3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on 8/13/20
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.
Damian Lillard, PG, Portland Trail Blazers ($10,100)
Something worth celebrating is having stars at maximum effort again. The race for the Western Conference's eight seed is on, and that means there are a few great places to spend your salary on Thursday's main slate. The Portland Trail Blazers, Memphis Grizzlies, San Antonio Spurs, and Phoenix Suns are all still alive with a chance to make the playoffs, so all of their starters should see plenty of run.
I would be remiss to not put respect on Damian Lillard's name after he dropped 61 last time out and is averaging an astronomical 63 FanDuel points per game in his last four contests. The most exciting part of the stretch is Lillard's aggressiveness as he has averaged 26 shots per game, compared to his season-long average entering the bubble of 19.8 shots per game. Fifty FanDuel points would be solid production at this price, but as long as Dame continues to assert himself and carry the Blazers, do not count out 50 real-life points and a huge performance from Dame D.O.L.L.A. against the Brooklyn Nets.
Devin Booker, SG, Phoenix Suns ($8,800)
Really, there's no other option besides Devin Booker at shooting guard. Lillard is coming on strong, but Booker is being argued for the bubble's MVP -- and rightfully so. Booker is averaging 31 points per game inside the bubble and continues to dominate the rock.
His season long usage rate is 29.4%, but that is all the way up to 34.6% inside the bubble, and he is largely responsible for the Suns' relevance in this race. D-Book likely sees a ton of usage again in a winnable game against the Dallas Mavericks, who may rest rim protector Kristaps Porzingis due to a heel injury.
DeMar DeRozan, SG, San Antonio Spurs ($7,800)
Really, the Spurs were written off from being in this situation after losing LaMarcus Aldridge for the season, but DeRozan, Derrick White, and Dejounte Murray have carried the small-ball Spurs to contention inside the bubble. The Utah Jazz have been actively resting players over the past week as they are locked into the six seed, and they will be without former all-NBA defensive team members Mike Conley and Rudy Gobert in this contest.
DeRozan leads the Spurs in usage inside the bubble at a 26.8% clip, and the exciting thing about that is that he -- despite the unfortunate position listing on FanDuel -- he is largely playing the four for San Antonio, and as a result, his per-minute rebounding (0.13) and assist (0.17) numbers have increased while he's still scoring well. DeRozan has a solid floor in a must-win game on Thursday against Utah.
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.
