Welcome to another breakdown of NBA daily fantasy brought to you by Def Pen. Today I will break down three top plays at each position as well as give my personal optimal lineup of the night. I will be using FanDuel’s scoring system and lineup format as that is my personal preference for DFS (daily fantasy sports).
PG:
- Patrick Beverley $5,300: Bev has been pretty consistent throughout his last 5 sans a 15-minute performance cut short by injury. Beverley is a type of player that puts up more than just points, so even if he doesn’t have a good shooting performance he still is a pretty safe fantasy bet. At a price sub 5.5k with a matchup against the guard-less pelicans, it would be a good idea to lock Pat into your lineups.
- Damian Lillard $8,300: The Magic are allowing the 5th most fantasy points per game to opposing point guards. With Dame being one of the most elite scoring point guards in the NBA expect that number to rise after tonight.
- Ty Lawson $4600: The main reason I’m playing Ty tonight is because he had shown great chemistry with Willie Cauley-Stein in multiple games before his injury. After logging a full practice Tuesday, being sub 5k, and Cousins being gone. Expect the point guard duo of Lawson/Collison to bear a fair workload going up against one of the best matchups possible for opposing point guards in the Nuggets.
Other Notable PG Plays: Kyrie Irving $9,000, Darren Collison $5,500, Stephen Curry $9,100
SG:
- James Harden $12,600: Harden lives up to his price tag by being the best play of the night tonight. As previously noted the Pelicans are at an extreme lack of guards. Expect the MVP candidate to absolutely feast tonight.
- Klay Thompson $7,200: Klay can be one of the hottest shooters in the NBA when he gets going. With the ability to get 40, sometimes 50+ (hit twice in last eight) FanDuel points in a game, Klay Thompson is someone who can hit a home run for you and win you some serious cash.
- Nicolas Batum $7,200: Batum is another one of those guys who puts up more than just points. His high floor due to the extracurricular stats that he puts up make him a very safe play nearly every game.
Other Notable SG Plays: Evan Fournier $5,400, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope $4,900, Eric Gordon $5,400
SF:
- Lebron James $11,200: You can never really go wrong with the king. With Kevin Love still out, and coming off a nice rest from the all-star break, James is one of the top plays of the night going against a Knicks defense allowing 109.2 PPG.
- Aaron Gordon $4,500: Air Gordon is going to be the Magic’s starting power forward for the for seeable future with Ibaka off to Toronto. Being priced at a measly 4.5k with a favorable matchup against one of the worst teams in the league against bigs in the Trailblazers, Aaron is possibly the best value play of the night.
- Maurice Harkless $4,600: With Al-Farouq Aminu ruled out for Thursday’s matchup and Evan Turner still out, Harkless should be looking at around 30 mins of game time. Along with that, he is facing the Magic who are giving up the 6th most FanDuel points per game.
Other Notable SF Plays: Kevin Durant $10,300, Carmelo Anthony $8,600, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist $5,600
PF:
- Willie Cauley-Stein $3,800: With DeMarcus Cousins time having expired in Sacramento, expect WCS to get a lot more run. In the last game that Cousins did not play in WCS had 28 FanDuel points, expect Stein’s price to go up along with his FanDuel points per game. Make sure start him while he is still cheap.
- Nikola Jokic $10,900: Nikola has been an absolute monster since being inserted into the starting lineup, expect his fantasy stock to keep rising the second half of the season. Going up against the Boogie-less Kings Jokic should make an already favorable matchup one sided.
- Draymond Green $7,800: Draymond is another one of those guys who puts up a ton of stats other than points. With his high floor and price being sub 8k, Green is one of the safer plays of the night.
Other Notable PF Plays: Blake Griffin $9,700, Frank Kaminksy $6,000, Kristaps Porzingis $6,600
C:
- Nikola Vucevic $7,200: Reiterating the fact that Ibaka is now in Toronto bodes very well for the fantasy stock of Vucevic. As well as the fact that he is going up against the Blazers who have not fared well vs bigs all season. Being that low priced combined with his very enticing matchup make Nikola my top center play of the night.
- Andre Drummond $8,300: Andre Drummond is a guy who can drop a 20/20 on any given night. With a favorable matchup against the Hornets, Drummond should feast on the boards. Assuming he isn’t traded, Drummond could be in for a very big night.
- Jusuf Nurkic $3,700: Nurk’s price tag here is the main reason he is in the top three plays of the night for me. Being sub 4k and having the ability to eat up the glass while scoring a decent amount in the post make him a very good value play Thursday night.
Other Notable C Plays: Demarcus Cousins $11,000, Willy Hernangomez $5,800
As always with NBA Daily Fantasy make sure that you keep up with injuries and late minute lineup changes before the lineups lock at 7 PM EST.
All stats and data courtesy of ESPN and RotoWire.
Personal Lineup of the Night (note: subject to change based on injuries/other news):
