3 NBA DraftKings Studs to Target on 12/26/19

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.

Andre Drummond, C, Detroit Pistons

DraftKings Price: $10,000

There's no ifs, ands or buts about it -- the Washington Wizards are a team to target players against in daily fantasy. Per NBA.com, they rank dead last in both defensive rating (116.1) and rebounding rate (47.6%), and that has allowed opposing centers to excel. According to Fantasy Pros, centers have done so to the tune of 21.3 points, 18.7 rebounds and 58.9 DraftKings points per game.

By himself, Andre Drummond -- in 33.9 minutes per game -- is averaging 49.3 DK points on 18.0 points and 16.1 rebounds. Since returning from injury four games ago, he's averaging 48.2 DK points with a double-double in three of the four and a 27-point outburst last time out against the 76ers. His usage rate is up to 26% in that span.

In this juicy matchup, our models project Drummond as the slate's second-highest scorer with 48.7 DK points.

Damian Lillard, PG, Portland Trail Blazers

DraftKings Price: $8,500

This doesn't project to be a very high-scoring DFS slate. The top over/under on the board is currently set at 230 points, and three teams rank in the bottom six in the league in pace. This year, the Utah Jazz are not one of those teams. They still sit below the league average in pace, but their 100.65 possessions per game are not far off the Portland Trail Blazers' 102.32 mark through 31 games. And their defensive is barely in the top 10.

Without Mike Conley making much of an impact because of injuries, Utah has been just OK against opposing point guards. They give up nearly 48 DK points a game, including 2.4 threes and 2.2 steals.

Damian Lillard averages only one steal a night, but his 3.2 threes are elite, and his hot shooting helps to account for 60.8% of his 46.4 DK-point average. His role as the lead dog is unrivaled, as well. His 28.1% usage is 2.5 percentage points clear of C.J. McCollum's, while his 19.0 field goal attempts are less than one away from the team lead. In fact, the last five games have seen him lead the way with 28.2 points on 21.6 attempts.

Due to his high volume, Lillard is virtually matchup-proof.

Donovan Mitchell, PG/SG, Utah Jazz

DraftKings Price: $8,100

Opposite Lillard, Donovan Mitchell figures to get the start at point for Utah with Conley ruled out once again. Because of that, Mitchell draws a fantasy-friendly matchup against Lillard and the Blazers. On a per-game basis, Portland is surrendering 25.1 points and 50.0 DK points to the position, and they are forcing very few turnovers. There is a lot to like about the defense-versus-position numbers.

The same goes for Mitchell. The third-year guard is putting up career-high clips in points and rebounds all the while shooting an improved 44.9% from the field. His usage rate has dropped ever so slightly from a year ago, however, NBA Wowy tells us that in the 580 minutes without Conley, he's used up a team-high 31.5% of Utah's offensive possessions en route to 1.14 DK points per minute.

At that rate, Mitchell needs just 35.5 minutes to pay off his price tag, but that shouldn't be a problem. He has played 35-plus minutes in seven straight games, averaging 40.5 DK points per game in the process. Tonight, we have him pegged for 40.6 DK points over 36.3 minutes of work.

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__14. 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.