3 NBA DraftKings Studs to Target on 1/24/18

LaMarcus Aldridge, PF/C, San Antonio Spurs

DraftKings Salary: $8,400

LaMarcus Aldridge is coming off a game in which he nearly scored 50 fantasy points -- a very strong showing in which he scored an efficient 30 points on just 18 shots while leading the shorthanded San Antonio Spurs to a victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. That's the good news. The bad news is that he played 41 minutes in that contest and the Spurs have limited his playing time somewhat on the second half of back-to-backs this season.

In nine of such instances, his minutes are down to 30.9 per game, while his scoring average has dropped to 18. That is worth noting, and makes Aldridge worth considering as a fade candidate if we get word that Pau Gasol will return tonight.

Alright, we got that out of the way, so it is all LMA love the rest of the way. With San Antonio extremely banged up at the moment, their offense has run entirely through Aldridge. He has responded well to the additional looks, averaging 43 DraftKings points over the past week. At this price tag, he needs 42 DraftKings points to reach value, which he has exceeded in seven of his past 10 games. He's averaged 1.17 DraftKings points with Kawhi Leonard off the floor, a number that has risen even further with both Leonard and Gasol sidelined. In over 800 minutes in this situation, Aldridge is averaging 1.27 DraftKings points per minute, which would require just 33 minutes of him to reach value tonight.

You could argue that his usual level of efficiency would be somewhat diminished in a tough matchup against Marc Gasol and the Memphis Grizzlies, but that hasn't been the case this season. Aldridge has averaged 1.24 DraftKings points per minute in two meetings with Memphis, even with Gasol in the lineup. That type of efficiency has been good for a 42.5-DraftKings-point average, which is almost exactly what he needs tonight.

If Gasol suits up, Aldridge is far from a must-play given the situation. However, if we see the same depth chart for San Antonio that we saw last night, Aldridge is simply way too cheap to not have some exposure to.