3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on Wednesday 1/26/22

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?

Nikola Jokic, C, Denver Nuggets ($11,800)

Somehow. Nikola Jokic posted 66.7 FanDuel points on Tuesday and no one blinked.

A monstrous effort from Joel Embiid overshadowed "The Joker", but he remains the second-most stable, productive player in fantasy basketball at this moment against Detroit. Jokic's usage rate in January (29.4%) is second to Embiid among qualifying centers, and his 1.72 FanDuel points per minute in this span trails only Embiid among all players.

With JoJo off the slate, the Nuggets' star is the shining option at the pivot today. At a reasonable salary, it's incredibly difficult to match a floor that appears in five straight games eclipsing 62 FanDuel points. The lone checkmark to roster Jokic at this stage is making sure he's not facing a particularly tough matchup, and Brooklyn is definitely not one of those.

The Nets have struggled defensively this month. They have the fourth-worst defensive rating (116.9) and seventh-worst defensive rebounding percentage (70.5%) in January, and paint woes are not the ideal ones to be having as the reigning MVP strolls into Barclays Center.

James Harden, SG/SF, Brooklyn Nets ($10,200)

Stars that correlate aren't mandatory, but it is nice. James Harden pairs well with Jokic on the other side of that contest.

Harden is the lone of Brooklyn's star trio left standing for this home game with Denver. That was the case last night against the Lakers, and Harden dropped in a 33-point triple-double that spat out 66.9 FanDuel points in his column.

Not only did Harden have a gigantic 35.8% usage rate last night, but he was also the only Nets player with a rate above 22.0%. Other than a low-usage, high-minute swipe at value with Kessler Edwards, Harden might be the lone place to target the Brooklyn side of this game when stacking it.

The 221.0-point total is a fantasy bonanza by Denver's standards, and the Nuggets (26th in pace) will see a huge lift in possessions facing off with the Nets (11th). That's a quality enough environment to target two players who arguably have the largest slices of the pie in their respective offenses on this 10-game slate.

Trae Young, PG, Atlanta Hawks ($9,500)

Guard is the toughest spot on the slate to spend salary, but when doing so, Trae Young is an interesting spot in tournaments.

The Hawks' franchise player is on the slightest of slumps, failing to eclipse 42 FanDuel points in back-to-back contests. It's comforting to know that it's not his role decreasing. Over the past seven days, Young's usage rate (34.5%) is actually higher than his overall mark for January (34.0%).

It's pretty straightforward to chalk it up to poor shooting. His 42.3% shooting in that time is notably down from his 46.3% overall percentage this month. A matchup with the Kings' poor defense could improve his outlook on Wednesday.

Not only are the Kings unrested (well, kind of...plenty of rest on Tuesday when you lose by 53 points), but their 114.1 defensive rating (2nd-worst in the NBA) has been one to target all season. Atlanta (17th in pace) also sees an upgrade in potential possessions tonight against 8th-paced Sacramento.

With De'Andre Hunter and Bogdan Bogdanovic both iffy to play Wednesday, Young might be one of few top options at guard that has extra shot volume in his forecast. A slate-best 234.5-point total in this game keeps Young viable whether that duo suits up or not.