Fantasy Basketball: FanDuel NBA GPP Plays: Wednesday 10/17

Welcome back NBA! Last night’s two-game slate was just a tease as tonight we have the first full-sized slate of the year with 11 FanDuel NBA games on the docket.

There are some great FanDuel NBA games to target tonight, some exciting rookies making their debuts, and a lot of fantasy goodness out there to be had. I’m going to be focusing on GPP plays for Fanduel today. Keep in mind that your lowest score gets dropped with the new Fanduel format. Punting is going to be a popular strategy in both cash games and GPPs, and rightfully so. If you want to punt one or two spots and spend up for James Harden, Anthony Davis, Giannis Antekuonmpo, or Andre Drummond I think it’s perfectly viable, but all the players I recommend today are going to be under 10k and will hopefully have lower ownership than the 10+ superstars.

“The Other Rocket” – CP3

One way to get exposure to what should be a fast-paced, high scoring game between Houston and New Orleans is with Chris Paul instead of James Harden. For 2600 less than Harden, CP3 (9100) has a similar ceiling to Harden at a serious discount. Paul looked good in the preseason and showed no lingering effect from his injury that forced him to miss the last two games of the Western Conference finals. His ability to score, rack up assists and get steals makes him a GPP play almost every night and I’m looking to take advantage of this price, which could likely be the lowest we see Paul this season.

The Dallas Dynamic Duo

I profiled both Dallas guards Dennis Smith Jr (Breakout Players) and Luka Doncic (Impact Rookies) this preseason and I was excited to see they were priced very reasonably for this excellent matchup against Phoenix at 6600 and 6700, respectively. These young guys can play and we saw both of them put up some nice, well-rounded stat lines this preseason. Dallas is going to be relying on their scoring and play-making abilities and I have no problem running them both out there together as they should have their minutes staggered by Coach Carlisle. This game with Phoenix is tasty with a 215 total and Dallas being -1.5 underdogs on the road.

Rookie of the Year?

I guess they’re just stubborn at FanDuel because after averaging 18-10 this preseason in only 27 minutes a game, Deandre Ayton is still badly underpriced at just 7200. The #1 overall pick was impressive this preseason, showing that his game is perfectly suited for the NBA. He is an absolute steal at this price and the fact that you can only roster one center on Fanduel (and there are 5-6 other really good plays there) is going to mean he’s likely not that highly owned. I’m counting on Ayton and Doncic going off in this late night hammer and national TV game, and I’ll have a lot of exposure to both.

The 8200 Club

At PF we have two underpriced studs at 8200 in LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin. LMA is always one of my favorite tournament plays because he lives in this 8-9k price range that so often gets overlooked. At this price, he only needs to get 41 FD points to make 5x and I think he has 6-7x upside in tonight’s matchup with the Wolves. With Kawhi out of town and the Spurs losing both point guards Dejounte Murray and Derrick White in the last week, there’s no doubt in my mind that the offense is going to flow through Aldridge on nearly every possession. Last year, LMA had a 29% usage rate and attempted 18 shots and 5 free throws a game. His first game of the year last season was a 25-10-4 outing against the Wolves and later in the season, he went off for 39-10-2 against them.

Blake is a great pivot off Drummond tonight, in that he’ll save you 2000 in cap room and allow you roster a cheaper center while still getting access to the Detroit frontcourt and the excellent matchup against the Nets. After coming over to Detroit last season, Blake averaged 20-6-6 as he settled in nicely next to his fellow big man Andre Drummond. His usage rate of 29% was pretty consistent with where he was at while in L.A. The price is just too cheap for a guy who will likely flirt with a triple-double. If Drummond gets into foul trouble, then Blake will gobble up some extra boards and shots. Like, Aldrige he’s really a 9k or more player who is just underpriced here on this slate.

Raptor Renegade

Kahwi Leonard is 9600 at SF and again you’ll see a theme here where I am looking to target the player who is a few thousand less than the high priced superstar at the same position (Giannis – 12000). The Raptors are big home favorites against the new look Lebron-less Cavs and they really don’t have anyone who can guard Kawhi. Leonard showed this preseason that he will likely be the main facilitator on offense with Kyle Lowry moving off the ball on a lot of possessions. Kawhi always brings a solid ceiling in DFS with his ability to score 20+ points to go with rebounds, assists and defensive stats and I absolutely want some shares of him tonight before he’s priced over 10k like the superstar that he is.