4 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on 4/2/21

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.

Tonight's slate is loaded with appealing studs in the mid-range, which means we can target at least four for our lineups.

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.

Trae Young, PG, Atlanta Hawks

FanDuel Salary: $8,700

Since going through a four-game stretch in which he failed to top 35.6 FanDuel points three times, Trae Young has managed to produce at least 43.1 in five of his last six.

Young has now eclipsed 43 fantasy points in 27 of his 46 efforts this season, and he should have a good chance to tally a 28th such outing tonight against the New Orleans Pelicans. On the season, New Orleans ranks 26th against opposing point guards per 48 minutes, according to numberFire's DvP tool. There's also a good chance the Pels will be without one of their top defenders in Lonzo Ball.

It's worth noting how explosive the 22-year-old has been without John Collins in the lineup. Per RotoGrinders, Young utilizes 38.6% of his team's possessions while averaging 1.38 FanDuel points per minute in that split.

Ja Morant, PG, Memphis Grizzlies

FanDuel Salary: $6,800

Whether you want to call him a stud or a value option, Ja Morant is one of the slate's top plays -- which leads me to double down at point guard tonight.

I featured Morant in this spot two days ago, and he rewarded us by dropping 52.9 FanDuel points on the defensively stingy Utah Jazz. It'll be the opposite extreme for him tonight as he'll be squaring off against a Minnesota Timberwolves squad that's atrocious versus the floor generals. In 2020-21, no team has ceded more fantasy points to the position than Minnesota. None.

In seven matchups against bottom-seven positional defenses this season, Ja has averaged 43.2 FanDuel points.

numberFire's algorithm projects Morant for 37 fantasy points tonight, making him the second-best point-per-dollar play at the point.

Fred VanVleet, SG, Toronto Raptors

FanDuel Salary: $7,400

In addition to Morant, Fred VanVleet was another player featured in Wednesday's studs column, and all he did was finish as the slate's top scorer with 58.3 FanDuel points.

Luckily for us, FVV's salary is exactly where it was two days ago -- well under $8,000. That'll play against a Golden State Warriors team that plays faster than any other team suiting up today. The Warriors have also been somewhat vulnerable to two-guards of late, allowing the 12th-most fantasy points to the position over their last 15 games, according to FantasyPros.

At tonight's salary, VanVleet would need 37 fantasy points to accrue five-times value (or 5.0 fantasy points for every $1,000 in salary), and he's surpassed that number in 25 of his 43 outings this campaign.

Our model predicts a 42.7-FanDuel-point outing from the 27-year-old, making VanVleet the best point-per-dollar play among all those with a salary above $5,200.

Julius Randle, PF, New York Knicks

FanDuel Salary: $8,900

Rostering Giannis Antetokounmpo ($11,000), who is in midst of a six-game "cold" streak, could provide some leverage tonight, though given that he's going up against the Portland Trail Blazers, I wouldn't expect his roster percentage to be insanely low. Instead, we can perhaps attain some leverage by turning to Julius Randle.

Randle is a mini "slump" of his own, as he hasn't surpassed 45.4 FanDuel points in any of his last four outings, including two outputs below 32. That could lead to the masses flocking elsewhere.

All that said, there's plenty to like about the 26-year-old big man tonight. First, the last time Randle had a salary lower than $8,900 was February 23rd -- so it's been a while. Second, this matchup is not necessarily one we have to avoid. The Dallas Mavericks rank 15th against power forwards in 2020-21, and over their last seven contests, they've surrendered the 7th-most real-life points and 11th-most fantasy points to the position.

Randle has racked up 41.8 or more FanDuel points in 32 of his 47 games this season, which gives him one of the best floors in DFS.