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.
Trae Young, PG, Atlanta Hawks
FanDuel Salary: $8,500
Tonight's main event is a rematch of a game we had two days ago between the Atlanta Hawks and Washington Wizards -- one that saw Atlanta hold on by a final of 125-124. In other words, if you're turning this game on and hoping to see some defense, you hate fun and you're going to be sorely disappointed. According to numberFire's Matchup Heatmap, this bout currently has an over/under of 240 (give me the over please), which is six points higher than any other match on the slate. We're going to want plenty of exposure to those points in our lineups, starting with Trae Young.
Young totaled 50.7 FanDuel points on Monday, and a total like that is an excellent return at his salary. It was the fifth time in his last nine outings that the 22-year-old had posted at least 48.8 FanDuel points. Not too shabby.
Of course, there's no reason to expect anything different tonight. After all, Washington ranks 29th against point guards per 48 minutes, according to numberFire's DvP tool.
numberFire's algorithm has Young projected for 42.8 FanDuel points, which makes him just one of two floor generals predicted to surpass five-times value (or 5.0 fantasy points for every $1,000 in salary). He'll be in my lineups.
Russell Westbrook, PG, Washington Wizards
FanDuel Salary: $12,600
Did you think we were done with this matchup? Heck no. Even at an absurdly high salary, Russell Westbrook is proving to be a good bang for your buck.
In Monday's shootout, Westbrook accumulated 72.1 fantasy points, his fifth output with more than 70 in his last six games. Incredible. With Bradley Beal still out, there's no reason to believe that Russ will slow down any time soon.
Our algo has Brodie outscoring every other player on the slate by 13.9 fantasy points. Wowza. That projections also makes him the top point-per-dollar play at point guard.
On a six-game slate, passing on this kind of upside is not a risk worth taking.
Even Fournier, SF, Boston Celtics
FanDuel Salary: $7,200
In order two afford a two-stud build at point guard, we'll have to fill out our lineups with some more affordable plays, and from a "stud" perspective, Evan Fournier certainly fits that bill.
Fournier's usage has steadily been climbing, especially with Jaylen Brown out of the lineup, but tonight, the Boston Celtics will likely be sans Kemba Walker as well. Fournier has amassed 36-plus FanDuel points in four of his last five games, including performances of 44.8 and 48.6 in his last two.
As far as matchups go, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better one than what Boston has tonight. Per NBA.com, the Cleveland Cavaliers rank dead last in the Association in defensive efficiency over their last 15 games. During that stretch, the Cavs have ceded the fourth-most fantasy points to opposing point guards and small forwards, as well as the 11th-most to two-guards, according to FantasyPros.
numberFire's models have the Frenchman racking up 37.6 FanDuel points tonight, making him one of the best value plays at small forward.