NBA

3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on 8/12/20

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 today.

James Harden, SG, Houston Rockets ($10,800)

Oh, what it would be like to be inside the mind of an NBA coach. There are questions all across the board on studs on this slate, and no clear motivation in any game on Thursday, as teams angle for different playoff seed as their objective. Therefore, it is essential to keep an eye on numberFire's player news page for updates on which stars will actually play.

Any news or predictability on this slate is good news, and James Harden at least has that to offer. He rested on Tuesday while Russell Westbrook returned and played 28 minutes. The game was a blowout, with Westbrook committing seven turnovers in an ugly loss, but his minutes were the best news for Harden. "The Beard" probably gets his turn as the conductor on Wednesday, and 28 solid minutes of his production is well worth this price tag on a topsy-turvy slate.

Bam Adebayo, PF, Miami Heat ($7,800)

Bam Adebayo was the first option that stood out as someone to target in the upper pricing echelon. Adebayo only played 22 minutes on Monday, but that could have been because the Miami Heat were blowing out the Indiana Pacers. The Heat, much like the other seven teams on the slate, have pulled their starters before the end of a game in the past week and have virtually nothing to play for, as the four or five seed with Indiana is not relevant due to no home court in Orlando.

If Adebayo plays, he probably sees plenty of minutes at only 23 years old, and has not shown up on any injury reports inside the bubble. He will be the latest to try and attack an Oklahoma City Thunder squad without its centers, Steven Adams and Nerlens Noel.

Paul George, SG, Los Angeles Clippers ($7,500)

With Kawhi Leonard playing 36 minutes on Sunday, and Paul George resting, PG is the far safer bet of the two to suit up against the Denver Nuggets. In fact, George was pulled early in Saturday's game against the Portland Trail Blazers as well, so if any stud on this slate has already rested plenty and may prefer to play to get back in rhythm, it is George.

Hypothetically, the two-seed should be up for grabs in this matchup, but Denver pulled their starters early against the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday, so they seem content with their matchup of the injured Utah Jazz as the Western Conference stacks up now. George has a 32.6% usage rate without Kawhi Leonard on the floor, so he would be LA's primary option in this game, and even if he were to just play the 28 minutes he did on Saturday versus Portland, that is many more than a lot of other studs on this slate.


Austin Swaim is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Austin Swaim also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username ASwaim3. 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.