NBA

3 NBA DraftKings Studs to Target on 11/15/19

Andre Drummond is one of a few great center plays on Friday's slate. Who else should you pay up for tonight?

While building a daily fantasy basketball lineup, it's important to make sure you find the right studs to anchor your team. As the most expensive players in your lineup, they need big-time production to match their high price tag.

You may find it hard to fit some of these guys in while staying under the salary cap, but you can check out our projections to find value players for your rosters. Let's take a look at the top high-priced DraftKings plays of the day.

Karl-Anthony Towns, C, Minnesota Timberwolves

DraftKings Price: $10,000

If Russell Westbrook does sit out the front end of the Houston Rockets' back-to-back set, then James Harden makes for a great play even at his $12,300 price tag. But for my money, Karl-Anthony Towns is a better high-upside play at his cost.

It would appear that Towns is out to prove something, as shown by his tendency to get into it with opposing players this year. But he's done enough with his play, too. To this point, KAT is averaging 54.8 DraftKings points on career-best marks in points (25.8) and assists (4.2). As always, he's turning in double-double after double-double with 12.0 boards a game and a double-double in seven of his nine appearances. That 1.5-point bonus is always in play, and that's especially the case against the Washington Wizards.

According to NBA.com, Washington ranks 29th in defensive rating and 27th in rebounding rate, and centers have averaged a league-best 63.55 DK points against them (per FantasyPros).

With the juicy matchup, our models project Towns for 55.5 DK points at a value of 5.55 points per $1,000.

Andre Drummond, C, Detroit Pistons

DraftKings Price: $8,600

Tonight is a great night to utilize your utility spot for a second center. At a $1,400 drop from KAT, Andre Drummond is no slouch, averaging 52.7 DK points with 11 double-doubles in 12 games. Furthermore, the big man's usage rate sits at 25.9% -- more than three percentage points higher than last year's mark.

On Friday, his Detroit Pistons travel to Charlotte to take on the Hornets and their poor defense. With the combination of a 110.9 defensive rating and a 101.63 pace, the young, re-building Hornets are giving up 113.7 points per game, a number FanDuel Sportsbook expects the Pistons to come up just short of with a 111.25 implied total (via a 219.5 over/under).

Like the Wizards, the Hornets are also very bad against Drummond's position. In allowing 62.75 DK points, they give up the fifth-most points (24.4), seventh-most assists (4.2) and the most blocks (3.8).

Drummond has fallen short of 30 minutes and 45 DK points in his last two, but with this particular matchup on hand, he's in for a bounce-back spot to start off the weekend. We project him for a double-double and 49.6 DK points.

Jayson Tatum, SF/PF, Boston Celtics

DraftKings Price: $7,400

In the wake of Gordon Hayward's hand injury, we've gotten to see Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum in full tilt. Since Hayward went down in the middle of Saturday's game, Brown and Tatum have each logged at least 32 minutes, and in the last two, they've been even more active.

Brown has had the bigger fantasy jump so far, but Tatum has had as much opportunity to match or better him. In the last two, he's averaging 35 minutes a game with a total of 38 field goal attempts. The issue is that the second-year forward went 1-of-18 against the Dallas Mavericks, which resulted in a five-point evening. But still, he had 22.5 DK points before registering 32.75 last time out, when he went 9-of-20 with four assists and three rebounds versus Washington.

Per NBA Wowy, Tatum's usage rate has increased from 21.9% to 30.3% without Hayward -- the highest on the team in that split. In other words, he soaks up some of his fellow forward's workload.

Tatum is due for a breakout game, and he could have it here against the Golden State Warriors. The depleted Dubs are 30th in defensive rating and have been hammered by power forwards for 52.8 DK points per game. We have Tatum down for 32.0 DK points over 32.3 minutes.



Brett Oswalt i
s not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Brett Oswalt also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username BrettOswalt. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.