3 NBA DraftKings Studs to Target on 1/9/19

Giannis Antetokounmpo, SF/PF, Milwaukee Bucks

DraftKings Price: $11,100

There are three players on the slate tonight who cost more than $11,000 on DraftKings: James Harden, Anthony Davis, and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Harden, of course, needs almost no justification for using. He's been otherworldly without Chris Paul on the court, and if you want to spend up to use him, you absolutely should. While Davis has been the best player in fantasy this season, there is reason to avoid him tonight. The New Orleans Pelicans are 14-point favorites against the Cleveland Cavaliers, so he might not see anywhere near the playing time he's used to seeing.

If you don't want to worry about that blowout risk and don't want to spend 24.4% of your salary cap on one player, then Giannis offers an excellent alternative. To say the sixth-year player is having a career year is really downplaying his efforts. His numbers have all jumped, yet all of the increases are being seen in 3.2 fewer minutes per game than last season.

Looking at his per-36 numbers exemplifies this. He jumped from 26.3 points, 9.8 boards, and 4.7 assists per-36 minutes last year to 28.5, 13.5, and 6.5, respectively, this year. He's shooting 58.3% from the field, an incredible 5.4% higher than his previous career best. This comes despite the fact he's shooting just 16.9% from deep.

We have Giannis projected for 56.1 DraftKings points tonight, which would equate to a value of roughly 5.1 DraftKings points per $1,000.