3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on 3/18/21
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.
All injury updates are via the NBA's official injury report or numberFire's player news.
Damian Lillard, PG, Portland Trail Blazers
FanDuel Salary: $10,400
The return of C.J. McCollum on Tuesday did nothing to slow down the machine that is Damian Lillard, who dropped 50 real-life and 68.2 FanDuel points on these very same New Orleans Pelicans.
Lillard has now squared off against the Pels twice this season, and he's pegged them for two of his three best fantasy performances of the season. When you consider that -- according to FantasyPros -- no team in the league has ceded more fantasy points to the opposition's one-guards over their last 15 games than New Orleans, it all starts to add up.
According to numberFire's matchup heat map, the Portland Trail Blazers' 121.25 implied total tonight is the second-largest on the slate. Couple that with the fact that among the 12 teams playing tonight, these two squads rank 11th and 12th in defensive efficiency, and you have a bout that's ripe for fantasy scoring.
Fire up Lillard here and don't look back.
Bradley Beal, SG, Washington Wizards
FanDuel Salary: $9,500
Look, I get it -- spending up on a player going up against the Utah Jazz might feel risky, but get over that. The fact is, Bradley Beal is an excellent play tonight.
The key here is that Russell Westbrook has been declared out tonight for the Washington Wizards, which makes Beal one of the best plays on the slate. In six games without Russ on the court this season, Beal has racked up 46.1, 47.5, 48.6, 55.5, 65.1, and 69.8 FanDuel points. Two of the latter three of those outputs came against defenses that rank first and ninth in the league against shooting guards. So again, don't let the matchup sway your thinking here.
It's also worth noting that Utah has the ninth-worst defensive rating in the league over their last seven games, according to NBA.com. Take advantage of Beal's 41% usage rate and 1.52-FanDuel-point-per-minute average with Westbrook off the court -- via RotoGrinders -- and roster him on this six-game slate.
(Update: Westbrook is now listed as "available," which hurt's Beal's value considerably. Donovan Mitchell ($8,300) is in a good spot with Mike Conley out and is worthy of consideration at shooting guard.)
Zion Williamson, PF, New Orleans Pelicans
FanDuel Salary: $8,400
I touted Zion Williamson in this space two days ago coming off three consecutive underwhelming performances, and we'll go right back there today.
As I mentioned on Tuesday, Zion's duds were due to the fact that the Pelicans entered the fourth quarter of those games with an average margin of 28.7 -- that's not even close to ideal for fantasy purposes. However, tonight's clash between these two squads currently shows a spread of one point -- that'll do.
Zion has now faced Portland twice this season, and he's pegged them for 47.0 and 54.2 FanDuel points.
At tonight's salary, Williamson would need 42 FanDuel points to achieve 5X value (or 5.0 fantasy points for every $1,000 in salary). This feels like a good time to mention that he eclipsed 42 fantasy points in 10 of his 11 outings prior to the All-Star break.
The Pels' 120.25 implied total is just one point behind the Blazers' and is good for third on this six-gamer. The environment is perfect for an explosive performance from the 20-year-old.
