FanDuel daily picks: Fantasy basketball lineup-January 2
High Salary SF
LeBron James-Cleveland Cavaliers (9,800): The Cavs play their first game in the new calendar year at Quicken Loans Arena as they host the Magic. This will be the third meeting of these two teams this year and LeBron James has averaged 20 points, 10.5 assists, 2.5 steals, and 4.5 rebounds in the first two meetings. Over his last ten games, LeBron has been even better than that with 24.7 points, 6.6 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 1.8 steals. He is sharing the scoring load with Kyrie Irving now that Kyrie is back from his long layoff, but I don’t expect much drop in production from LeBron overall. He had a couple of rough games last week on the Cavs’ West Coast trip, but he finished strong with a good game in Denver and will be keyed up to be back home at “The Q” tonight. ∗∗∗
Kawhi Leonard-San Antonio Spurs (8,600): Leonard put up an uncharacteristically empty box score on Wednesday against Phoenix adding just two assists and two steals to his 19 points against the Suns. It was his worst fantasy game in a while, but I think he’ll bounce back just fine tonight against the Rockets. The Spurs will be looking to avenge their Christmas Day loss to Houston when Kawhi had 20 points, eight rebounds, four assists, five steals, and three blocks for a massing 50.6 fantasy points. He has at least 35 fantasy points in eight of his last ten, and he will be facing a Rockets defense that allows the third-most fantasy points in the NBA to opposing SF. ∗∗∗∗
Gordon Hayward-Utah Jazz (7,600): Another stat-stuffing option that usually gives multi-category numbers to consider is Gordon Hayward of the Jazz who has been the team’s most reliable scorer without Alec Burks and Derrick Favors. Hayward even got to work on the glass on Thursday finishing with ten rebounds to go with his 23 points for a total of 38.5 fantasy points. He has at least that many fantasy points in three of his last four games and four of his last six. He isn’t as well-known as Kawhi, KD, or LeBron, but he is a blue-collar option for the Jazz who has been getting work done lately despite a depleted supporting cast. If Favors plays-∗∗∗, if Favors sits-∗∗∗∗
Khris Middleton-Milwaukee Bucks (6,800): Middleton is still under-priced and has quickly become a regular in my FanDuel daily picks at this spot since he has started heating up for the Bucks. He has scores at least 20 points in five of his last six games and is still adding solid peripherals as well to help him reach at least 40 fantasy points in four of his last six contests. Tonight, he’s in a good matchup against the Timberwolves who should allow him to keep his production rolling. Middleton is the kind of multi-category producer who will almost always give you something, but when his shot is dialed in like it has been lately look for big things from Middleton again tonight. ∗∗∗∗∗
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