3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on Tuesday 1/17/23

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 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 an excellent 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 will likely leave your lineup drawing pretty close to dead.

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

Nikola Jokic, C, Nuggets ($11,500)

A small, four-game slate with both Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid requires a decision at the pivot. I'll take Jokic today.

Truthfully, neither is performing supremely well of late, but we know the upside they both possess. Embiid has only eclipsed 54 FanDuel points once in four games since returning from injury, and Jokic has only hit that mark in three of his past six.

The decision becomes crystal clear when looking at their matchups. Jokic's Nuggets are in Portland, and the Blazers are bottom-10 in defensive rating (113.8) and FanDuel points per game allowed to centers (55.4). Embiid is also facing the Clippers, who are a top-10 squad in both categories.

Game totals also favor "The Joker". FanDuel Sportsbook is projecting a sizable 238.0 points for Nugs-Blazers, and the total is just 223.0 points for the Philadelphia-Los Angeles clash.

A smaller slate will always be easier to welcome variance on, and if either of these top-shelf studs hits their ceiling, I would expect it'd be Jokic.

Kyrie Irving, PG/SG, Nets ($9,300)

Perhaps some will stray away from Kyrie Irving after a pair of letdown games since the Nets lost Kevin Durant to a knee injury. I'd argue this is the time to buy.

Irving has scuffled through 16-for-44 shooting (36.3%) in the two games since Durant exited the lineup, failing to eclipse 40 FanDuel points in either game. In floor situations without Durant, 60.9% of Irving's FanDuel output comes from scoring, so he's going to dud when the shots aren't falling.

Still, his role is pristine for this salary if they do. Irving has a team-best 34.9% usage rate this year with K.D. off the floor, and in this two-game stretch, that mark has held firm at 29.0%.

It's understandably a bit lower when the shots aren't going in early, yet there's still no other Brooklyn starter above 21.0%. It's still his show entering this matchup with San Antonio, who sport the league's worst defensive rating (119.5) and allow the fourth-most FanDuel points per game to point guards.

I'd rather turn to Irving than James Harden or Damian Lillard in brutal matchups this evening.

Scottie Barnes, PF/SF, Raptors ($8,000)

The story of the day in NBA daily fantasy is the Toronto Raptors. It's January 17th, and they've already entered playoff mode.

The Raps' bench is among the weakest units in the league, and Nick Nurse has seen enough of it. All five Toronto starters logged upwards of 40 minutes on Monday against New York, and they're not really salaried like that when a majority of other stars are seeing workloads in the 32-to-36-minute range.

Scottie Barnes barely cracks the stud category on salary, but he's played like a stud recently. In January, Barnes shrugged off a slow start to post a team-best 41.1 FanDuel points per 36 minutes. Of course, he still checks in well below Pascal Siakam's $9,500 salary.

NBA DFS is always a story of minutes, though. The extra bump is too much to ignore if it's going to last, and at the very least, Tuesday's game in Milwaukee should be a repeat. closely fought effort given just a 4.5-point spread.

Help might be on the way for the Raptors' bench before the trade deadline, but until it comes or salaries on FanDuel are adjusted, I can't reasonably knock any of their five starters. Barnes and Siakam are joined by Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, and Gary Trent Jr. in the starting five.