NBA

3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on 3/11/21

Elisha Twerski  —  @ElishaTwerski Mar 11th, 2021
Paul George is a key stud to target tonight. Which other high-salaried plays should we look to roster on Thursday's 11-game slate?

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 a heavy salary to roster someone. Even with strong value plays in your lineup, getting a dud from a stud is likely going to leave your lineup lacking.

Let's get right into it and look at which top players should be the focal points of your lineups today.

All injury updates are via the NBA's official injury report or numberFire's player news.

Kyle Lowry, PG, Toronto Raptors

FanDuel Salary: $8,500

For tonight's matchup with the Atlanta Hawks, the Toronto Raptors will still be without Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, and Pascal Siakam, among others -- enter Kyle Lowry.

In the three games with all those aforementioned players out, Lowry has posted 39.8, 45.1, and 52.2 FanDuel points. He also exceeded 35 minutes of action on both ends of a back-to-back right before the break -- it's clear that he's going to get all he can handle.

According to numberFire's DvP tool, the Hawks rank 25th against point guards this season, making this an ideal matchup for the veteran. Of the 22 teams playing tonight, Atlanta ranks 17th in defensive efficiency, which certainly doesn't hurt Lowry's outlook either.

Paul George, SG, Los Angeles Clippers

FanDuel Salary: $7,800

Being able to roster Paul George for under $8,000 feels like a treat, especially in this game environment.

Tonight, the Los Angeles Clippers have an implied total of 118.5 against the Golden State Warriors, which is second-highest on the slate. The Clips will benefit from the Warriors' torrid pace, as Golden State plays faster than any team that's taking the court tonight.

PG13 has eclipsed 42 FanDuel points in 14 of his 27 games this season, including 9 outputs of 45-plus.

numberFire's algorithm projects George to be the second-highest scoring player at the position, but more importantly, our model has him as the fourth-best point-per-dollar play at shooting guard.

Tobias Harris, PF, Philadelphia 76ers

FanDuel Salary: $6,900

Having a player with a salary under $7,000 listed as a "stud" is not an everyday occurrence, but the outlook for Tobias Harris tonight is too rosy to pass this up.

The Philadelphia 76ers will be sans their other two stars -- Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons -- due to COVID protocols, which puts Harris in a prime position for monster production. With those two off the court, Harris averages an additional 0.12 FanDuel points per minute, according to RotoGrinders, and he's bound to see a whole lot of minutes.

In his last 11 games, the 28-year-old has dropped at least 42.9 fantasy points six times, including outputs of 51.4, 57.0, and 58.5.

Harris' opponent tonight, the Chicago Bulls, play at the fifth-fastest pace of all the teams playing tonight. Additionally, over their last 15 games, Chicago ranks 10th-worst in fantasy points surrendered to power forwards, according to FantasyPros. This is an ideal situation for the Sixers' forward.

numberFire's model projects Harris to be the fifth-best point-per-dollar play on the entire slate.