We are back to work in our NBA DFS journey with a nice 11-game slate on tap tonight. The Coach is here with his starting five to give authentic insight from ‘inside the ropes’. As evidenced by Steph Curry’s last-minute injury designation, the NBA 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
Kyrie Irving ($9k DraftKings and $8.8k Fanduel)
Our first guard spot goes to Kyrie Irving, and yes I know he is coming off the subpar showing Tuesday night against the Wizards. That being said, a great time to be on a player in daily is when he has disappointed the masses. Irving’s DFS salary is reasonable and he still boasts a near 40-point-per-game fantasy average. Kyrie comes with dual guard position eligibility and a green light matchup against the Pelican’s defense, which ranks 25th in fantasy points allowed to the guard spot. Finally, the Mavs-Pelicans game boasts the slate’s second-highest implied game total of 232.5.
Darius Garland ($7.5k DraftKings and $7.6k Fanduel)
At the off-guard spot tonight it will be Cavalier’s Darius Garland. Garland gets the green light from the coach tonight facing the Miami Heat defense ranked in the bottom half of the league in points allowed to guards. Garland, the overall PG9, is averaging 36.40 fantasy points in the season, but in his last four, he is at 42.3 per game. Finally, he is averaging nearly eight dimes per game in his last three contests, pairing nicely with the 1.5-1 FanDuel assists scoring bonus.
Substitute Options: Jamal Murray, Jordan Poole, Russell Westbrook, CJ McCollum, Ben Simmons (DFS punt play)
DFS Forwards
Mikal Bridges ($6.4k DraftKings and $6.6k Fanduel)
We hope to not be a game too late at our small forward spot with Mikal Bridges, as he smashed the Grizzlies on Monday night for 50 fantasy points. He gets the green light from the Coach tonight facing the Nuggets who allow the fifth most fantasy points a game to the forward position. Bridges, the overall SF9, is at nearly 30 points per game, and in the last two games, that has ballooned to 44.75.
Rostering him in your DFS build gives us the flexibility to use him in either the small forward or shooting guard spot. To top it off the Nuggets-Knicks tilt features a slate high 240 point implied game total.
Jalen Wilson ($5.6k DraftKings and $5.1k Fanduel)
We are paying down at the second forward spot so that we can pay up at the center spot tonight. Jalen Wilson fits the bill for us. Wilson can be used in either forward spot within your builds and will smash his salary if he keeps up the recent fantasy production. During his last three games, Wilson has averaged 29.1 fantasy points and 35.6 minutes per game. He gets the green light from the Coach with a match-up versus a Charlotte team ranked just 24th in points allowed to the forward spot.
Substitute Options: Jaylen Brown, Trey Murphy, Kelly Oubre, Josh Okogie
DFS Center
Domantas Sabonis ($DraftKings and $10.6k Fanduel)
Tonight’s slate features a plethora of legit options at the center position, but we are locking in the Kings Domantas Sabonis. He does not possess the ceiling that Jokic does but he has a much better matchup statistically. Sabonis faces the 76ers minus Joel Embid and they are in the bottom half of the league in points allowed to the bigs.
Sabonis is coming off three straight games over the 50-point mark and has done so in four of his past five outings. The Nuggets-Knicks game is one that we want exposure to with an implied game total of 240. Sabonis, similar to Jokic, is also a nightly triple-double-threat that again pairs nicely with the FanDuel rebound and assist scoring bonuses.
Substitute Options: Kristaps Porzingis, Daniel Gafford, Jakob Poeltl
DFS Tournament Stacks
Jalen Brunson-Mikal Bridges-KAT/Jamal Murray-Nikola Jokic-Russell Westbrook/ Kyrie Irving-P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford
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 for any late inactives.
