NBA

4 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on 2/3/16

Jason Schandl  —  @JasonSchandl Feb 3rd, 2016
Stephen Curry draws an uptempo matchup with the Wizards, making him a great play tonight. Who else should you try to roster?

We have a huge 11-game NBA slate tonight, giving you as many options as you can handle in daily fantasy.

With so many games on the schedule, tons of low-priced value options open up (check out some of the night's best value plays) which leaves you lots of cap space to pay up for studs.

I'm going to break down the four best plays at the top end of the pricing spectrum for today.

Steph Curry, PG, Golden State Warriors

Price: $10,700

Steph Curry is coming off of a few down games, but that doesn't change the fact that he's been lighting it up lately. He's averaging 44.7 FanDuel points per game since January 1st and has posted 50-plus in six of his last 10 games.

Curry obviously does a huge amount of his damage from three-point range, and this is a perfect matchup for that. The Wizards struggle more than anyone else with defending the long ball, conceding a league-high .386 three-point percentage to their opponents. Curry leads the league in three-point attempts with 490 and ranks fourth among qualifying players with a .451 three-point field goal percentage. The damage he can do against a team that struggles to defend three-pointers gives him incredible upside.

Another thing working in Curry's favor is how fast-paced this game is likely to be. The Warriors rank second in the NBA with 99.3 possessions per 48 minutes, while the Wizards rank fifth at 97.6. There are going to be a crazy number of possessions in this game, and that's reflected with this game also having the highest over/under on the slate at 224.5, an absurdly high total.

Our projections are also high on Curry tonight, projecting him for 28.5 points, 6.8 assists and 5 rebounds, as well as giving him the highest projected fantasy score of the day.

Chris Paul, PG, Los Angeles Clippers

Price: $9.700 

While Blake Griffin is sidelined with his broken hand, Chris Paul is in play in daily fantasy more often than not. With a great matchup against the Timberwolves today, he becomes an even stronger play.

In 18 games without Griffin this year, Paul is averaging 43.18 FanDuel points, with a 29.9 percent Usage Rate. He's averaging 20.3 points, 10.4 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 2.1 steals in 32.4 minutes in those games.

It's hard not to like this matchup for Paul, taking a on a Timberwolves team that ranks 24th with a 108.5 Defensive Efficiency and has given up the eighth most fantasy points to opposing point guards on the season.

Jimmy Butler, SG, Chicago Bulls

Price: $8,800

Jimmy Butler has been getting all the work he can handle recently, playing a league-high 39.0 minutes per game over the last month. His production has been solid, averaging 24.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game in that span.

He draws a matchup against the Kings today that already looks great on the surface, with Sacramento's 107.3 Defensive Efficiency ranking 21st while giving up the third most fantasy points to opposing shooting guards, but is even better for Butler if we dig into the matchup a bit.

In addition to just points, players tend to rack up solid peripheral stats against the Kings. Sacramento allows 23.71 assists per game (the fifth-most in the league), as well as 9.27 steals per game (the second most). Butler already posts solid peripheral stats, with 5.5 assists per game in the last month, as well as 1.7 steals per game on the season, which ranks 15th. Even if his shot isn't falling, Butler offers the potential for big time fantasy points tonight.

LeBron James, SF, Cleveland Cavaliers

Price: $10,200

In the six games since Tyronn Lue took over as the head coach in Cleveland, LeBron James has been excellent and is averaging 47.7 FanDuel points per game. He's putting up 24.2 points, 8.0 assists and 7.7 rebounds in 37.0 minutes per game, with those minutes, assists and rebound numbers all being better than his season averages.

Charlotte has been pretty good defensively this season, but from a fantasy standpoint, their weakness clearly comes against forwards. They're giving up the 11th most fantasy points to opposing small forwards, and the 4th most against power forwards. While Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is a tough defender, LeBron gets solid run at both positions (Nylon Calculus estimates he's played 23.2 percent of his minutes at power forward this season), and he should once again excel tonight.