3 NBA DraftKings Studs to Target on 10/17/18

Chris Paul, PG, Houston Rockets

DraftKings Salary: $8,900

Houston Rockets point guard Chris Paul spent the first six years of his career with New Orleans, his opponent on opening night. And you can bet you house that he is fired up to play each and every time he gets the chance to face them.

That certainly plays out if you look at his performances. Paul has faced his old team 24 times since moving on. He has never scored below 30 DraftKings points in those games and has scored at least 40 in 18 of those 24, including the past 8 straight, a streak which includes 4 games with at least 57.8 DraftKings points. Yeah, you could say he comes to play.

In an average of 27.6 preseason minutes per game this year, Paul scored 12.4 points, dished out 8.6 dimes, and stole the ball an average of 1.8 times. He's healthy and raring to go in a game with a total set at 229.5 -- the highest on the slate by a whole 3.5 points.

We have him pegged for 48.5 DraftKings points tonight, the fourth-highest mark in our projections. He's worth using in all formats, and while I hesitate to call him (or anyone) a must-play, it certainly feels like an apt descriptor for Paul in cash games.