SG – BKN): $3,600 DraftKings, $4,900 FanDuel
We call this a GPP play because we really don’t know what Brown’s role will look like. In any case, he was a beast whenever he got the minutes last year, and he could be in for 25 with Irving sitting out.
LaMarcus Aldridge (PF/C – BKN): $3,900 DraftKings, $4,100 FanDuel
LA took last season off because of some health issues, but we’re talking about a former perennial All-Star. We honestly have no clue what his role will look like in Brooklyn, but he could be a stud at this price if they trust him and if he can handle the minutes!
Pat Connaughton (SF – MIL): $4,700 DraftKings, $3,900 FanDuel
Pat was one of the breakout players in Milwaukee’s championship run, and he should continue to be a big piece. He was playing about 30 minutes a game in the final two rounds of the playoffs, and he should continue that with DiVincenzo still sidelined.
Value Plays – under $5.5K
Kevon Looney (C- GS): $4,100 DraftKings, $3,900 FanDuel
The Lakers have a frontcourt consisting of DeAndre Jordan, Dwight Howard, and Anthony Davis. That means Golden State needs some size out there, and Looney should get all the run he can handle with Wiseman out for this game. All you need is 20 fantasy points for Looney to be a value, and that seems like a lock considering he’s looking at a minimum of 20 minutes.
Patty Mills (PG/SG – BKN): $3,700 DraftKings, $4,600 FanDuel
It’s too early in the season to run Harden 40 minutes, so we should see Mills play 20-30 off the bench with Kyrie out. He should be one of the focal points of the offense as well, handling the ball a ton and taking about one shot for every two minutes he’s out there.
Jordan Poole (SG – GSW): $4,800 DraftKings, $4,900 FanDuel
We already talked about this, but Poole is the best value play of the day!
Advantageous Pricing
Comparing FD to DK pricing for certain players where there is a big discrepancy
James Harden (BKN): $9,300 DraftKings $10,600 FanDuel
Anthony Davis (LAL): $8,800 DraftKings $10,000 FanDuel
Otto Porter (GSW): $4,400 FanDuel $5,300 DraftKings
Joe Harris (BKN): $4,300 FanDuel $5,900 DraftKings
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Joel Bartilotta is a featured writer for FantasyPros. You may remember his MLB and NFL DFS work.
