3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on 10/17/18

James Harden, SG, Houston Rockets

Price: $11,700

On the other side of that game, the Rockets players stand to see a nice boost in value from taking on a New Orleans Pelicans team that led the league in pace in the 2017-18 season, while also posting a middling 107.2 defensive rating.

James Harden may not have topped 90 fantasy points twice last year like Davis did, but he was one of only three players to put up at least 80 in two separate games. He also had the highest single-game score of the season with 98.5.

The addition of Chris Paul to the Houston offense did nothing to hamper Harden's fantasy value, as even though his playing time took a slight hit (to 35.4 minutes per game), his 20.1 field goal attempts per game were a career-high. His assist rate jumped almost 2% to a league-leading, career-best 36.1%, and his assist rate only fell slightly to 45.1%.

He ranked fifth in the NBA (and second among players in action on today's slate) with 53.0 FanDuel points per game, and he's averaging 54.5 per game over his last two.

Without much change to the Rockets' offense this year, expect Harden to continue to shine as one of the league's premier offensive players -- FanDuel Sportsbook has him as the favorite to win the scoring title and as the second-most likely to lead the league in assists -- which will keep him at the top of the heap for fantasy options.

Opening the season playing up in pace and boasting the slate's highest implied total (118.5), he's well worth paying up for tonight.