We continue our NBA DFS journey today, we have a much smaller 4-game slate tonight. The Coach is here with his starting five to give authentic insight from ‘inside the ropes’. The NBA’s daily fantasy landscape with load management, injuries, and lineup fluxation is ever-changing. For reference, we have seen the main slate pay line on FanDuel between 275-300 points. This gives us a targeted baseline for our player recommendations within our player recommendations.
Our starting lineup is designed to provide core players with which to construct your DFS lineups. We strive for players who have the potential to be less owned and give us a lineup different from the masses. The fantasy point-per-game averages referenced are those across FanDuel scoring rules.
DFS Guards
Steph Curry ($8.8k DraftKings and $8.9k Fanduel)
At guard, we are starting with Steph Curry. He has the green light to face a Jazz defense ranked 29th in fantasy points allowed to the point guards. Curry is pumping out nearly 40 fantasy points per game and is the overall PG12 this season. He has been very steady of late, scoring over 30 fantasy points in his last three games, and has topped the 40-point mark in three of his last seven. Curry will also be playing in a very fantasy-friendly environment tonight with the slate’s second-highest implied game total of 228.5.
Collin Sexton ($7k DraftKings and $6.3k Fanduel)
We will continue to invest in the fantasy-friendly Jazz-Warriors game and roll out Collin Sexton as our shooting guard. Sexton checks in with a 27.77 per-game fantasy point-scoring clip that pairs well with his DFS price tag. Sexton gets a smash set-up versus a Golden State team that also ranks 29th in fantasy points allowed to the guard spot. Sexton offers us dual-position flexibility and has topped the 30-point fantasy mark in 6 of his last 11 contests. At that pace, he projects to provide us 4.5x-5x his DFS salary.
Additional Options: Anfernee Simons, Keaton Wallace (Trae Young-GTD), Jalen Green
DFS Forwards
Amen Thompson ($8k DraftKings and $8.8k Fanduel)
Starting at small forward will be Houston’s Amen Thompson. Thompson has been scorching of late, averaging 54.6 fantasy points and seeing 39 minutes per game in his last three contests. That pace would be the overall SF1 in fantasy right now above the likes of Jayson Tatum and Lebron James. Thompson is set up nicely two-fold, first, the Hawks rank just 23rd in points allowed to forwards and the Rockets-Jazz game has a fantasy-friendly 227 implied game total. As a bonus, you can use Thompson in your shooting guard spot as he is dual-position eligible.
Kris Middleton ($5.4k DraftKings and $6.2k Fanduel)
We need to have some exposure to the Bucks-Blazers game as it features the slate’s highest implied game total of 229.5. With Giannis and Dame most likely owned amongst the Bucks, we will pivot to Kris Middleton. Middleton returned to last night closer to his normal n=munited usage and produced 29.1 fantasy points. Before he missed the Miami game on January 23, Middleton had topped the 30-point fantasy mark in three straight contests and he is dual position eligible.
Additional Options: Deni Avdija, Andrew Wiggins, Tari Eason, Trace Jackson-Davis
DFS Center
Alperen Sengun ($9k DraftKings and $8.7k Fanduel)
At the center spot tonight there is Anthony Davis and everyone else, but we hesitate to pay the five-figure DFS salary. If you do roster him your builds you can save the necessary salary with some of our additional DFS forward options. The man in the middle for us tonight though, will be Alperen Sengun. We can save a bunch of salary and still roster the overall fantasy C4. Sengun on the season is averaging 43.18 fantasy points per game and just as important pulling down 10 boards per game. We cannot blame you for using AD but we want to able a more balanced build tonight.
Additional Options: Anthony Davis, Bobby Portis, Deandre Ayton
DFS Tournament Stacks
Steph Curry-Andrew Wiggins-Buddy Hield/ Giannis-Kris Middleton-Bobby Portis/ Anfernee Simons-Deni Avdija-Deandre Ayton/ Jalen Green-Amen Thompson-Alperen Sengun
Final Thoughts
As we stated earlier, we are trying to find player options projected for low ownership and value. Pay attention to implied game totals and try to get pieces of those games within your lineup construction. The top DFS builds will consist of the right balance between studs and value players that pay 2x-5x their DFS salaries. Good luck with your DFS builds and please like and follow us on social media. Please remember to double-check our recommendations once line-ups are finalized.
