NBA

3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on 11/6/19

Jason Schandl  —  @JasonSchandl Nov 6th, 2019
Returning from his two-game suspension, Karl-Anthony Towns should pick up right where he left off and post a strong performance against the Grizzlies tonight.

Basketball is the most consistent sport for daily fantasy purposes.

A top slugger in baseball will have his fair share of 0-for-4 days, and an elite fantasy football player is at risk of having games where his team's offense as a whole is shut down. A high-priced NBA stud is generally going to get his, though. With so many possessions in a game providing opportunities to produce, top fantasy basketball options will be posting high scores just about every night.

While this consistency puts us in a good position to identify top plays, it also means you can't afford to miss when you're paying up for someone. Even with strong value plays in your lineup, paying up and getting a dud is likely going to leave your lineup drawing pretty close to dead.

Let's get right into it and look at which top players should be the focal points of your lineups tonight.

Karl-Anthony Towns, C, Minnesota Timberwolves ($11,100)

Karl-Anthony Towns' per-game averages don't tell the story of how good he's been this season, since he was suspended early in the third quarter of his fourth (and most recent) game.

He dominated to the tune of 32.0 points, 13.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 2.7 steals and 2.0 blocks in just 33.7 minutes in his first three games, though, with those minutes held back by a blowout in game number two.

His pace of 66.5 FanDuel points per 36 minutes is not going to be sustainable, but he did see a significant jump in per-minute FanDuel scoring (1.25 to 1.47) between his third and fourth NBA seasons, and it would be no surprise for the 23-year-old to set another career-high mark in the 2019-20 campaign.

Tonight's matchup also positions him well, as this year's Memphis Grizzlies are shaping up to be a plus matchup in fantasy. They are playing at the NBA's fourth-fastest pace (106.9) while ranking 17th in defensive rating (107.8) and 21st in total rebound rate (49.3%) to open the year.

Russell Westbrook, PG, Houston Rockets ($10,300)

Russell Westbrook (and really the rest of the Houston Rockets) are tough to trust in cash today thanks to some serious blowout risk. They're 17-point favorites against the decimated Golden State Warriors.

That risk doesn't take away the upside available in this matchup, though. The Warriors are allowing opponents the third-most points and fifth-most assists per game on the year, and building up a massive lead will likely include plenty of scoring from Houston's starting five.

Westbrook is playing a somewhat distant second-fiddle to James Harden in the offense (28.4% usage to Harden's 40.9%), but the reduced price tag helps make up for that, especially since they're both high-variance plays in this spot.

The reduced usage hasn't left Westbrook without upside, either, as he's topped 58 FanDuel points in three of six games to start his tenure in Houston.

Kyle Lowry, PG, Toronto Raptors ($8,700)

Kyle Lowry doesn't offer nearly the upside of those first two guys, but the difference in salary reflects that.

He's been a fairly consistent producer all year, not scoring fewer than 35 FanDuel points in a game while also posting at least 42 in three of his last five and averaging 41.4 per game on the season.

The Toronto Raptors are bordering on reckless with the minutes they're giving the 33-year-old (an NBA-high 38.8 per game), but that's something we can take advantage of in DFS until it comes back to bite the team.

He should have little trouble turning huge minutes into strong production in tonight's matchup with the Sacramento Kings, who have opened the season ranked 23rd in defensive rating (right in line with last year's ranking of 21st).

Lowry's not a high-ceiling play, but that workload makes him a solid, safe option with a great floor.

Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.