3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on Monday 3/28/22

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 ($10,900)

Monday's slate starts in an obvious and familiar spot.

Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets are on the road to visit the Charlotte Hornets, and the sporty 233.5-point total in this game isn't even the key reason to target the reigning league MVP.

Charlotte has struggled with big men all season. They hold the second-worst defensive rebounding percentage (70.5%) in the NBA, and they've also allowed the most second-chance points per game (15.0) in the league. Even winning more games of late, the Hornets are still struggling to stop productive centers.

Enter the most productive center in the game. Jokic leads all players with 1.80 FanDuel points per minute in March, and his stinker against the stingy Phoenix defense has reduced his salary below the $11,000-plus mark we usually find the pivot holding.

With no standout value center-only options, there's zero chance I play a single-entry lineup tonight without "The Joker" in that spot.

Trae Young, PG, Atlanta Hawks ($10,100)

Jayson Tatum is a massive question mark for Boston, so spend the rest of your coin in the backcourt. There are two marquee places to do it, as well.

The first is with Trae Young. Young is inherently hot-and-cold, but the star should rise to the occasion in the environment he'll play in on Monday. His Hawks will visit the Pacers, and the 234.5-point total between these two bottom-10 defenses by defensive rating should be a fantasy basketball showcase.

Young's eclipsed 57 FanDuel points in four of his last six contests, and both of the duds came in just 33 minutes as the score got out of hand. Young has played at least 35 minutes in 11 of the 14 contests he's starting in March, and the heavy workload should continue as Atlanta pushes for a playoff spot.

There is blowout risk considering the Pacers are actively trying to not win games; they're resting Malcolm Brogdon once again. Still, there's just a 7.5-point spread for the road favorites, and if it holds, Ice Trae should be in for a killer performance.

Dejounte Murray, PG/SG, San Antonio Spurs ($10,000)

The 234.5-point total in Indiana is matched only by the affair in Houston.

The Rockets can be tricky, but Dejounte Murray leads the Spurs on the other side. Murray had a tougher week last week with three straight games below 50 FanDuel points, but it was good to see him turn it around with a triple-double in 40 minutes against the Pelicans on Saturday.

There are really no questions about his role. His 28.0% usage rate in the past week is close enough to his general March rate (30.1%) to assume there was just a fluctuation in a small sample.

Murray has crushed Houston this season, averaging 57.1 FanDuel points in three games against the Rockets this year.

This is no sneaky spot with the Rockets still second in the NBA in pace and dead last (by a mile) in defensive rating. Still, using Young and Murray together can be unique -- especially if you use the plethora of near-minimum-salary value on Monday's slate to toss in Jokic, as well.