3 NBA DraftKings Studs to Target on 11/19/19
While building a daily fantasy basketball lineup, it's important to make sure you find the right studs to anchor your team. As the most expensive players in your lineup, they need big-time production to match their high price tag.
You may find it hard to fit some of these guys in while staying under the salary cap, but you can check out our projections to find value players for your rosters. Let's take a look at the top high-priced DraftKings plays of the day.
LeBron James, PG/SF, Los Angeles Lakers
DraftKings Price: $11,100
Facing the Oklahoma City Thunder isn't the best proposition for an opposing DFS play. Despite some serious roster changes this offseason, the Paul George-less, Russell Westbrook-less Thunder are 12th in defensive rating, 19th in pace and 10th in opponent points per game, per NBA.com.
It's a pace down game, but that shouldn't keep us from targeting LeBron James on such a short slate. James is priced $1,300 above the rest of the field for a reason, and that's in part because of his 56.6 DraftKings points per game on the season. And even if the Lakers manage to pull away with OKC playing for the second time in two nights, it might not matter. On Sunday, LBJ turned in 68.25 DK points in the Los Angeles Lakers' 21-point home win over the Atlanta Hawks. But ideally, the Thunder will keep this closer as they'll remain in L.A. after facing the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples on Monday.
With Anthony Davis somewhat limited of late, James is the only true elite play on the board, and we project him for a slate-high 51.6 DK points.
Damian Lillard, PG, Portland Trail Blazers
DraftKings Price: $9,200
In truly opposite fashion of James against the Thunder, Damian Lillard against the New Orleans Pelicans is a no-brainer. The Pels are not only the NBA's third-worst defense per 100 possessions, but they possess the fifth-fastest pace and allow a league-worst 56.4 DK points to the point guard position. In fact, FantasyPros has them in the bottom six in all of points, assists, steals and three-pointers surrendered on a per-game basis.
As most all of us know, Dame excels in basically all of those areas, averaging 50.3 DK points thanks to 29.8 points, 6.8 assists, 1.2 steals and 3.5 threes a night. He has cooled a bit since a scorching hot start, but he's still averaging 40.3 DK points over his last five, including three of at least 40 and one over 50.
The only concern here is the back-to-back in The Big Easy after playing in Houston less than 24 hours ago. In Lillard's most recent back-to-back, he was not so good, going just 2-for-12 for 9 points and falling short of 30 fantasy points versus Toronto. However, the previous back-to-back saw him hit for 75 DK points in the second half of that set.
You can feel safe in rostering Dame in such an advantageous spot. Our projections agree, expecting him to return 42.8 DK points in 34.4 minutes.
Brandon Ingram, SF/PF, New Orleans Pelicans
DraftKings Price: $7,200
On the opposing side of Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers, Brandon Ingram is the Pelican in the best spot to produce a big game. Next to Houston, Portland is second-worst against power forwards, allowing 55.0 DK points including the third-most points (26.0) and blocks (2.0) per game.
Ingram is also having a great start to his first campaign in New Orleans, as he has shown himself to be a Most Improved Player candidate through nine games. Behind 25.9 points a game 53.7% shooting (46.9% from three), the 22-year-old is posting 44.3 DK points per game. And lucky us, his price is down nearly $1,000 from where it was 11 days ago.
The only issue? Ingram is listed as questionable because of a knee injury that has held him out of the team's last four games. He has been day-to-day with soreness, so he could return at any point. In other words, be on the lookout for more information following shootaround. If he is in and without restrictions, he could be a steal at his not-so-studly price tag.
Assuming he plays, we conservatively project Ingram for 30.5 minutes and 31.0 DK points in what projects to be the highest-scoring game of the night.
Brett Oswalt is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Brett Oswalt also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username BrettOswalt. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her 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.
