3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on 3/30/21

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-salaried 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 a heavy salary to roster someone. Even with strong value plays in your lineup, getting a dud from a stud is likely going to leave your lineup lacking.

Let's get right into it and look at which top players should be the focal points of your lineups today.

All injury updates are via the NBA's official injury report or numberFire's player news.

Russell Westbrook, PG, Washington Wizards

FanDuel Salary: $11,000

If you exclude a blowout at the hand of the defensively-stingy New York Knicks a week ago, Russell Westbrook has eclipsed 50 FanDuel points in eight consecutive games, including at least 54.8 in all but one of them. Westbrook's ceiling has been through the roof lately (pun intended) -- he's had outputs of 58.1, 62.1, 72.0, 76.5, and 88.3 fantasy points in five of his last nine contests. That'll play.

Russ is far from matchup-dependent, but tonight's draw is anything but one to shy away from. According to numberFire's DvP tool, the Charlotte Hornets rank 22nd against one-guards this season.

There's plenty of other aspects to like about this matchup -- the over/under is 229.5, which is a good 8.5 points higher than any other game on this slate. The 3.5-point spread is also tighter than any other bout tonight, which helps mitigate any blowout concerns.

Oh, and there's also the Bradley Beal factor. Beal exited in the third quarter of Saturday's win for the Washington Wizards with a hip injury and did not return -- he subsequentially missed last night's game as well. With Beal off the court this season, Brodie is averaging 1.49 FanDuel points per minute while sporting a 39% usage rate. In the last two games Beal has missed, Westbrook has dropped 72.0 and 88.3 FanDuel points.

Sign me up.

Gordon Hayward, SF, Charlotte Hornets

FanDuel Salary: $7,000

That 229.5 total from this matchup is one we're going to want to attack early and often tonight, and Gordon Hayward could be a solid play at a razor-thin position.

Hayward is one of only two players at the position projected by our algorithm to surpass 30.4 FanDuel points, the other being Kawhi Leonard ($9,600), who hasn't surpassed 53.1 fantasy points in any of his last 17 outings and will likely be quite popular.

On the season, the Wizards rank 21st against opposing small forwards, which is enough to make them a matchup to target.

After posting 44.4 fantasy points in his first game with LaMelo Ball out of the lineup, Hayward has managed just 18.9, 26.3, and 28.7 fantasy points since. While that gives him a rather scary floor, it also opens up the possibility that he won't be extremely chalky tonight.

numberFire's models project Hayward for 37.4 fantasy points tonight, making him the best point-per-dollar play at the position.

Nikola Jokic, C, Denver Nuggets

FanDuel Salary: $11,300

This might be a weird thing to say about fantasy's leading scorer, but Nikola Jokic might be an intriguing leverage play tonight.

First off, the Serbian comes in as the most expensive player on tonight's slate -- he and Russell Westbrook are the only two with salaries above $9,600. Second, Jokic is squaring off against a Philadelphia 76ers team that's surrendered the fewest fantasy points to opposing centers this season. For the most part, those factors could potentially keep the masses off him.

Jokic is fresh off a game in which he managed just 49 FanDuel points, which has been a rare occurrence this season. The 26-year-old has totaled fewer than 52 fantasy points just 15 times in 46 games in 2020-21. In fact, the last eight times he's failed to reach 50, he's rebounded with an average of 66.1 FanDuel points the following game -- and that includes at least 55.1 in every contest.

Sure, Philly is tough on interior players whether or not Joel Embiid is in the lineup, but the fact that he's not there makes this matchup slightly more appealing.

numberFire's algorithm projects the current MVP frontrunner for 52.1 fantasy points tonight, which tops all players on this four-game slate.