3 NBA DraftKings Studs to Target on 10/16/18

Joel Embiid, C, Philadelphia 76ers

DraftKings Salary: $8,800

Few players were as effective as The Process during this year's preseason. Joel Embiid began this year with utter dominance, dropping an average of 23.0 points (fourth in the league), 8.5 boards, and 2.5 assists in just 24.5 minutes per game.

More important, however, was his efficiency. Embiid hit 35 of 65 shots, or 53.8% from the field. If he can carry that number -- a 5.5% improvement over last season -- over to the regular season, opposing teams are going to be forced to double him more often, leaving the Philadelphia 76ers' other dangerous weapons with a lot more room to operate. If you're an opposing defense, do you really want to see Ben Simmons or Robert Covington with more opportunity? Yeah, I didn't think so.

Embiid has faced the Boston Celtics four times in his young career, putting up a well-rounded average of 18.8 points, 12.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.8 blocks plus steals per game in 29.9 minutes. He's averaging 1.5 DraftKings points per minute in those meetings, which is slightly above our projection of 1.39 points per minute for tonight's game.

We currently have him projected with the fourth-highest output of the night, but if he plays like he has been in the preseason, he could easily blow past that figure to the top fantasy performer of the night.

Ian Goldsmith is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Ian Goldsmith also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username zoidbergs_revenge. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.