3 NBA DraftKings Studs to Target on 2/26/18
Anthony Davis, PF/C, New Orleans Pelicans
DraftKings Salary: $11,700
Anthony Davis' price is up, but it actually might not have risen high enough yet to reflect his play. He has averaged an absurd 73.6 DraftKings points over his past five games and since DeMarcus Cousins went down, AD has more games of 60-plus DraftKings points than games with less than 60 DK points.
He's averaging a whopping 40.4 minutes over his past five, which puts his DraftKings-points-per-minute mark at 1.81 during that span. While that is somewhat inflated, it really isn't that far above his 1.65 DraftKings-points-per-minute mark with Cousins off the floor this season. With that type of efficiency and nearly 40 minutes a night at his disposal, maybe it is just time to recognize Davis as a $12,000-type player.
Davis needs 58.5 DraftKings points to reach five-times his salary-implied value at this price tag, which is quite realistic since he may have the best possible game script available. Tonight's showdown between the New Orleans Pelicans and Phoenix Suns features the league's two worst scoring defenses. It should come as no surprise, then, that New Orleans has the highest implied team total on the slate, and that the 236.5-point over/under in this is one of the highest we have seen all season. The Pels are expected to outscore their season average by 11.0 points, providing a boost to all their players.
Davis is the most obvious stud to pay up for, but don't forget about Jrue Holiday ($8,100). He's averaged 51.1 DraftKings points over his past five games and is still drastically underpriced. Also, both Holiday and Davis are averaging 39-plus minutes on zero days of rest this season, so don't expect their minutes to be limited tonight. Fatigue could definitely be a factor after an overtime game last night, but the Pels have shown no caution in previous back-to-back sets, actually playing their stars more minutes in the second game. Both AD and Holiday excellent anchors for your lineup tonight.
