FanDuel NBA GPP Breakdown: Wednesday, November 14

FanDuel NBA GPP Breakdown

Hello again and welcome back to the Wednesday edition of the FanDuel NBA GPP Breakdown. I’m “Thunder Dan” and I love FanDuel NBA DFS more than I love snow days (and yes I’m a teacher if you didn’t know that and teachers are allowed to love snow days, too!)

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 massive 11-game main slate tonight which allows us to be picky with who we roster. It also means we should see ownership spread out over more players and increases our chances to get the players we want at lower ownership. Take a look at this awesome pic (they were babies!) I found and it will give you a clue as to who I’m going to recommend a little later!

I’ll go position by position instead of game-by-game today, something I usually do on these larger slates.  I firmly believe you really have to narrow your player pool, and you can’t play everyone. Even if you are a mass-multi-entry player you really should try to tighten that player pool up to give yourself a solid core in order to give the majority of your lineups a chance of hitting.  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. Always make sure you monitoring Twitter for player updates or getting those push notifications to your phone.  Without any further ado, let’s get into the picks!

FanDuel NBA GPP Breakdown: Point Guards

Kyrie Irving (8900)

This price tag might seem steep for Kyrie tonight, but that’s all the more reason to like him in my opinion. Those who pay up might go all the way up to John Wall or Ben Simmons and others will likely be looking in the mid-tier at Goran Dragic or Derrick Rose leaving us with a lower-owned Irving against Chicago’s 27th ranked defense.

This game is one of several with a double-digit spread, but I’m not going to let a potential blowout take me off such a strong play. Irving is sporting a 28% usage rate and is absolutely crushing of late, averaging 30-5-6 with 3.7 steals in his last three games.  He’s finally asserted himself as the primary option on offense and we’re seeing some vintage Kyrie games now.

Jeff Teague (6700)

Teague is listed as questionable for tonight’s game against the Pelicans, so make sure you keep an eye on his status. My gut says he’ll probably play and I want to take advantage of that orange “GTD” designation on his player card because I think it will keep some people from playing him.

He’s going to thrive in the post-Butler offense and be expected to score and distribute the ball more.  He’s coming off a 24-11 performance against Brooklyn in his first game back from injury that netted him 46.7 FanDuel points and I love the opportunity for him to duplicate that output tonight. Elfrid Payton should be back for New Orleans which is good news for Teague because Payton is not a great defender and Jrue Holiday will likely bump onto Andrew Wiggins or Derrick Rose.

Value: Ryan Arcidiacono (4400), Tyler Johnson (4300)

FanDuel NBA GPP Breakdown: Shooting Guards

D’Angelo Russell (7500)

The injury to Caris Levert the other night was really sad, but it looks as if it could have been worse and he avoided any major damage. Without Levert, the Nets may be forced to play D’Angelo Russell bigger minutes, which is every DFS player’s dream.

I have yet to roster Russell yet this season because of his minutes being capped in the mid-20’s, but he played 32 minutes against Minnesota and we saw a glimpse of what he’s capable of with a solid 45.4 FanDuel point outing.  His ceiling is massive tonight if he’s given those minutes again and I love him in this spot against Miami. A 28% usage rate on the season is already really solid and I can’t help but think that continues to climb with Levert out.

Malcolm Brogdon (5700)

Brogdon is hot, rattling off three straight 30+ FanDuel point games and his price is still affordable. Most people probably think of him as a cash-game play as he’s been pretty steady but not spectacular all season long. But I love him for tournaments tonight.  His role seems to be evolving on this Milwaukee team and he’s making it hard for his coach not to have him on the court with his excellent play on offensive and defense.

After seeing his minutes dip in the mid 20’s, he’s back to playing 37 and 33 minutes over the last two games and he’s scored 20 real-life points in his last three.  He’s a solid combo guard who can do a little of everything and I think he’s an easy 6x value tonight. Continue to buy low on him now before his price gets too high.

Value: J.R. Smith (4400), Wayne Ellington (3700)

FanDuel NBA GPP Breakdown: Small Forwards

Nikola Mirotic (7700)

I really, really hope Miro plays tonight. This is the perfect matchup for him to succeed in as the T-Wolves really struggle against perimeter-based big men. Not only that, but if Miro suits up I think many will avoid him and Davis as the perception is that one of them has to be out for the other one to crush, and it’s simply not true.

Nikola is averaging nearly 40 FanDuel points per game and has surpassed that 40-point mark four times this year with Davis in the lineup. He’s listed as questionable but hopefully, he goes as he was apparently close to playing in their last game until being ruled out right beforehand.

T.J. Warren (6400)

Will Warren be chalk? Maybe, but I also think many will avoid him as his price continues to creep up and he’s in a perceived poor matchup with the Spurs. I’m fine rolling Warren out there tonight as he’s played 41, 36, and 40 minutes in their last three games and scored 20 or more real-life points in each. When T.J. Buckets is getting 40 minutes and jacking up 16 shots a game, I’m playing him, it’s that simple.

Kyle Anderson (5600)

Check out the throwback pic of Slo-Mo! For those of you that don’t remember, Anderson was a point guard in his days at UCLA despite his lanky, 6’9″ frame.  Anderson will never be a scorer in this league but has carved out his niche as a solid defender and utility man.

After some early season struggles and lack of playing time, he’s finally seeing big minutes, playing 32, 32, and 37 in his last three games. He has back to back 13 rebound efforts and he’s averaging over 1.3 steals per game on the season. If he gets 30+ minutes again tonight I think he has a hard time not getting to 6x on this price.

Value: Jeff Green (4200), Demarre Carroll (4000)

FanDuel NBA GPP Breakdown: Power Forwards

Anthony Davis (12300)

The Brow is back! We’ve finally seen Davis stay healthy for a stretch and he’s absolutely dominated over his last three games averaging over 63 FD points per game.  There could not be a better matchup for him than the one he’s walking into tonight, as I mentioned when talking about Mirotic, the T-Wolves get destroyed by stretch fours and fives. Not that Davis needs the best matchup, he’s pretty much matchup proof at this point anyway! If there’s one stud I’m getting in my lineups tonight it’s not Giannis, LeBron, Wall, or Kawhi…it’s the Brow!

Derrick Favors (5300)

People probably think I’m nuts, but I’ve been playing Favors for a few weeks now and waiting for him to break out. Well, he did – kind of – on Monday when he put up 33 FD points against Memphis and played a season-high 27 minutes. The issue with Favors is always minutes, but he’s a very productive player when he’s on the floor with 1.15 FPPM.

I like using him tonight because the pace of this game should be fairly slow and he should be able to dominate whoever Dallas tries to match up on him as Rudy Gobert will likely draw DeAndre Jordan‘s defense. Playing a game who only gets 25 minutes isn’t always fun, but he’s worth it at this price and to give us some salary relief to make everything else fit.

Mid-tier value: Taj Gibson (5500 – if Saric is still out), Marcus Morris (5300)

FanDuel NBA GPP Breakdown: Centers

Karl-Anthony Towns (10500)

We’ve seen two massive games in a row now from KAT since the Butler trade and I want to roll him out again tonight in what should be a high scoring game with New Orleans.  No center other than Whiteside has the ceiling of KAT tonight.

If Saric and Covington end up not playing, then Minnesota ends up short-handed again and KAT should get all the shot attempts he can handle. Even if those guys do play, I’m not sure how much run Coach Thibs is going to give them or if he will trust them with no practice time under their belts.

Hassan Whiteside (9200)

The Miami big man gets a big-time matchup against Brooklyn, a spot that we always love using centers.  Whiteside should be able to punish the Nets inside and we know what his upside is with blocks as we saw him block 9 shots in a game earlier this season. The potential for another massive 20-20 game with multiple blocks is there and while his price is at a season-high, he’s absolutely worth spending up on tonight.

Value: Mike Muscala (3700)

FanDuel NBA GPP Breakdown: Game Stack of the Night

New Orleans @ Minnesota

There’s no total on this game yet, but I expect it to be one of the higher totals on the slate. Neither of these teams play much defense and the projected pace of this game dwarfs all others on the slate.  I anticipate it going up and down and I envision both big men trading baskets all night long.

I love using a combination of KAT and Teague on the Minnesota side and then running it back with Anthony Davis and possibly Nikola Mirotic if I can find the salary.  Jrue Holiday (9000) is too priced up at this point if Payton returns and I’d rather not use Elf until we see him play a full game after missing so much time.

Even if you can only fit two or three players from this game in your lineup, build yourself some mini-stacks. I think this the game that I am going to make sure I have some exposure to in every lineup.

FanDuel NBA GPP Breakdown: Sample Lineup and Slate Overview

There are a lot of different ways to go tonight and end up with a lineup you love. I like game-stacking tonight, but make sure you don’t overdo it, as you likely don’t want to be overexposed to any one game on an 11-game slate.

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I like paying up at PF for Davis and at C for either Towns or Whiteside. There’s enough mid-tier value at SG and SF to build some “stars and scrubs” lineups tonight and I want to do that as often as I can on FanDuel to take advantage of their new rule.

Here’s where I am at this morning. Keep in mind these sample lineups are for illustrative purposes are not intended to be plug-and-play lineups. There’s still a lot of information we need about this slate before lock tonight!

PG: Ryan Arcidiacono (4400)

PG: Jeff Teague 6700

SG: D’Angelo Russell (7500)

SG: Wayne Ellington (3700)

SF: DeMarre Carroll (4000)

SF: Kyle Anderson (5300)

PF: Anthony Davis (12300)

PF: Derrick Favors (5300)

C: Karl-Anthony Towns (10500)

That’s all I got today, folks! I hope you enjoyed my 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.  Good luck in your contests!