The NBA starts off the week with a slate of six games in Monday’s DFS fantasy basketball competitions. Get your team in the game with FanSided’s FanDuel daily picks.
The NBA starts off the work-week with a bang, six games of action in tonight’s main DFS fantasy basketball contests. Line-ups lock at 7:30 PM ET with two games: the Magic at the Raptors and the Pistons at the Knicks. Thirty minutes later, the Cavaliers tip at the Spurs followed at 8:30 by the Thunder at the Mavericks. Finally, there are two nightcap games with the Grizzlies at the Kings and the Pelicans at the Jazz.
The game that jumps out at me the most is the Cavaliers at the Spurs, as these are two of the handful of teams in the NBA with genuine championship aspirations. On top of that, the Cavaliers have slid just enough lately that the Celtics and Wizards have a legitimate chance to surpass them in the standings. Put those things together, and I expect to get playoffs-level LeBron James and a locked in Spurs squad, which is good for DFS prospects. Anthony Davis and (if he’s healthy) DeMarcus Cousins gets another shot at the Jazz unit that shut them down a few weeks back, and once again the Pels face them on the second half of a back-to-back. Russell Westbrook just turned in a game against the Rockets on Sunday that would have drained a normal man, but he’s clearly an alien so expect him to be full speed against a Mavericks defense that was able to slow him down in recent weeks as well. The Pistons and Knicks seem to be competing for who can have the most disappointing end to the season, but there are still players on both sides that could be good DFS value if they can lock in. All in all, like always, the storylines abound.
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.