3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on Friday 3/25/22

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?

Joel Embiid, C, Philadelphia 76ers ($11,200)

It's been a weird week deviating from our usual process of spending up for center superstars Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic in some tougher circumstances.

Embiid, though, ends his week with a cakewalk. The 76ers are in Los Angeles to battle the Clippers, and there is nothing that L.A. has struggled with this season more than size. In four games against Embiid and Jokic, they've ceded 73.2 FanDuel points on average.

The Clips are fifth-worst in defensive rebounding (71.9%) and paint points allowed per game (49.7) this season, so it makes logical sense they'd scuffle against the game's greatest big men.

Surprisingly, Philly is just a 5.5-point road favorite, so Embiid should see a vast majority of this contest. As discussed Wednesday, Embiid's role isn't the same since James Harden came to town, but he's still posted a mark of 1.56 FanDuel points per minute, which makes him more than worthy of consideration in any matchup -- much less this one.

Luka Doncic, PG/SG, Dallas Mavericks ($10,400)

Luka Doncic sat with an ankle injury Wednesday in Houston, but that may have just been a rest scenario against the 18-55 Rockets.

Doncic returns in a phenomenal matchup for scoring FanDuel points on Friday. His Dallas Mavericks hit the road to battle the Timberwolves in Minnesota, and no player in the NBA might benefit from this specific spot better than Luka.

As is, he's stuffed the stat sheet in March to the tune of 1.51 FanDuel points per minute. Now, Dallas -- the slowest team in the league in terms of pace -- will see a huge uptick in possessions as they visit the top-paced Wolves.

Doncic is projected for 54.4 FanDuel points as the clear top guard of the day by numberFire's model. I'm far from one to disagree, and Anthony Edwards and D'Angelo Russell are available at fair salaries to mini-stack this game with some of its best studs.

Christian Wood, PF/C, Houston Rockets ($8,400)

I just mentioned how terrible the Rockets' record is. It should speak volumes that Christian Wood is listed here despite that.

It's because, undoubtedly, the Portland Trail Blazers are worse at the moment. There's no team in basketball right now worse than the tanking Blazers, and Portland's injury report is stuffed to the brim again Friday, so the weak will get weaker.

Portland's 126.1 defensive rating in March is the worst in the league by a country mile. They've also posted just a 67.0% defensive rebounding percentage, which is second-worst in the NBA in that same timeframe. It's really no surprise considering they're playing journeyman Drew Eubanks for a vast majority of the minutes at the five.

We just saw Wood explode in a similar matchup versus Indiana. The Pacers are bottom-five this month in defensive rating and defensive rebounding, and the talented big man posted 32 points and 13 boards in that one to lead the entire slate. Given his forward eligibility, he's a top-shelf priority to pair with Embiid whenever possible.