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: $10,400
Tonight, the Los Angeles Lakers are six-point home favorites over at FanDuel Sportsbook. They host the now new-look Houston Rockets, who will in all likelihood be without the likes of Clint Capela, Nene Hilario and Gerald Green due to Tuesday's 12-player trade, and who could also be absent the services of Russell Westbrook -- questionable with an injury. Everything could be on James Harden and a handful of complementary pieces.
For L.A., LeBron James has been healthy and as rock solid as he has been all year. In his last five, he's averaged 55.1 DraftKings points per game with averages of 25.8 points, 9.6 assists and 8.6 rebounds in 35 minutes a game. That's despite three wins of 15 or more points in that span, so the minutes will be there for King James, and he should take advantage in this matchup.
The Rockets are 15th in the NBA in defensive rating and 23rd in points allowed, but they have actually given up 1.4 more points with Capela off the floor this season. With Houston regrouping, look for James to keep up his great play. We project him for 56.0 DK points in 35.3 minutes of work.
Anthony Davis, PF/C, Los Angeles Lakers
DraftKings Price: $9,700
If you're not willing to pay more than $10,000 for any one player tonight (and that might be the case), Anthony Davis will benefit from that same matchup against the Rockets and possibly to an even greater extent. We've gone over some of the key defensive stats for the Rockets, but they have seen their rebound rate drop from 50.6% with Capela to 47.9% without their now former center.
Davis is averaging 9.1 boards with a 14.4% rebounding rate, and he has put together 19 games with double-digit rebounds. In those, the big man is averaging a very nice 56.4 DK points. Basically, when he's rebounding well, he's producing some big fantasy numbers for your liking.
You usually don't want to pay up for two studs from the same team, but if it's ever justified, it's in a spot like this. And no one can fault you for taking the savings and picking Davis as the center of your lineup in GPPs and tournaments. We project him for 52.5 DK points at a value of 5.4 points per $1,000.
Ben Simmons, PG/SF, Philadelphia
DraftKings Price: $8,100
Ben Simmons is also a tournament consideration, and he might be only viable in that format. His opponent, the Milwaukee Bucks, are first in the NBA in defensive rating (by a gap of 2.4 points per 100) and are nine-point favorites as they take on the Philadelphia 76ers. But there are some signs of a good game from Simmons. His team is looking to right the ship after three straight losses to fellow Eastern Conference squads.
Simmons' elite production and usage has dipped with Joel Embiid back on the floor for Philly, but he's still averaged 43.6 DK points on the year and -- according to NBA Wowy -- 1.14 DK points per minute with his star center at his side. That is up to 1.24 in the last three games, during which Simmons has turned 36.7 minutes into 42.9 DK points a night.
In what projects to be an up-and-down game, given the 227 over/under, Simmons presents 50-point, triple-double upside even against the Bucks. He carries a projection of 42.3 DK points in 35.9 minutes.
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.