NBA

3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on 8/19/20

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.

Joel Embiid, C, Philadelphia 76ers ($9,300)

This slate has the exact same eight teams as Monday's slate, with several pricing adjustments following some huge performances in Game 1 of these matchups. As a result, many stars are much more expensive than they were on Monday, but in identical matchups, as well as, in most cases with few injuries, identical usage, and minute expectations.

Joel Embiid is indeed $800 more expensive in the FanDuel player pool than he was on Monday, but still is incredibly affordable given the load he is taking on for the Philadelphia 76ers. Embiid is still far and away, Philadelphia's number one option, as his usage (33.2%) and FanDuel points per minute (1.20) markers are both best on the team, well in front of second-place Tobias Harris. Embiid popped in 26 points and 16 rebounds in Game 1, and if he was on your roster, the disappointing part was that he only ended up taking 15 shots--a mark equaled or bested by three of his teammates. Now down one game in the series, the hope is that he will be more aggressive finding offense. Now that he is playing more minutes, Embiid should continue to stack up boards with his incredibly high 0.41 rebounds per minute rate in the last two weeks as well.

Jayson Tatum, PF, Boston Celtics ($8,700)

One injury that did occur Monday that will significantly change Wednesday's slate is that the Boston Celtics lost forward Gordon Hayward due to an ankle injury. Hayward is out of the remainder of this series, and possibly longer if the Celtics were to advance. Even if the former Butler Bulldogs star was healthy, Jayson Tatum would still have been in play at the power forward spot, but without Hayward, Tatum is a slam dunk at only $200 more expensive than his price tag on Monday.

Tatum has been scoring seemingly at will in August, posting at least 29 points in every game where he has seen at least 29 minutes. Philadelphia had seemingly had no answer for Tatum scoring the ball, and Tatum also added 13 rebounds in the contest as well. That should come as no surprise, as the center guarding Joel Embiid is forced to follow Philly's multi-level scorer around the floor. Tatum's rebounding stats should see the largest benefit of missing Hayward, as his rebounds per 36 minutes rate in Orlando increased from 7.44 to 8.37 when Gordon Hayward was off the floor.

Paul George, SG, Los Angeles Clippers ($8,100)

Paul George is exactly the same price he was on Monday, which bodes well for his prospects to eclipse value, especially where other shooting guards in his pricing tier like Donovan Mitchell, Caris LeVert, and Fred VanVleet all had incredibly efficient shooting outputs and see price increases as a result. George should have a better game on Wednesday as Kawhi Leonard's partner-in-crime, as he significantly under-performed his season-long 1.20 FanDuel points per minute. That was largely due to only converting 10 of 22 shots, only good for 42% from the floor. George averaged a sizzling 48.5% from the field in the Orlando bubble entering Monday's contest, so expect an uptick in shooting in Game 2.

George also should return closer to his mean on peripheral stats besides scoring. He only recorded 3 assists and 2 rebounds in 37 minutes, whereas George normally records 6.05 rebounds and 5.05 assists per 36 minutes. All of this positive regression is why George is currently projected for a hefty 46.8 FanDuel points on Wednesday. While many chase the hot performances from Monday from several two-guards, George has been the more reliable option in this pricing range all season.


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.