NBA

3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on 12/30/20

Brandon Gdula  —  @gdula13 Dec 30th, 2020
A six-game slate means an added emphasis on hitting floors and ceilings for the few studs. Which players should do that on Wednesday?

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-salaried 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 a heavy salary to roster someone. Even with strong value plays in your lineup, getting a dud from a stud is likely going to leave your lineup lacking.

Let's get right into it and look at which top players should be the focal points of your lineups today.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, PF, Milwaukee Bucks

FanDuel Salary: $11,000

Giannis Antetokounmpo has an $11,000 salary in a game against the Miami Heat, which we haven't seen since...yesterday. Antetokounmpo's Milwaukee Bucks blew out the Heat last night 144-97 behind a record-breaking 29 three-point makes. I'd be willing to bet they don't have a 139.3 offensive rating again tonight.

Antetokounmpo is now averaging 1.47 FanDuel points per minute after putting up a league-leading 1.86 over the 2019-20 season. The only thing that has really limited him has been minutes. In two games with at least 30 minutes, he has put up 52.6 and 56.1 FanDuel points. In two with 26 or fewer minutes, it's been 34.6 and 32.2.

The primary reason for this article is identifying the can't-miss studs of the night. Antetokounmpo still should be seen as such: the spread is only five points, and there's going to be some recency bias baked in after the blowout on the front-end of this back-to-back.

Kevin Durant, SF, Brooklyn Nets

FanDuel Salary: $9,500

Kevin Durant is yet to have an eruption game with the Brooklyn Nets but has had at least 38.6 FanDuel points in all three of his starts. He had a rest day on Monday and should be ready to pile up points in a game with a 239.5-point total against the Atlanta Hawks, who are a positive matchup across the board.

Durant has 22, 29, and 29 points in his three games thus far, and points always bring a floor of fantasy points. He's used 27.8% of the Nets' possessions when on the court this year and has a 62.8% effective field goal percentage. We've seen him clear 33 minutes in each of the past two games, as well.

numberFire projects Durant to get to 33.6 minutes tonight, which would lead to roughly 17 field goal attempts at his current rate. He's got the floor locked up, and his scoring gives him an unquestioned ceiling, as well.

Paul George, SG, Los Angeles Clippers

FanDuel Salary: $7,600

Paul George played 28 minutes last night and returned 34.7 FanDuel points, his third game in four with at least that many. His only dud game was an incredibly one-sided loss to the Dallas Mavericks, so the floor has been there for George, and his salary barely puts him in stud territory.

Kawhi Leonard didn't play last night and is still day-to-day. George, since the start of 2019-20, has a 33.5% usage rate with Leonard off the floor. That's an elite number at a reasonable salary.

The Los Angeles Clippers rank a modest sixth of 12 teams in implied team total tonight but are within 2.75 points of sitting second on the slate. Portland is pretty generous to the wing positions, and George ranks as our best value among all players tonight.