The NBA returns tonight with 6 games in tonight’s DFS fantasy basketball competitions. Get your team in the game with FanSided’s FanDuel daily picks.
The NBA returns from the All-Star Break on Thursday, with change as the theme of the day. Thursday is the NBA Trade Deadline, which means in the time between this article’s publication and the games starting, anyone I mention could change teams, and thus completely change the DFS landscape. But the landscape is already significantly shifted since last Thursday, and we’ll get into that in the upcoming slides.
The games tipoff and the DFS lineups lock at 7:00 p.m. ET, with the Trail Blazers at the Magic. At 7:30 p.m. ET the Hornets are in the Palace to face the Pistons, followed by two games at 8:00 p.m. ET: the Knicks at the Cavaliers, and the Rockets at the Pelicans. Finally, there are two late games with the Clippers at the Warriors and the Nuggets at the Kings.
Storylines abound on Thursday, even if no other trades happen. Carmelo Anthony, if he’s still a Knick, will finally be done with trade rumors for the season and gets to face off with old rival LeBron James.
The Rockets made a solid trade to add scorer Lou Williams to their rotation, but they’re playing a Pelicans team that shook the foundation of the NBA by trading to pair up DeMarcus Cousins with Anthony Davis. Davis had the best week in the league, breaking Wilt Chamberlain’s All-Star Game scoring record on his way to the ASG MVP crown in his home city, then followed that up by finally getting another superstar to play with.
The Clippers may get Chris Paul back tonight, just in time to go to see the Warriors. And the Nuggets, with Nikola Jokic surging, go to place a Kings team that has to completely re-create its identity with Cousins gone. It should be a very fun night of action.
My favorite plays of the day can be found on the following slides in FanSided’s FanDuel daily picks. Each day, in order to offer a variety of price points at each position, you can find two slides for each position — one for high-salary options and one for high-value options. Each pick is ranked on a scale of 1-5 stars to indicate my confidence in the pick. The final slide of this post has more detail on what each level means, but the short version is that more stars means more confidence in the selection on a points-per-dollar basis.
Important note, every day the goal of this post is not to give you a copy-and-paste lineup. Instead, each selection is given while highlighting the factors you need to consider when building a customized lineup for yourself. If you want to see an example lineup, you can find it on the final slide of the post, but I suggest you adjust your lineup to fit your personal taste.
To keep up with all of FanSided’s DFS NBA coverage head over to the fantasy basketball hub where each day you can find a post like this tailored for FanDuel as well as one specifically designed for usage on DraftKings. In this post, all salary and “fantasy points” references are to FanDuel scoring system and salaries. If you have any additional questions or thoughts or are looking for updates as we approach tipoff, follow @FanSidedFantasy on Twitter or you can follow my account @ProfessorDrz or find me on my home turf of The Hoops Lab.
Let’s take a look at your best options for both studs and value players at each position.