3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on 2/7/20
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-priced 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.
Let's get right into it and look at which top players should be the focal points of your lineups tonight.
James Harden, SG, Houston Rockets ($11,800)
We didn't get a price drop from James Harden's underwhelming performance last night, but he's still going to be playing without Russell Westbrook (rest) against the Phoenix Suns, so the $11.8k salary is still well worth it.
As we've seen all year, Harden continues to be an absolute fantasy monster with Westbrook on the shelf. In six such games, he's averaged 65.8 FanDuel (42.3 points, 7.8 boards, 7.8 assists) on 33.2 field goal attempts (16.8 from three-point range) and 46.3% usage. That's up from 56.3 FanDuel points per game on 35.3% usage when Westbrook plays.
He dropped 77.8 in his last outing without Russ and also has marks of 67.5 and 72.2 in two of his last three with Westbrook. Up against the Suns, who allow the third-most fantasy points per minute to shooting guards and above-average numbers at the point, too, it's likely we'll see another monster outing.
Joel Embiid, C, Philadelphia 76ers ($9,300)
Joel Embiid continued his run of middling production last night, scoring 42.2 FanDuel points against the Milwaukee Bucks. That's not terrible at this price point, though, and he's scored at least that many in three of his last four with encouraging volume. He put up 26 field goal attempts last night, and a cold shooting day against the Bucks is forgivable.
The Memphis Grizzlies are surrendering the 15th-best effective field goal percentage in the NBA (compared to the Bucks, who surrender the lowest), and they check in with a 49.8% total rebound rate while playing at the number six pace.
Embiid's still showing a reasonable floor during this slump, and his ceiling is huge in this spot, as well.
Bam Adebayo, PF, Miami Heat ($8,000)
Jimmy Butler is doubtful for the Miami Heat tonight, meaning there should be some extra offensive work to go around.
Even without any benefit from that situation, though, Bam Adebayo at $8k should immediately catch your eye. He has north of 40.0 FanDuel points (5.0 per $1,000 tonight) in five of his last six games, also topping 47.0 (5.9-times value) in four of those games — including each of his last three. He's also averaged 40.9 FanDuel points per game in six contests with Butler on the shelf this year.
The Sacramento Kings have not been a great fantasy matchup for opposing bigs this season, but Adebayo is so wildly underpriced tonight that he remains an outstanding play regardless.
Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.
