NBA

3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on Tuesday 1/31/23

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 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 post high scores just about every night.

While this consistency puts us in an excellent 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 will likely leave your lineup drawing pretty close to dead.

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

Giannis Antetokoumpo, PF/SF, Bucks ($12,200)

Giannis Antetokounmpo might finally be back to feeling like himself again.

The Bucks' franchise player has battled injuries (including a probable listing tonight) all year, but he might be feeling better. He's eclipsed 68 FanDuel points in back-to-back contests, amassing at least 40 points and 12 rebounds in both of them.

Importantly, this came with Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday in the lineup for both games, so he's recaptured his upside from when both have missed time this year.

The spot on Tuesday doesn't get much better for one of fantasy basketball's brightest stars. The Bucks are hosting Charlotte, who hold the NBA's fourth-worst defense rating (115.6) and allow the third-most FanDuel points per game to opposing power forwards. There hasn't been a team more inept at guarding big men this year.

That's probably a key reason why there's a whopping 244.5-point total in Milwaukee tonight. It could produce another explosive night at the office for "The Greek Freak."

Julius Randle, PF/C, Knicks ($9,400)

I really have a hard time seeing Julius Randle fail tonight. Anything can happen in NBA DFS, but he's set up so well at this salary.

In a larger sample, Randle has eclipsed 43 FanDuel points in 18 of his last 20 games. That's an absurd floor when you're expecting 47.0 FanDuel points at this salary for a 5.00 value score.

Plus, a bulk of those came with Knicks center Mitchell Robinson in the lineup. Randle sees an uptick in usage rate (1.2 percentage points) and FanDuel points per 36 minutes (+1.28) when Robinson is off the floor. Randle operates as the five in small-ball situations with that the case.

Tonight's matchup is a stellar one. He'll draw the Lakers, on the second leg of a back-to-back, at home. Los Angeles has ceded the fourth-most FanDuel points per game to centers this year.

The status of LeBron James and Anthony Davis is up in the air for this one, and I'd actually rather have both play for the competitiveness of this one. Either would be stellar to pair with Randle should the other sit, too.

LaMelo Ball, PG, Hornets ($8,000)

The aforementioned total in Milwaukee is too large to not grab more pieces from the Hornets' side opposite Giannis.

There's one in particular who sticks out like a sore thumb. LaMelo Ball tops all players in numberFire's projections today in terms of value score, and I expect that to result in tremendous popularity on FanDuel tonight.

Especially considering the matchup and game environment, Ball is just grossly under-salaried on this slate. He's averaged 44.5 FanDuel points per 36 minutes this year on a team-best 30.0% usage rate, which smashes value at the middle point. His upside in this one is obviously larger.

How did this even happen? Well, Ball's box score has been poor since he returned from injury two games ago. He's scuffled through 9-for-32 (28.1%) shooting in this time, but the second that bounces back from unsightly inefficiency to his usual moderate inefficiency (40.1% shooting on the year), he'll be on his way to cruising past requisite value here.

Ball and Giannis are a no-doubt mini-stack that should be all over single-entry formats tonight.