Fanduel NBA Daily Fantasy Basketball GPP Breakdown: Tuesday, November 7

Good morning and welcome back to the Tuesday edition of the FanDuel NBA GPP Breakdown. I’m “Thunder Dan” and I love NBA DFS more than Jimmy Butler loves resting for “general soreness.”  

All kidding aside, my goal every day is to give you my top targets every night for GPP contests for FanDuel NBA.  When making these picks I always take into account salary, ownership, and match-up and I always do my best to give you a clear rationale for why I believe each player makes an elite GPP target.

We have a fun little 4-game FanDuel NBA slate tonight with 3 games that are extremely tight spreads, which is great for DFS purposes.  Today I’ll go position by position instead of game-by-game.

I try to give 2-3 options at each position and some cheaper “value” options to consider as well. Finally, I always include my “Game Stack of Night” which is my favorite game to target with multiple players from both teams.

Remember, this is a first look article that is intended to get you pointed in the right direction with your research. no major injury news we are waiting on for today, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be some surprises during the day with players resting.

FanDuel NBA GPP Breakdown: GPP Roster Construction

Roster construction on FanDuel has been tricky at times since they’ve made a major change this year with dropping your lowest score.  Punting one or two roster spots with near minimum priced players has appeared to be a very viable strategy, as it simply allows you to roster more 7k+ players with higher ceilings.  My best FanDuel NBA lineups have been made using this strategy and I guarantee if you start looking at winning GPP lineups in the tournaments you’re entering you’ll see others are doing it, too.

"If you’re not taking some chances with cheap players, you’re doing it wrong."

Even with only 8 spots counting on FD, we are seeing winning GPP lineups that are topping 350 FD points with regularity, which means we’re looking for an average of 40-50 points from those 8 players in our lineups.

You simply cannot get a floor game from any of those 8 spots that count if you want to be in contention to take down a tourney. Taking chances with cheap players in order to pay up for the studs you really want just makes a lot of sense.

"The key to winning a GPP on any given night is finding players who hit their ceilings.  5x or even 6x value is not enough. We want 7x or better from players in order to take down GPP contests."

My favorite stat to look at is fantasy points-per-minute.  If you’ve been reading this column for a while you might notice I mention it quite often. I’m usually looking for players who can get at least one FPPM because that means they have the potential to score well beyond their average if they get more minutes than usual, have a really hot shooting night, or rack up a bunch of defensive stats.  Let’s take a look at each position to see who can get us there tonight.

FanDuel NBA GPP Breakdown: Point Guards

 John Wall (10400)

I’m not usually one to suggest paying up for John Wall, but on this small slate, he strikes me as the point guard with the most upside tonight. The Wizards are one point road favorites and Wall’s matchup with Dennis Smith Jr. is one he can dominate tonight.

A lot of Wall’s biggest performances are when he has a big night on defense with blocks and steals and I definitely think he can take advantage of the fact that DSJ is averaging 3.38 turnovers per game.

Kemba Walker (9200)

The Hornets are 11.5 favorites tonight and the only big favorite on the board but the matchup is too awesome to ignore for Kemba who’s at home where’s been much better in his career. I think three straight games of mediocre fantasy output is likely to keep his ownership low as most people anticipate blowout in this game, but anything can happen.  He’s still at 32% usage on the season even after he’s cooled off recently.

If you really want to be different, run it back with Trae Young (7500) on the other side. The exciting rookie is coming a career-high 15-assist game and we know he can get hot shooting the ball, too.

Value: Tony Parker (4300), Isaiah Canaan (4500)

FanDuel NBA GPP Breakdown: Shooting Guards

Devin Booker (8100)

SG is an unusually loaded for such a small slate and it would be easy to make a case for Bradley Beal or Luka Doncic (if he plays) in the Washington-Dallas game. But I really think Booker is the play in a solid matchup with Brooklyn tonight.

This Phoenix-Brooklyn game is a pick-em and I think very stackable, at least on the Phoenix side. Booker is the obvious Sun to roster with his 33% usage rate and status as the de-facto point guard for the Suns. He’ll be chalky, but I wouldn’t fade.

Caris Levert (8000)

This is where I’ll try to be a little different. I don’t think many people will be willing to pay 8k for Levert, but I’m going to take a shot on him getting the minutes he needs to go 5-6x on this elevated price.

He’s been excellent lately, averaging 22-5-3 with 3 steals in 32 minutes over his last three games. I think he has the opportunity to get more than his season average of 31.5 minutes tonight if this game does stay close, and he’s the one Brooklyn player we’ve been able to count on getting the most run this season.

Value: Malik Monk (4600)

FanDuel NBA GPP Breakdown: Small Forwards

Trevor Ariza (5700)

You might be wondering if I forgot about Giannis. Well, I didn’t he’s just too expensive at 12800 and I don’t see enough salary relief to make me want to pay up for him. Especially because we have some solid value options at

Ariza is really rolling right now and is a great stacking option with Booker for your Suns stacks. He’s coming off a nice 36 FD point game in which he played 39 minutes and he’s too cheap for a guy with the type of multi-category contributions that he can make when he’s playing that many minutes.

DeAndre Bembry (4900)

Taurean Prince is doubtful tonight, leaving Bembry with a great opportunity if he gets the start in his place. Small Forward is the best place to attack Charlotte and Bembry has had a few big games already this season off the bench for Atlanta.

He’s only playing 24 minutes per game right now, but his per-36 numbers are 12-7-5 with 2.3 steals so if he were to get 30 minutes tonight (which is no guarantee with the Hawks being big underdogs and their unpredictable rotations) then he could do some serious damage. I’m willing to load on him at this price, though.

Value: Jeff Green (4200)

FanDuel NBA GPP Breakdown: Power Forwards

Power Forward is pretty much a barren wasteland today. Ersan Ilyasova is the highest-priced active player at 5500, so that should tell you something. This is the position that is really important and could make or break your lineups if you get the right two guys.

Markieff Morris (5300)

Markieff finally busted out again on Sunday with 38.7 FD points against the Knicks after being out with an injury for a few games. His big performance was likely due Otto Porter being out, but he’s still worth a look here even if Porter is back due to the solid matchup against Dallas and the lack of other reliable options.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (5300)

RHJ is coming off his best performance of the season against the Sixers where he registered 32.7 FD points in 29 minutes and scored a season-high 21 real-life points. His minutes have been all over the place, but I do think the Suns’ tendency to play small means RHJ could see extended run for matchup purposes and we know the potential he has in rebounding and defensive stats if he gets the minutes. He’s well worth a shot here for his upside even if his floor is low.

Value: Omari Spellman (3700)

FanDuel NBA GPP Breakdown: Centers

Deandre Ayton (8500)

The best rookie big man in the league in one of the best matchups for centers in NBA DFS? Sign me up! I have no problem with rolling three Suns in my lineups tonight as the vast majority of Phoenix’s production comes from Booker, Ariza, and Ayton. The rookie is averaging 37 FD points with only a 19% usage rate as he’s getting it done in other areas (10.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists).  He’s my favorite play on the board and I think he has a career-high game scoring tonight.

Jusuf Nurkic (7600)

Someone sound the Nurk-Alert! The big Bosnian center has been on a serious tear lately averaging 19-11-2 in his last four games in only 26 minutes a game! He’s in a great spot here tonight against Milwaukee is a game that is a pick-em right now. Hopefully, he pushes for 28-30 minutes because he’s an elite fantasy asset while on the floor averaging over 1.5 FPPM. If you can’t afford Ayton, Nurk still has plenty of upside for 900 less.

Value: Alex Len (5400)

FanDuel NBA GPP Breakdown: Game Stack of the Night

This is a tough call because like I said, 3 of these games all are such tight spreads and I like all of them to some degree. Heck, even Charlotte-Atlanta is worth a mini Kemba-Young-Bembry stack in the hopes that it stays close.

I’m going to go with Phoenix-Brooklyn as my favorite stack, though, and here’s why. It’s affordable! The Washington pieces you want in Beal and Wall are really expensive and it’s hard to know which Dallas pieces to use in that stack. At the same time, the Portland-Milwaukee stack is going to be way too expensive as Damian Lillard and Giannis are going to cost you 23k alone.

Running out 2-3 of Canaan, Booker, Ariza, and Ayton to go with Levert and Hollis-Jefferson is likely the way I’ll go and then try to fill in with other solid one-offs with whatever roster positions are left. You can try to get creative here and use a cheap piece like Allen Crabbe (3800) or a pivot off Ayton to Jarrett Allen (6700) but those guys simply aren’t getting more than 25 minutes regularly enough for me to really love them.

The SG combo of Booker-Levert could be a really solid pairing if you want a small piece of this game and then stack another game.  Now let’s take a look at where we stand with our draft lineup at this point.

FanDuel NBA GPP Breakdown: Sample Lineup and Slate Overview

As always on a four-game slate, there’s going to be plenty of chalk. We don’t have to fade all the chalk, just mix and match the good chalk with a few lower-owned plays to get the right combination. I’m looking to go heavy on the Suns tonight with 2-3 in every lineup.

Paying up at shooting guard and center while playing mid-tier value at SF and PF.  Running two expensive point guards might be contrarian, but I’m more likely to play Kemba or Wall and pair them with a value play like Parker (in non-Kemba lineups) or Canaan.

Remember the sample lineup is intended to give you a starting point for roster construction and is not intended to be a “plug and play” lineup.  Here’s where I am as of 5:00 AM this morning.

PG: John Wall (10400)

PG: Isaiah Canaan (4500)

SG: Devin Booker (8100)

SG: Caris LeVert (8000)

SF: Trevor Ariza (5700)

SF: DeAndre’ Bembry (4900)

PF: Marcus Morris (5300)

PF: Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (5300)

C: Jusuf Nurkic (7600)

There you have it, peeps! I hope you enjoyed my comprehensive slate breakdown and I appreciate you taking the time to read my article. Be sure to share it with friends and fellow DFS players, leave comments or hit me with other feedback or questions on Twitter