NBA

3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on 3/25/21

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.

Kawhi Leonard, SF, Los Angeles Clippers

FanDuel Salary: $9,700

The crop of high-salaried players on this slate is definitely not something to write home about, but we'll start it off with Kawhi Leonard against his former team, the San Antonio Spurs.

Kawhi faced off against San Antonio last night and dropped 51.9 FanDuel points. In six matchups against the Spurs as a member of the Los Angeles Clippers, Leonard has averaged 53.2 fantasy points.

The Clippers enter tonight's slate with an implied total of 114.25, which is tops on the slate, according to numberFire's Matchup Heat Map. Rostering Leonard is an excellent way of gaining exposure to the Clips.

The 29-year-old has recorded at least 46.3 FanDuel points in 21 of his 38 games this season, including 16 outputs of more than 50. Kawhi's ceiling hasn't been through the roof, but his floor has been solid in recent play.

Bam Adebayo, PF, Miami Heat

FanDuel Sportsbook: $8,000

Bam Adebayo wasn't exactly a home run when we featured him in this spot two days ago, but we'll go right back to him tonight.

Even in a "down" game on Tuesday, Bam still managed 36.6 FanDuel points -- he has now recorded at least that much in 21 of his last 23 games, including 16 outings of 40-plus. At tonight's salary, Adebayo would need only 40 fantasy points to accrue five-times value (or 5.0 fantasy points for every $1,000 in salary).

The Miami Heat will take on the Portland Trail Blazers, who rank second-worst in the league in defensive efficiency, according to NBA.com.

numberFire's algorithm projects Bam to amass 40.3 fantasy points, making him the best point-per-dollar play at power forward.

Julius Randle, PF, New York Knicks

FanDuel Sportsbook: $10,200

Why, yes, we're going to double-down at power forward -- this time with Julius Randle.

For the second consecutive game, Randle will be taking on the defensive-deficient Washington Wizards, and getting a piece of whoever is facing Washington is a key on any slate.

The usually slow-paced New York Knicks are in a huge pace-up spot -- the Wizards play faster than any team suiting up tonight -- which is a big factor in New York having the second-highest implied total.

The individual matchup for the Knicks' big man is absolutely delicious. On the season, Washington ranks 27th against power forwards, per numberFire's DvP tool. That's a boon for Randle, who has totaled fewer than 44.2 FanDuel points only twice in his last 11 efforts.

Our model projects Randle to outproduce the next-highest scoring power forward (Adebayo) by 5.3 FanDuel points.