FanDuel Economics: NBA Monday, March 28th
Welcome to Monday, March 28th’s edition of FanDuel Economics, a daily fantasy column focused on FanDuel player salaries and FanDuel points-per-game (PPG) trends. The purpose of this column is to evaluate player salary and PPG averages over a seven day period to provide daily fantasy sports players with a vital tool in their lineup tool belt. Finding the best value options often leads to a big pay day!
Monday’s NBA schedule brings back another robust 10 game slate and plenty of options for FanDuel lineups. In fact, tonight’s lineup presents so many options, it could be overwhelming to figure out which have the best value, so let’s investigate:
Point Guard (PG)
Ricky Rubio is averaging 38.5 PPG over the last week, 7th among all FanDuel PG’s, but is the cheapest PG of the top 10 at $7,300. If you compare Rubio to Damian Lillard, for example, you’re paying $1,200 more ($8,500) for Lillard who’s averaging only 36.3 over the same seven day time span. Give Ricky a serious thought against Phoenix, a poor defender of PGs, on Monday. Rubio could open up opportunity in some other positions while still dropping a solid 30-40 points.
I’ve written about D.J. Augustin recently and I’m excited to revisit him again. Augustin continues to quietly excel with Denver. D.J. has averaged 28.5 points over the past week and his salary has only climbed to $4,900. I tried using Augustin last night (he was owned at a very low percentage) and he rewarded me with 37.4 points while also allowing me to play Harden, Cousins, and Paul George easily. An Augustin/Rubio pairing could yield a lot of value tonight!
Shooting Guard (SG)
It’s no secret Devin Booker is a tremendous young player for the Suns. Booker has had a great run in the 2nd half of the NBA season and his FanDuel salary climbed quickly during that run. However, I’ve recently noticed some value developing. Over the last week, Booker has averaged 33.7 points and has a salary of $6,600 tonight. That makes Booker the cheapest top 5 FanDuel PPG SG over the past week. To put that in perspective, Lance Stephenson has the same $6,600 salary but is averaging only 22.8 PPG over the same period. It doesn’t hurt that his dunks are incredible too! Consider Booker as a mid-range value play tonight.
Jamal Crawford only dropped 17.2 points yesterday but over the past week he’s averaged around 24 PPG on a $4,800 salary. Crawford is considered one of the best sixth men in the league and will continue to get plenty of minutes tonight at home against Boston. Jamal is a good value option allowing you to get a solid 20+ points while keeping salary for another big play in another position.
Small Forward (SF)
It’s been a while since I’ve taken a look at Evan Turner and I regret that. That changes tonight. Over the last week, Turner averaged 34.2 PPG on a $6,100 salary making him easily the cheapest option of the top 5 PPG SF’s over the last seven days. Compared to Matt Barnes ($6,200) or Rudy Gay ($6,400) Turner is piling on 12 more PPG’s. Turner continues his ride today in L.A. against the Clippers, get on it!
I thought about focusing on Mo Harkless tonight, who’s a solid option at $4,000 averaging 22.9 PPG recently. But the better value seems to be P.J. Tucker again. Tucker’s averaging 27.8 PPG and his salary is only $800 more at $4,800. P.J. is more likely to climb over the 30 point mark, so he’s worth paying the additional $800.
Power Forward (PF)
I’ve recently written about Ed Davis and I’m doing it again today. Ed has averaged 28.9 PPG and his salary has only climbed to $4,600 tonight. I played Davis on Saturday and was rewarded with over 30 points and a pay day, he allowed me to pivot to some other great expensive positions at PF that day.
Speaking of pivots, 2lock writes a daily column providing ‘pivot’ options from popular plays each day. I’ve used some of his advice to land decent pay days. Take a look at his last column and give him a follow: https://fansided.com/2016/03/27/nba-picks-pivots-fanduel-picks-327/
Kristaps Porzingis is having an incredible rookie season. There have been some ups and downs, as expected from a rookie, but lately Kristaps has been on fire. Over the last week, Porzingis averaged 33.4 points and is a top 10 SF PPG option. His salary has climbed to $6,700 but he’s still high value at his current PPG average. Get him while he’s cheaper! More expensive options like Thad Young ($7,400), who’s plummeted to 18.0 PPG over the last week, or Derrick Favors ($7,300), a better option over Young but has only averaged 28.1 PPG over the last week, are not worth passing on Porzingis. One additional fact to consider is Kristaps is playing against a very banged up New Orleans Pelicans team. Strongly consider Kristaps Porzingis tonight!
Center (C)
Jonas Valanciunas is back and in a big way. Since getting back into the Raptor’s lineup over the past week Jonas has averaged 33.4 PPG. On Monday, Valanciunas has a salary of $6,100 but he’s the cheapest option among the top 10 Centers. If you’re looking to spend more in one of the other lineup positions, Jonas Valanciunas is your play at Center.
Next: 2016 Chicago Cubs Fantasy Outlook
vu all the best of luck tonight and please make sure to you check for late breaking news before locking in your lineups!