NBA

3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on 3/12/21

Elisha Twerski  —  @ElishaTwerski Mar 12th, 2021
Joel Embiid is in an ideal situation tonight against the Wizards. What other high-salaried plays should we focus on?

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.

Russell Westbrook, PG, Washington Wizards

FanDuel Salary: $10,100

Bradley Beal is currently questionable for the Washington Wizards, but even if he does suit up, Russell Westbrook is a solid play.

Over his last nine games, Russ is averaging a solid 52.9 FanDuel points per contest, and he hasn't totaled fewer than 44.2 in any of his last 11 outings. That's a rock-solid floor.

Tonight, Westbrook will be taking on a Philadelphia 76ers team that will be without one of their best defenders in Ben Simmons. That certainly helps.

If Beal sits, Westbrook becomes a no-brainer play. According to RotoGrinders, the 32-year-old's usage rate jumps by 9.1-percentage points with Beal off the court this season -- that's to go along with an average of 1.41 FanDuel points per minute.

Donovan Mitchell, SG, Utah Jazz

FanDuel Salary: $8,200

The highest implied total on the slate? Check. A fast-paced matchup? Check. A mouth-watering matchup? Check. Good form? Checkeroo. Donovan Mitchell checks all the boxes that we'd be looking for in a stud.

For their matchup with the Houston Rockets, the Utah Jazz have an implied total of 122.75, which is 3.5 points higher than any other team. It helps that they're facing a Rockets squad that plays at the second-fastest pace of any team suiting up tonight. Houston has also been particularly bad at defending shooting guards -- they rank 28th against the position, according to numberFire's DvP tool.

Mitchell also comes in with excellent form. Prior to the All-Star break, he had garnered at least 41.8 fantasy points six times in an eight-game stretch, including three with 51.6-plus.

Joel Embiid, C, Philadelphia 76ers

FanDuel Salary: $10,700

Center is quite loaded for a seven-game slate, but there's enough reason to believe that Joel Embiid might just be the best stud to pay up for on tonight's slate.

Firstly, the Sixers are more-than-likely going to be without the services of Ben Simmons. With Simmons of the court this season, Embiid carries an absurd 41.6% usage rate while average an astronomical 1.89 FanDuel points per minute. Yeah...that'll play.

Embiid will also be going up against a Wizards team that plays at the fastest pace of any team playing tonight, and a squad that doesn't really do much of that whole "defense" thing. Washington is particularly awful against opposing fives -- they have ceded the second-most fantasy points to the position this season.

numberFire's algorithm projects Embiid for 54.2 FanDuel points, good for second-best on tonight's tab.