3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on 12/3/19

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.

Luka Doncic, PG, Dallas Mavericks ($12,400)

Ranking third in the NBA with 57.3 FanDuel points per game, Luka Doncic checks in one spot behind James Harden, but his higher price tag is more than justified by a terrific matchup with the New Orleans Pelicans.

Doncic has shown some pretty incredible fantasy value to start his sophomore season, and that has included posting at least 67.0 FanDuel points five times in his last nine games, averaging 61.7 per game in that stretch. He's topped 60 FanDuel points nine times on the year, and that puts him second among all players, with just one fewer than Harden.

The Pels enter this game with a bottom-five defensive rating while playing at a top-five pace, and they're allowing the 2nd-most points, 8th-most assists and 11th-most rebounds per game to opponents, leaving tons of room for upside in every area for a triple-double threat like Doncic.

This game also has a slate-high 235.0 over/under and the Dallas Mavericks' 118.5-point implied total is the second-highest of the night.

Jrue Holiday, SG, New Orleans Pelicans ($8,300)

The Pelicans offer plenty of upside on the other end of that game as well. They're only 3.5-point underdogs, and they boast the third-highest implied total on the slate.

Jrue Holiday has a pretty reasonable floor for this price point, only falling below 35.0 FanDuel points twice in the last 14 games, and he's averaging 40.8 per game on the year.

That production comes with a consistently huge workload as well, which means he should have no shortage of opportunities to take advantage of this matchup. He averaged just 32.8 minutes per game in four contests after a brief two-game injury absence at the start of the year, but in 12 contests since that time he's played 37.2 per game, averaging 21.8 points, 7.6 assists, 5.1 boards and 2.0 steals (43.6 FanDuel points) while not playing fewer than 34.8 minutes in any of the 12.

Jonathan Isaac, SF, Orlando Magic ($8,000)

Jonathan Isaac has eclipsed 40.0 FanDuel points (5.0 per $1,000 of salary today) in 5 of his last 10 games, and he's averaging 39.5 per game over those last 6.

Playing for the Orlando Magic doesn't position anyone for great fantasy numbers, as they're playing at the third-slowest pace in the NBA while checking in at 29th in offensive rating. Tonight's matchup with the Washington Wizards should give the entire team a huge boost, though, positioning Isaac well to crush his averages.

The Wiz play at the fastest pace in the NBA (106.0), and their 115.7 defensive rating is the league's worst. As you might expect, that has them allowing the most points per game in the NBA, at 122.7. The matchup isn't just good because of the scoring opportunities either — Washington is also allowing the seventh-most rebounds and seventh-most blocks per game.

Isaac is equipped perfectly to take advantage of this matchup, averaging 13.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and a league-best 2.8 blocks per game on the year.

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.