NBA

3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on 3/4/20

Jason Schandl  —  @JasonSchandl Mar 4th, 2020
In a dream matchup, is Damian Lillard worth his price tag in his return from injury? What other studs should you target tonight?

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 ($10,400)

Luka Doncic looks to be fully healthy again, and he's played over 37 minutes in each of his last three games (including at least 38 in two of those).

Surprisingly, his fantasy output hasn't been anything special in that stretch, but part of that can be attributed to a cold shooting streak. He has a .435 effective field goal percentage in those last three games, compared to .531 on the season. He's still getting plenty of volume and playing time, so there's no need to worry about such a short slump.

The New Orleans Pelicans are also the kind of matchup that can help him bounce back. The Pels rank 22nd in the NBA in defensive rating and surrender an above-average .526 effective field goal percentage.

Damian Lillard, PG, Portland Trail Blazers ($9,000)

There's obviously some risk in playing Damian Lillard in his return from a groin injury that cost him nearly a month, but a matchup with the Washington Wizards makes that a risk worth taking.

The Wiz boast the worst defensive rating in the NBA, and they combine that with a top-five pace. That has them giving up an NBA-high 120.1 points, as well as the eighth-most assists (25.3) per game. They also give Dame some upside on the glass, allowing 46.6 boards per game (sixth-most in the NBA).

Lillard had been rolling before he got hurt as well, with at least 45.0 FanDuel points (5.0 per $1,000 tonight) in 10 of his last 15 games, averaging a whopping 56.4 per game (6.3 per $1,000!) in that stretch.

Brandon Ingram, SF, New Orleans Pelicans ($7,400)

On the other side of the Pelicans game, the Dallas Mavericks play at a much slower pace, but they still check in at just 17th in defensive rating. They're also allowing top-10 fantasy efficiency from opposing small forwards

Brandon Ingram has seen his production fall off since the debut of Zion Williamson, but his declining price-tag more than reflects that.

Ingram is averaging 37.0 FanDuel points per game over his last 11, which is right on five-times value for this salary. He's also had some real success against the Mavs this year. He turned in a dud in their last meeting, but dropped 50.0 and 45.1 in his other two games against Dallas on the season. numberFire's models project Ingram to top five-times value again, with 40.2 FanDuel points in this one.

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.