3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on 11/25/19

Basketball is the most consistent sport for daily fantasy purposes.

A top slugger in baseball will have his fair share of 0-for-4 days, and an elite fantasy football player is at risk of having games where his team's offense as a whole is shut down. A high-priced NBA stud is generally going to get his, though. With so many possessions in a game providing opportunities to produce, top fantasy basketball options will be posting high scores just about every night.

While this consistency puts us in a good position to identify top plays, it also means you can't afford to miss when you're paying up for someone. Even with strong value plays in your lineup, paying up and getting a dud is likely going to leave your lineup drawing pretty close to dead.

Let's get right into it and look at which top players should be the focal points of your lineups tonight.

Karl-Anthony Towns, C, Minnesota Timberwolves ($11,600)

Karl-Anthony Towns has certainly cooled down from his start to the season (when he topped 70 FanDuel points in back-to-back games), but he continues to produce at a high level. He has been very consistent, hovering between 48 and 60 fantasy points in seven of his last eight, giving him a high floor to go with the elite ceiling we saw at the beginning of the year.

His playing time is right in line with what we saw last year, averaging 33.2 minutes per game, and he's filling up the box score in a way we haven't seen before, averaging career-highs with 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds (tying last year's mark), 3.6 assists, and 1.2 steals, while adding 1.5 blocks per game.

Tonight's matchup with the Atlanta Hawks has a 235.5-point over/under and 3.5-point spread, and this potential shootout could also keep KAT on the floor for more minutes than usual. That gives him a huge amount of upside against a Hawks squad that rebounds at a below-average rate while ranking 27th in defensive rating and allowing top-10 fantasy points per minute to opposing centers.

Bam Adebayo, PF, Miami Heat ($8,800)

Bam Adebayo's first year as an every-game starter is off to a great start. Adebayo is averaging a double-double with 13.9 points and 10.1 boards to go with 4.3 assists, 1.7 steals, and 1.3 blocks per game. That has him dropping an average of 38.8 FanDuel points in 31.8 minutes per game.

It may seem counter-intuitive that he's in play tonight despite the fact that at $8.8K, his salary is the highest it has been all year, while his 18.0 fantasy points in his last game was also a season-low. That's the power of a matchup with the Charlotte Hornets, though.

Charlotte has allowed top-five fantasy production to opponents at both the power forward and center spots this year, checking in at 25th in defensive rating and 28th in rebound rate. They're also turning the ball over at the NBA's fourth-highest rate, and this matchup is perfect for a guy who can fill up every area of the stat-sheet like Adebayo.

Chris Paul, PG, Oklahoma City Thunder ($7,600)

Unlike those first two plays, Chris Paul's production has trended in the wrong direction this season. The 34-year-old is posting career-low fantasy numbers while playing the fewest minutes per game (30.5) of his 15 NBA seasons.

He's dealt with a pretty tough schedule to start the season, though, especially in recent games. Each of his last six have come against teams that rank top-10 in defensive rating, but he's still posted a respectable 36.6 FanDuel points per game in that stretch, representing 4.8 points per $1,000 of salary today.

The game before that stretch came in the same favorable matchup he draws tonight, and he dropped 41.5 fantasy points (5.5 per $1,000 today) against the Golden State Warriors. The Dubs have the worst defensive rating in the NBA, and even though they've paired that with a middling pace, they're still giving up the NBA's third-most points (and second-most assists) per game.

CP3 has seen a jump in salary to reflect the matchup, but he still remains under-priced considering his recent success in much tougher matchup and his big game the last time he had the benefit of this matchup.

Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his 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.