NBA

3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on 8/14/20

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 today.

Tobias Harris, SF, Philadelphia 76ers ($7,600)

The NBA's final regular-season day is here, and with it brings the weirdest slate of the entire season. Several stars are already confirmed out with all eight teams on Friday's main slate having absolutely no motivation to win their respective games, including Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, Jimmy Butler, Victor Oladipo, T.J. Warren, Bam Adebayo, and Myles Turner. That is only the list as of 1 a.m. eastern on Friday morning, and several more will be announced to simply not start (and therefore not play) before lock on Friday. For up to date news and to avoid playing a zero, stay tuned to numberFire's player news page for the most recent updates.

Of the players that may at least play a half of good basketball on Friday, Tobias Harris is the most expensive that may actually do so. With Ben Simmons done for the year, and Joel Embiid nursing an ankle injury, the 76ers will almost surely be without their two key stars, which would leave the usage wide open for Harris. The only issue is that Harris is nursing an ankle injury himself, so whether he is in the starting lineup or not will indicate if he plays at all. He is not currently on the injury report, so if Tobias Harris starts and even gets a half of basketball, he will surely be able to do some damage against the Houston Rockets, who give up the seventh-most FanDuel points to opposing small forwards, and the fourth-most three-point attempts in the NBA.

Michael Porter Jr, PF, Denver Nuggets ($7,000)

Michael Porter Jr. is the most expensive player in the FanDuel player pool with a real chance to see plenty of minutes on Friday. Porter Jr., the second-year player, was not a regular member of the Denver Nuggets' rotation before the injuries to Jamal Murray, Will Barton, and Gary Harris, and even despite his great run inside the NBA's bubble, it is a question whether he is going to remain inside the Nuggets' starting five moving forward. Porter Jr. will almost certainly start and play a half against the Toronto Raptors, which may make him one of the few higher-priced options to even suit up. He still is developing significantly on the defensive end, so Michael Malone may opt to get the young wing additional minutes on Friday, knowing this will be his final chance with the playoffs starting next week.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, SG, Oklahoma City Thunder ($6,900)

As mentioned, the Oklahoma City Thunder are protecting Chris Paul on Friday, as so many teams are with stars. Paul will sit with what is being deemed a hand injury, which opens the door for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. SGA has had no issues absorbing minutes this year, currently fourth in the NBA in minutes, and was already rested on Monday, which was the second half of a back-to-back. Gilgeous-Alexander is one of the safest options to take the floor on the higher-priced echelon of players, and his projections from numberFire currently predict 28.5 minutes for the young guard, which would be many more than most significant contributors will see on a Friday of basketball with zero stakes attached to it.


Austin Swaim is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Austin Swaim also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username ASwaim3. 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.