NBA

3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on 4/5/21

Elisha Twerski  —  @ElishaTwerski Apr 5th, 2021
Pascal Siakam looks like a great play against the Wizards tonight. Which other high-salaried plays should we target?

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.

De'Aaron Fox, PG, Sacramento Kings

FanDuel Salary: $9,300

According to numberFire's matchup heatmap, this bout between the Sacramento Kings and Minnesota Timberwolves has an over/under of 235.5, which is eight points higher than any other match tonight. It makes sense -- these teams rank 30th and 27th in defensive efficiency, per NBA.com, and they're both inside the top-five in pace among the teams playing tonight. In other words, get ready for some fireworks.

At the forefront of those fireworks should be one De'Aaron Fox. The explosive 23-year-old has scuffled a bit in his last three, managing only 25.0, 30.7, and 42.6 FanDuel points. That said, nothing screams "get right" like a matchup with the Timberwolves, especially for point guards.

On the season, the number of teams to surrender more fantasy points to one-guards than Minnesota is a big fat zero, according to numberFire's DvP tool. It's worth noting that prior to this brief slump, Fox had recorded 47.1 or more FanDuel points in five straight and in 9 of his previous 12.

Let's start our exposure to this delicious matchup by rostering Fox.

Pascal Siakam, PF, Toronto Raptors

FanDuel Salary: $8,700

For the Toronto Raptors, Kyle Lowry remains out, and Fred VanVleet is questionable with a hip injury. That opens up a potentially huge role for Pascal Siakam in a matchup that is nothing short of salivating.

Tonight, Toronto will have the distinct honor of sharing the court with the ever-so-generous Washington Wizards. The Wiz rank 26th in the league in defensive efficiency, but they also play at a faster pace than any team in the Association -- not exactly a great combination.

Siakam's been a hit-or-miss guy all season, which is not something to lose sleep over in tournaments. Take his last six games as a perfect example -- while he's had outputs of 26.7, 29.4, and 36.6 FanDuel points in three of them, he's also dropped 50.6, 52.2, and 57.9 in the other three.

The 27-year-old has played some solid basketball in pace-up games for Toronto. In 17 games against teams that are top-12 in pace, he's averaging 44.3 fantasy points per game, including just three performances with fewer than 39.8.

If FVV is declared out, Siakiam becomes a no-brainer. In a limited sample size (78.5 minutes) with VanVleet, Lowry, and Norman Powell off the court, Siakam is averaging 1.39 FanDuel points per minute, according to RotoGrinders.

Karl-Anthony Towns, C, Minnesota Timberwolves

FnaDuel Salary: $11,000

As I outlined above, I'll be wanting as much exposure to the Kings-Wolves matchup as I can get -- this time we'll go with Karl-Anthony Towns.

In his last six games, KAT has averaged 57.8 FanDuel points per contest, including a low-water mark of 50.4. In fact, Towns has amassed at least 53 fantasy points in 8 of his last 13 efforts. That'll play.

Tonight, the big man will square off against a Kings interior that's been the eighth-most-generous to opposing centers over their last 15 games, according to FantasyPros. In 2020-21 as a whole, Sac-Town ranks 22nd versus the position.

numberFire's algorithm projects the 25-year-old to accrue 55 FanDuel points tonight, which is good for second-most on the entire slate and 15.8 more than any other player at the five position.