3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on 9/8/20

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.

Anthony Davis, C, Los Angeles Lakers ($11,400)

One thing has been consistent in the inconsistent year of 2020--Anthony Davis torching the Houston Rockets. Davis averaged 24.5 points and 12.5 rebounds in the regular season against Houston and has followed that up in this series averaging 29.5 points and 12.0 rebounds. Davis is by far the Los Angeles Lakers' primary scoring option currently, as his 24 shots last game were eight more than teammate LeBron James or any other Los Angeles player.

Davis has a 29.1% usage rate this series as well, which is ahead of LeBron as well. With the tallest player on the floor usually 6'7" Robert Covington for Houston, the Lakers turn to their near seven-footer for easy baskets and rebounds. quite often. Davis has a new position on FanDuel for this slate, which will make for slightly more opportunity cost to draft him in the only center position, but he is well worth the spot compared to the inconsistent Brook Lopez or the 11.7% usage rate of P.J. Tucker.

Bam Adebayo, PF, Miami Heat ($8,500)

With Davis no longer listed as a power forward, the window is wide open to draft Miami Heat power forward Bam Adebayo early and often. As anticipated, Adebayo's counting stats have relished the opportunity to face the Milwaukee Bucks because of their top overall pace in the NBA.

Adebayo has exceeded 45 FanDuel points in four of his last five contests now, which explains the rise in salary on this slate. In those four contests, Adebayo is averaging 16 rebounds, and a lot of that work has been on the offensive glass, as Adebayo's 11.2% offensive rebounding percentage is tops of any player remaining in the postseason. Adebayo and the aforementioned Covington appear to be the clear duo to draft in cash and single entry tournaments at power forward with AD now listed as a center.

Khris Middleton, SG, Milwaukee Bucks ($8,000)

With the presumptive two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo the current story of the NBA playoffs, as he is truly a question mark to play Game 5 after leaving Game 4 with a bad ankle injury, the fantasy world is waiting as well. Antetokounmpo missing Game 5 would open up plenty of value for Milwaukee, both in terms of usage and minutes as they try to replace their MVP.

Khris Middleton will be tremendously popular if Giannis were to be ruled out, largely thanks to 59.6 FanDuel points outing in that game on Sunday, which came with a massive 38% usage as the Bucks leaned heavily on their other All-Star. However, Middleton would absolutely still be worth a long look if Giannis were to suit up. Middleton has quietly performed incredibly well in his last five games, averaging 45.8 FanDuel points per game in those contests, and in four of them, Giannis played his entire minutes allotment. Middleton is already projected for 38.9 FanDuel points on the slate with Giannis still baked into the projections, and that number would balloon if "The Greek Freak" is a no-go for Game 5 with Miami.

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.