NBA

3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on 1/10/20

Jason Schandl  —  @JasonSchandl Jan 10th, 2020
Kawhi Leonard gets to play without Paul george tonight, helping ease some concerns about blowout risk against the Dubs. Who else is worth paying up for?

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.

Trae Young, PG, Atlanta Hawks ($10,000)

With a slate-high 238.5-point over/under and a 1.0-point spread, tonight's game between the Washington Wizards and Atlanta Hawks promises to bring a ton of fantasy goodness, especially with the two teams boasting the two highest implied totals on the slate.

The Wiz are a team we're always looking to pick on in fantasy, as they combine terrible defense (dead last in defensive rating) and rebounding (also dead last in total rebound rate) with a top-five pace.

Trae Young erupted for 72.6 fantasy points in his last outing, and he's eclipsed 50.0 in five of his last nine games. Don't expect his recent tear to slow down much against Washington.

Kawhi Leonard, PF, Los Angeles Clippers ($9,400)

Paul George has been ruled out, and while that doesn't get rid of the blowout risk (the Los Angeles Clippers are 13.5-point favorites), it does mean Kawhi Leonard gets a huge boost in fantasy value against the Golden State Warriors.

Kawhi has averaged 43.2 FanDuel points per game when playing alongside George this season, which isn't an especially exciting mark for a guy priced at $9.4K. We have a 10-game sample for his production without PG, though, and in that sample, his average jumps to 50.4 per game, leaving him well under-priced tonight.

He hasn't relied on big minutes even in those 10 games, averaging 32.7, so we shouldn't be too worried about a blowout. Elite efficiency should be enough to carry Leonard to fantasy success tonight.

DeMar DeRozan, SG, San Antonio Spurs ($7,000)

DeMar DeRozan is priced low relative to his average fantasy production. On the year, he's put up 36.9 FanDuel points per game (5.3 per $1,000 tonight), and he's up to 41.2 per game over his last eight.

The San Antonio Spurs are playing faster than we're used to seeing out of them this year, ranking 11th in pace, and we can expect even more running tonight as they play up in pace against the Memphis Grizzlies (3rd).

The Grizz have allowed top-five fantasy efficiency to opposing shooting guards this year, positioning DeRozan well to continue his recent run of strong fantasy production.


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.