3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on 2/11/20
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.
Russell Westbrook, PG, Houston Rockets ($10,100)
Russell Westbrook has been a different player of late, and that goes deeper than just his production.
His fantasy output has been stellar, averaging 58.7 FanDuel points per game over his last 12 while topping 60.0 seven times in that stretch. He's way under-priced relative to that output.
A deeper look at how he's playing is especially encouraging. He's constantly on the court, averaging 38.0 minutes per game in that stretch, and he's putting up 26.3 field goal attempts with just 2.0 3-point attempts per game, adding an average of 7.1 free-throw attempts. That's compared to 22.7 field goal attempts, 4.1 3-point attempts and 6.5 free-throw attempts per game on the year.
With volume stats backing up this recent surge in production, Westbrook should be commanding a much higher salary here.
Damian Lillard, PG, Portland Trail Blazers ($9,800)
Speaking of players who've been heating up lately, Damian Lillard's prediction has been bonkers. Generally we're looking to fade players whose output takes sudden leaps in a short stretch, but Dame has kept this up for a while now.
He's put up at least 52.5 FanDuel points (5.4 per $1,000 of salary today) in eight of his last 10 games, with more than 62.5 (6.4-times value) six times. Overall he's averaging an absurd 63.0 in 38.9 minutes per game in that stretch, putting up an average of 26.4 field goal attempts (including 13.0 3's) on 36.7% usage.
He's cheap enough tonight that we don't even need him to continue producing as ridiculously as he has been, which leaves him with both an outstanding floor and ceiling against a New Orleans Pelicans team that has allowed top-five fantasy efficiency to point guards on the year.
Hassan Whiteside, C, Portland Trail Blazers ($8,800)
Hassan Whiteside hasn't been nearly as consistent as Dame, but he's also been showing off an outstanding ceiling. Plus, he's significantly under-priced, as well.
Whiteside has gone over 50.0 FanDuel points 9 times in his last 20 games, and he's scored at least 55.0 (better than 6-times value) in 6 of his last 11. In those 11, he's averaged 46.5 fantasy points (5.3 per $1,000) in 33.8 minutes per game -- getting significantly more run than his season average of 30.8 minutes.
The Pels are also a favorable matchup in the middle, ranking 20th against centers from a fantasy standpoint while checking in at 23rd in defensive rating.
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.
