3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on Thursday 11/4/21

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 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.

Which top players should be the focal points of your lineups today?

Jayson Tatum, F, Boston Celtics ($9,400)

It would be much easier to recommend Jimmy Butler in this spot. The Miami forward is scoring better now, but there's reason to believe his 52.4% shooting in October won't stay.

Jayson Tatum added a woeful 4-for-16 performance on Wednesday to his 38.3% shooting to start the season. Still, Tatum's offensive role is -- quite literally -- tops in the entire sport. He combines a 30.1% overall usage rate with the most shots per game (23.5) in the NBA. That's essentially made him Bradley Beal with better rebounding, but the ball simply hasn't gone in the basket.

That should change soon. The Boston star was an efficient 45.9% shooter one year ago. This salary is more than friendly for when it happens.

Don't be fooled by his matchup, either. While the Heat have the best overall defensive efficiency in the NBA, they're still allowing the seventh-most FanDuel points per game to opposing players with a small forward primary position.

Trae Young, G, Atlanta Hawks ($8,600)

Normally, FanDuel catches up with production fairly quickly, but this salary for Trae Young is a little puzzling.

The Hawks guard has posted 42-plus FanDuel points in five of his eight contests. Further, he's done so while shooting just 27.9% from three-point land. When that regresses closer to his 34.9% mark from last season, Young should have monstrous days ahead.

This is a great pace-up spot for Atlanta when they host Utah. The Jazz are 4th in pace, so they should loft the 29th-ranked Hawks to a much more back-and-forth contest. That is exactly what the 220.5-point total (highest on Thursday's main slate) implies.

The top end of point guard is a little off-putting, so it helps to get what feels like value in Young's sub-$9,000 salary.

Rudy Gobert, C, Utah Jazz ($8,200)

Someone at RotoWire had a bad day at the office.

Rudy Gobert is actually marked out of FanDuel's player pool at the publishing of this article because of a false report. The report was intended for Rudy Gay, who has yet to make his season debut for Utah. The "Stifle Tower" is good to go tonight, and that is great news for the center position.

Gobert's season-low rebound total is still 13 after a 20-board performance against the Kings on Tuesday. Quite simply, his salary has not adjusted to his league-high 17.6 rebounds per game this season, and we should continue to take advantage of that.

The Hawks are allowing the third-most FanDuel points per game to opposing players with a primary position of center, and that's despite allowing the seventh-fewest rebounds per game this season. Atlanta allows the 11th-most blocks per game, though, which Gobert can certainly contribute with, as well.

Gobert is playing, and that makes it simple -- I'm playing him.