3 NBA DraftKings Studs to Target on 1/31/20

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.

Russell Westbrook, PG, Houston Rockets

DraftKings Price: $10,500

Over the last two-plus weeks, DraftKings has slowly but surely increased Russell Westbrook's price, from $8,400 on January 9 to where it is today. That's quite a jump, but his salary has yet to capture his recent production and potential ceiling. With James Harden looking more and more tired by the night he has seemingly taken over in the 1A role for the Houston Rockets' offense.

Harden checks in at $100 above Brodie, but over the last six games, the former is averaging just 41.7 DraftKings points per game to the latter's 64.5. In that same time, NBA.com tells us Westbrook has managed a team-high 35.8% usage rate and a 59.4% true shooting percentage to Harden's combination of a 30.0% usage and 47.5% true shooting. He has flipped the script we had become accustomed to seeing throughout most of the early season with the Bearded One reigning supreme as the center of the attack.

There's no reason to expect Westbrook to slow down now, particularly in this spot against the Dallas Mavericks. Dallas is already allowing more points per 100 on the road, and this evening they'll be without the services of Luka Doncic as he heals from a sprained ankle. They have a very healthy total (124.5) over at FanDuel Sportsbook.

And the icing on the cake is Westbrook's play at home, where he's shot 3.3% better from the floor with more rebounds, assists and DK points (52.7) per game. So it's fitting that we project him for 49.3 DK points but with the same serious upside that we have seen from him of late.

Anthony Davis, PF/C, Los Angeles Lakers

DraftKings Price: $9,600

The Los Angeles Lakers -- after having Tuesday's game postponed -- will be playing at home in Staples Center for the first time since Kobe Bryant's passing less than a week ago. LeBron James and company will be facing off against the Portland Trail Blazers with heavy hearts, but we can expect them to bring their best. However, so long as he's active Anthony Davis is the one you want to roll out across your lineups.

While LeBron possesses a sky-high ceiling, AD is positioned perfectly for his first monster game in a little while. He is coming off of a 47.25-DK-point showing in a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, yet he's failed to hit 50 going back to January 5. He has, however, been injured and with a minutes limit of late so there's good reason to excuse his lackluster (for his standards) production.

This is where we buy low. You might be saying, "But his price is up $300," and that's true, but he is $700 cheaper than James and $300 cheaper than Damian Lillard. Lillard has been on fire and he should come with some elevated ownership even at his price. The thing is, Davis is averaging one more fantasy points per game this year and has a great matchup against Carmelo Anthony and company. According to Fantasy Pros, the Blazers are allowing the second-most DK points per game (52.5) to the power forward spot.

We project Davis for fifth-most fantasy points (49.9) on the night.

Pascal Siakam, PF/C, Toronto Raptors

DraftKings Price: $8,200

At quite a discount to the other two options, Pascal Siakam makes for a super-strong point-per-dollar play with the Toronto Raptors taking on the Detroit Pistons. For starters, the Raptors are favored by 4.5, giving them a 113.75 implied total -- 1.35 above their season average. And that's despite what could be a concerning second night of a back-to-back set.

At a glance, Siakam hasn't been the greatest when playing on zero days rest. He's averaged an OK 34.3 DK points, but that's well short of his salary-implied total of 41. What that doesn't account for, though, is that due to injury recovery he played just 24 minutes in his most recent second day of a back-to-back, logging 29.5 DK points in the process. If you break it down by minute he's over a fantasy point per minute in four games.

Detroit will help to elevate that per-minute floor as they are ninth-worst versus the power forward slot, allowing the third-most points (23.9), threes (2.6) and steals (1.6). He's likely to see a lot of Markieff Morris and Sekou Doumbouya, who should be no match for Siakam and his unique skillset.

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.