INTRO
The NBA has eight games on Sunday but three are early, leaving five games for the main DFS fantasy basketball contests. Get your team in the game with FanSided’s FanDuel daily picks.
The NBA has a split schedule on Sunday, with three early game: the Mavericks at the Nets at 12:00 PM ET, the Celtics at the 76ers at 1:00 and the Suns at the Pistons at 4:30. While FanDuel does have some “early” and “all day” game options, the “Main” contest slate starts with the 6:00 PM games and thus will be the main focus of this article.
Line-ups lock for the “Main” game schedule at 6:00 PM ET with three games: the Trail Blazers at the Heat, the Pacers at the Raptors and the Timberwolves at the Pelicans At 7:00 the Kings are at the Spurs. The nightcap tips at 9:30 PM, with the Cavaliers at the Lakers.
The game that immediately draws the eye is the Timberwolves at the Pelicans, as it pits three dominant one-and-done University of Kentucky big men against each other with Karl-Anthony Towns against DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis…assuming that Cousins is healthy enough to play. In other action, LeBron James and crew took Saturday night off…will they return fresh against the Lakers, or might they take another night off against a weak Lakers squad? And the Spurs are on the second half of a back-to-back against a terrible Kings team…might they take this opportunity to rest some players as well? Finally, the Trail Blazers have one of the best perimeter scoring combos in the league in Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, but the Heat have one of the best perimeter defenses. Something’s got to give.
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 the confidence in the pick. The final slide of this post has more detail on what each level means, but in short, 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.