NBA

DraftKings Daily Fantasy Basketball Helper: Tuesday 1/12/21

With six games to choose from on Friday's slate -- which locks at 7:00 p.m. EST -- let's look at the top options across all five positions for NBA DFS.

Be sure to check out our projections, which are updated throughout the day as news breaks, and our other DFS tools such as advanced stats and a matchup heat map.

Here are some of the top plays on today's DraftKings slate. As always, good luck.

Point Guard

Malcolm Brogdon ($8,600) -- Brogdon is quietly having an All-Star-caliber start to the 2020-21 season. Over 37.3 minutes a game, the Indiana Pacers' point guard has averaged 23.4 points, 7.2 assists, 4.3 boards and 1.8 steals. His 44.4 DraftKings points per game bring his per-minute average to 1.19, and he's doing that on a 23.6% usage rate, according to NBA.com. The Golden State Warriors are a shell of what they once were defensively. Through 10 contests, they are 22nd in defensive rating and 26th in opponent points per game (116.6). Expect a high-scoring affair with Brogdon leading the charge.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ($8,000) -- SGA is one of the hottest players in the NBA. Over the span of his last three games, the young point man has knocked down 57.4% of his shots and 50% of his attempts from deep, averaging 2.3 triples a night. Combine that with his stat-sheet stuffing 7.7 assists and 7.0 rebounds per game in that time, and you get 52.4 DK points per game. It only helps that he'll draw the San Antonio Spurs, who rate 18th in the league in defensive efficiency. Lock in SGA for both your cash and tournament lineups.

Shooting Guard

Donovan Mitchell ($8,400) -- Mitchell had a tough start to his season. His shot was completely off out of the gate, as he shot 34.1% from the floor in December. But since the turn of the new year, he's come back much closer to last year's conversion rate, hitting 44.9% of all shots and 38.9% of his three-point attempts in six games. His usage rate has increased this month, which has led him to average a cool 40.4 DK points in his last five. The Utah Jazz are favored over the Cleveland Cavaliers by 9.0 at NBA Finals odds, and Mitchell could have a big game in this spot.

Hamidou Diallo ($5,300) -- Like SGA, Diallo is another young player showing out for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Despite coming off the bench, the 22-year-old has played 29 and 24 minutes over the last two, producing a combined 48 points on 18-of-27 shooting. He's also added 7.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.5 steals a game. Now, we might not see Diallo play as many minutes or be quite as hyper-efficient, but when you look at his per-36 numbers (20.8 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.1 steals), he produces. Even if he's getting 25 to 30 minutes, that's enough for him to find value in this matchup with the Spurs.

Small Forward

Caris LeVert ($7,400) -- Without Kyrie Irving, LeVert has been the de facto point guard for the Brooklyn Nets. Not only has he tallied an average of 48.3 DK points in the last three, but according to NBA Wowy, when Irving has been off the floor, LeVert owns a 32.4% usage rate, compared to his overall 29% mark on the year. Kevin Durant's return will undoubtedly put a dent in that, but still, Brooklyn will score. The Nuggets rank 21st in the league in scoring defense and 25th in defensive efficiency.

Andre Iguodala ($3,300) -- The Miami Heat are hurting for available bodies. A number of players will sit this game out due to contact tracing, leaving several role players and backups to do the work. Iguodala should be asked to up his minutes load into the 30s here given the absence of Jimmy Butler, Kendrick Nunn and Maurice Harkless. He could also be asked to do more play-making without Goran Dragic. This could have a low over/under with so many bodies missing, but 30 minutes of Iggy should be enough to eclipse his salary-implied 16.5 DK points.

Power Forward

Kevin Durant ($9,400) -- The question shouldn't be, "Should you play Durant?" Rather, it should be, "Why not play Durant?" On this rather short slate, he checks in with the eighth-highest salary despite averaging the fourth-most DK points per game when active. So far this season, KD has put up at least 40.75 DK points in every game, including three games above 50 -- two of which he scored 30 real-life points. Now he gets to operate without Irving, and that boosted his usage rate to 30% in Brooklyn's previous matchup. He's the top point-per-dollar play on the board tonight.

Kelly Olynyk ($5,300) -- The same situation that benefits a guy like Iguodala benefits Olynyk just as much. Bam Adebayo is down, and Meyers Leonard is questionable with an injury. Olynyk is likely to play a healthy amount of minutes across both the four and five spots. That should do wonders when you consider he faces a Philadelphia team that is on the second game of a back-to-back with even fewer bodies than Miami has. Olynyk requires just 26.5 DK points to hit value -- a number he has hit or surpassed three times this season.

Center

Domantas Sabonis ($9,300) -- The bad news is relying on the Indiana Pacers could be a high-risk play on Tuesday night. They are on the second leg of a back-to-back that will see them travel overnight. But the good news is that they may not be super popular, and they're up against a fantasy-friendly Warriors team. Golden State presents the Pacers with a pace-up matchup, and the Dubs' 116.6 opponents points per game are hair above the Pacers' season average. With Sabonis scoring, rebounding and assisting, he possesses a ceiling of 50-plus points tonight.

Precious Achiuwa ($3,100) -- Iguodala and Olynyk are the wily vets who should see more opportunities for Miami, but don't forget about the rookie big man. Achiuwa has spent his time behind Adebayo, but he's also done really well in limited run. He's averaging 0.95 DK points per minute, so with 25 to 30 minutes in play, he could easily go as high as 10-times value -- especially if this game gets out of hand.



Brett Oswalt i
s 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 BRO14THEKID. 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.