3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on Monday 11/21/22

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 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.

Which top players should be the focal points of your lineups today?

**Editor's Note: Stephen Curry and several other Golden State Warriors were updated to be resting on Monday. Check numberFire's projections for updated optimal lineup pieces, stars, and value plays.**

Giannis Antetokounmpo, PF/SF, Bucks ($11,300)

As a process play, Giannis Antetokounmpo stands out at the top of Monday's mid-sized eight-game slate. There are some concerns, though.

Let's start with the good, and that's Giannis' overall output this season. He's posted a whopping 38.8% usage rate in all floor situations, which is especially noteworthy given Milwaukee co-star Jrue Holiday returned from his ankle injury on Friday. Plus, "The Greek Freak" has turned that heavy shot volume into 60.2 FanDuel points per 36 minutes.

Now, the concerns are obvious. Antetokounmpo hasn't posted over 49 FanDuel points in his past four games, and I'm wondering if the knee and ankles injuries he's been listed with are taking their toll. That's specifically because his "hustle" stats are way down, posting just two blocks and four steals in the past five games. He averages 2.39 combined per 36 minutes on the entire season, so his production there has tanked considerably.

Still, Giannis comfortably leads numberFire's projections in a full role today, and with two days off since his last clunker, perhaps the concerns will be alleviated tonight.

Stephen Curry, PG, Warriors ($10,400)

Stephen Curry cemented his team-based legacy by winning last year's title without Kevin Durant. He's clearly gunning for individual-based credit now.

It's been amazing to watch him, at 34 years old, emerge as an MVP-caliber option for a surprisingly incapable Warriors. His entire career was always marked with an asterisk due to a supreme supporting cast, but now Curry is very much towing his teammates.

He's turned a team-best 30.8% usage rate into 1.51 FanDuel points per minute, which leaves him objectively under-salaried here on an average night. To me, what stands out is a career-low 61.6% of Curry's FanDuel output is coming from scoring.

Translation? He's not nearly as dependent on 40- or 50-point scoring outings to get his. He showed that just yesterday with 15 assists against the Rockets.

The Dubs-Pelicans clash has a slate-high 232.5-point total, and Curry is the standout star inside of that one.

Bam Adebayo, PF/C, Heat ($8,300)

If you're looking for a stud center on this slate, you'll have to wait another day. The highest-salaried option is just $8,700.

That's the inconsistent Karl-Anthony Towns, but the clear headliner today is Bam Adebayo. Adebayo returned on Sunday to a Miami squad that -- with no other way to put it -- is inside of an injury-filled nightmare.

Per the injury report, Jimmy Butler (knee) is already out, and Tyler Herro (ankle), Duncan Robinson (ankle), and Gabe Vincent (knee) are all likely to join him. With Herro and Butler off the floor this season, Bam has starred.

He's seen a 3.5-percentage-point increase in usage rate with that star duo off the floor, and that's translated into an increase of 0.16 FanDuel points per minute during that floor situation.

Kyle Lowry is wildly over-salaried due to a 50-minute, 64.5-FanDuel-point effort on Friday when Adebayo also was out of the lineup. Now healthy, Bam remains the superior way to target a Heat team that's facing a great deal of adversity at the moment.