FanDuel daily picks: Fantasy basketball lineup – October 17, 2017

After a long summer wait, NBA action returns to the court on Tuesday. This offseason was amazing, with huge trades and big free agent moves. One of the biggest deals of the offseason involved the Cleveland Cavaliers trading Kyrie Irving to he rival Boston Celtics, after Irving’s trade request. On Tuesday, Irving and the Celtics make their only trip of the season to Cleveland, where Irving is sure to get booed incessantly.

Another huge move this offseason involved Chris Paul, arguably the greatest point guard of his generation, going to join MVP runner-up James Harden in Houston. This combo of efficient scoring, distributing lead guards in a Mike D’Antoni system should a) lead to a lot of points and b) give the Rockets the best chance they’ve had in recent years to catch up to Golden State Warriors. They will get their first crack at the defending NBA champions on Tuesday, while the Warriors will be eager to prove that they are clearly still the best team in the West.

In addition to both games being rivalry match-ups between squads with championship aspirations, both games also feature two strong offenses with questionable defenses. Despite there being only four teams on display, there’s a reasonable likelihood that a lot of fantasy points will be produced.

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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’s 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.