INTRO
The NBA had 12 games on Sunday but five were early, leaving seven games for the main DFS fantasy basketball contests. Get your team in the game with FanSided’s DraftKings daily picks.
The main DraftKings game slate starts at 6:00 PM ET, with five games tipping off: the Hawks at the Nets, the Bulls at the Pelicans, the Nuggets at the Heat, the Pacers at the Cavaliers and the 76ers at the Raptors. The Wizards tip at the Warriors at 8:00 PM ET, followed by the late game of the Rockets at the Suns at 9:00 PM ET.
Storylines for Sunday night: The biggest news of the day is later developing, with James Harden listed as doubtful for Sunday night with the flu. Trevor Ariza is also sitting that game, for personal reasons, so if Harden sits the Suns suddenly go from big underdogs trying to keep the game close to possible favorites. This also likely unleashes Lou Williams and Eric Gordon, two score-first shooting guards that can put up big numbers but have been playing behind the MVP favorite. The marquee game of the night is the Wizards at the Warriors, and their powerful backcourts of John Wall/Bradley Beal and Stephen Curry/Klay Thompson facing off with each other. Another big-time face off will happen in Cleveland, where LeBron James and Paul George get to lock horns yet again. The Hawks at the Nets looks like a game where a lot of fantasy points should be produced on both sides. In New Orleans, Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins seem to be finding their levels with working together while the Bulls have Jimmy Butler, Rajon Rondo and Nikola Mirotic coming in having played very well this last week. All told, a lot of good stuff going on for a Sunday evening in the NBA.
My favorite plays of the day can be found on the following slides in FanSided’s DraftKings 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 DraftKings as well as one specifically designed for usage on FanDuel. In this post, all salary and “fantasy points” references are to DraftKings 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.