NBA

3 NBA DraftKings Studs to Target on 11/22/19

Brett Oswalt  —  @bRo14thekid Nov 22nd, 2019
Trae Young is flying under the radar ahead of a clash with a familiar foe in the Pistons. Which other players should you be paying up for on Friday's 10-game slate?

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.

Luka Doncic, PG/SG, Dallas Mavericks

DraftKings Price: $11,400

Is anyone hotter than Luka Doncic right now? The second-year star has sparked both All-Star starter and MVP talk with his recent performances and overall start to the year. Averaging 29.9 points, 10.6 rebounds and 9.4 assists a game, Luka's increased his numbers to 34.0, 11.5 and 10.3 over the last week of action (four games). In DraftKings scoring, he's averaging 71.4 fantasy points over this recent stretch.

In different ways, Doncic has made history in the last two games with a 40-point and 35-point triple-double in consecutive games. He's playing at the highest level just in time for a game at home against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Dallas Mavericks are 9.5-point favorites, and a 220 over/under gives them a 112.25 implied total.

Cleveland presents a slight down-pace game, but -- according to NBA.com -- they are 19th in defensive rating and have given up an average of 120.3 points in their last three. If Dallas does score in bunches, Doncic will have his hand in a large majority of the buckets as he sports a 34.3% usage rate and 49.4% assist rate through 14 games.

Our models project Luka for 48.2 DK points over 34.1 minutes.

Trae Young, PG, Atlanta Hawks

DraftKings Price: $9,400

At a $2,000 discount, Trae Young offers a similar 50-to-60-point upside as the point man for the Atlanta Hawks. He averages 47.8 DK points for the year with four games of at least 57.5. And according to NBA Wowy, his already-high 33.8% usage has jumped to 34.3% in his time without John Collins.

In his 359 minutes absent Collins, the youngster has also averaged 1.41 DK points per minute. That figure should only get a boost, too, as the Detroit Pistons are eighth-worst against the point guard position. According to Fantasy Pros, they also surrender the most assists (10.14) on a per-game basis.

If that wasn't incentive enough, Young has posted 62.3 DK points in 37.2 minutes in an earlier meeting with Detroit. He is on the road here, but his team should be able to keep it close, which is shown in the 6.5-point spread. Our models project him for 39.4 DK points, though that comes with that 50-to-60-point upside we crave in tournaments and GPPs.

Bam Adebayo, C, Miami Heat

DraftKings Price: $8,000

Shifting our attention from the guard slots, at center Bam Adebayo is as great a play as anyone on a point-to-dollar level. At $8,000, he is slightly more than Clint Capela, but he checks in at a lower cost than fellow big men Nikola Jokic, Andre Drummond and Rudy Gobert. His 39.1 average is better than Capela and Gobert, and it's not far off the 40.9 Jokic has had in a troublesome start to the year.

That's good to know, but more importantly, Adebayo and the Heat draw a peachy matchup against the Chicago Bulls. Chicago is 14th in defensive rating, 8th in pace and 25th in rebounding rate. That is a combination that has them 28th against centers, allowing 60.6 DK points on 17.9 rebounds and 4.1 blocks a game.

Of Adebayo's average fantasy production, he draws 12.9 from rebounds and 2.8 from blocks. He's managed to notch a double-double in 5 of his 13 games so far.

Somehow, Bam has also put up 2.8 more points per game on the road, where he has logged 5.4 more minutes and higher averages in assists (5.4) and blocks (1.6). On Friday, we have him down for a double-double and a full line worth 40.4 DK points at value of 5.05 points per $1,000.

Brett Oswalt is 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.