3 NBA DraftKings Studs to Target on 3/3/20

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.

Bradley Beal, SG/SF, Washington Wizards

DraftKings Price: $10,400

On Tuesday night, LeBron James checks in as the only healthy player who is priced higher than Bradley Beal. And at a $1,000 discount, you can argue that Beal is the better option as him and his Washington Wizards take on the Sacramento Kings.

While LeBron could see his usage rate decrease with the potential return of Anthony Davis, Beal's usage is safe as the focal point of an otherwise underwhelming team. In fact, NBA.com tells us that Beal was tops in the league (among players averaging 20-plus minutes) with a 37.8% usage rate over the month of February. All he did with that was average 52.5 DraftKings points with 36.2 points on 47.5% shooting. And in his one game since, Beal posted 34 points and 61.5 DK points in a road win against the Golden State Warriors.

Back on the road this evening, the Wizards are 5.5-point underdogs. However, a 232.5 over/under keeps them at a healthy 113.5 implied total. Our models project Beal to account for 28.8 of those points en route to 46.2 DK points.

Nikola Jokic, C, Denver Nuggets

DraftKings Price: $9,400

Down in the next tier but below that $10,000 threshold, you can make an argument for a few guys, but Nikola Jokic is both fully healthy and at home facing a bad defense. The Warriors come into Denver having surrendered 112.7 points per 100 possessions and 114.9 since the All-Star break. In that same six-game split, they've allowed at least 112 points in four contests.

The Nuggets are massive 15-point home favorites, and they put up 134 in their lone matchup (113 in regulation) against the Dubs earlier this season. As for the Joker, all he managed was 23 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists and a total of 51.0 DK points in that previous matchup. And that was on the road. At home, Jokic has averaged 49.8 DK points -- better than five-times value at this price and 3.5 more than he produces away from Pepsi Center. He's up over double-digit rebounds and shoots 54.1% from the floor.

At first glance, the big man hasn't had the fastest of starts out of the break, but he played only 28 and 25 minutes in back-to-back blowouts. Here tonight, we project him for a more likely 32.4 minutes and 48.8 DK points at a return of 5.2 points per $1,000.

Zion Williamson, PF/C, New Orleans Pelicans

DraftKings Price: $7,700

In case either of the first two choices are too big of a reach for your preferred roster construction, Zion Williamson leaves a lot of flexibility at his price. At $7,700, he is $100 cheaper than one game ago and $800 cheaper than his peak salary. He is an obvious value for the nightly floor/ceiling combo he brings with him.

Through his first 15 appearances, the rookie phenom has averaged 36.9 DK points with only two games (both in his first four) below 30 and five games that have exceeded the 40-point mark. Three of those have come in the past four and five in the last seven, including an 50.75-point outburst on his home floor. Zion has done a lot of good work against respectable defenses, and tonight's opponent -- the Minnesota Timberwolves -- are not that. The new-look 'Wolves are not only 20th in defensive rating, but they will be without Karl-Anthony Towns and are expected to give up 129.5 points, according to the lines at FanDuel Sportsbook.

As long as this one stays close long enough, Williamson should play enough minutes to enjoy another good showing. We conservatively project him for 36.6 DK points in 28.5 minutes of court time.

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__14. 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.