3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on 12/20/19
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.
Andre Drummond, C, Detroit Pistons ($9,600)
The Boston Celtics aren't an ideal matchup for centers, allowing the 10th-fewest fantasy points per minute to the position, but that's no excuse for Andre Drummond to be priced anywhere below $10,000.
Drummond has eclipsed 50.0 FanDuel points five times in his last six games, only falling shy of that mark when he was held to 24.5 minutes in a game in which he got in early foul trouble, playing less than one minute in the second quarter.
He looks fully healthy despite missing two games earlier this week, having returned to drop 22 points and 18 boards in 37.2 minutes of action on Wednesday, and this salary makes him a great play on Friday.
Jrue Holiday, SG, New Orleans Pelicans ($8,600)
With a matchup on the other side of the spectrum, Jrue Holiday gets a big boost against the Golden State Warriors here.
The Dubs own the NBA's fifth-worst defensive rating this season, and even though they're playing a middling pace, that still has them surrendering top-10 marks in both points and assists per game. They have also allowed the more fantasy points per minute to opposing shooting guards than any other team.
Jrue's numbers are down some this year, but 19.4 points, 6.6 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game are still more than enough to take advantage of this spot. He's topped 45 fantasy points twice in his last three games, and this matchup gives him a great shot of doing it again tonight.
Kyle Lowry, PG, Toronto Raptors ($8,300)
One more outstanding matchup, the Washington Wizards allow the most points per game in the NBA, thanks to a combination of a 30th-ranked defensive rating and 3rd-ranked pace. Predictably, that has them allowing top-10 fantasy numbers at the point.
The Toronto Raptors will be playing without Pascal Siakam (groin) for a while, and that should mean increased volume for Kyle Lowry on the offensive end.
Lowry's 29.3% usage rate with Siakam off the floor is the highest for any Raptor with at least 15 such minutes played this year, and he's averaged 1.36 FanDuel points per minute in that sample — a massive increase from 0.89 per minute on 18.9% usage with Siakam on.
Lowry has sported an average salary of $8,220 over his last five games. Not getting any real increase despite standing to see an expanded workload in an elite matchup makes him an outstanding play on this slate.
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.
