NBA GPP Breakdown: Special Yahoo Edition – 12/26

Yahoo NBA DFS: GPP Breakdown

Welcome to a special Yahoo NBA edition of the GPP Breakdown! I’m Thunder Dan and I love playing NBA DFS. I usually write exclusively about FanDuel but today I wanted to do a breakdown that is exclusively geared towards Yahoo since they continue to put out some amazing contests for both NBA and NFL lately.

Yesterday, Yahoo had a massive 37,500 entry 20 dollar tournament with a 1 million dollar guaranteed prize pool. They’ve been running “guaranteed overlay” tournaments where they are virtually charging no rake and actually adding extra money to the prize pools on top of what the entry fees total. Yesterday’s Christmas day tournament only ended up with about 26k entries, so Yahoo ended up paying almost 50k of their own money when it was all said and done.

Now, this is not a sustainable business model, but for the time being it appears that Yahoo is willing to eat these losses in order to gain some ground on the competition and they’ve certainly created some buzz in the industry.  Tonight, they’ve got a 10 dollar, 10-max entry contest that pays out 15k to the winner. That interests me, and it should also interest you.

Most contests on FanDuel or Draftkings with that big of a prize pool are 150 max-entry contests. Yahoo could fill these contests by allowing veteran players to enter dozens of lineups, but they want to maintain a focus on players from all skill and experience levels. They’re also offering bonuses to players who deposit for the first time and making a real concerted effort to bring more players to their site.

Personally, I’ve been playing DFS on Yahoo for years. While their format and pricing is different, I’ve always enjoyed playing on their site. One of the biggest knocks on Yahoo (and other second-tier DFS sites like FantasyDraft) is the lack of big contests. But that appears to be changing, and that’s why I’m writing this article today. Because I think Yahoo has a format that is fun and challenging and I believe they could push for a bigger market share of the industry.

So what makes Yahoo such a different DFS site and what is strategy like for NBA DFS?

Yahoo NBA DFS: Yahoo Strategy

Yahoo NBA DFS features the same roster setup as Draftkings (PG-SG-G-SF-PF-F-C-Utility) but players do not have multi-position eligibility. They actually have the same scoring system as FanDuel, with steals and blocks being worth 3 points and none of those 3-point, double-double or triple-double bonuses you get on DK.

The salary cap is 200 dollars for your 8 roster spots. The minimum price for a player is 10 dollars, while some of the highest priced players may cost as much as 60 dollars.  This pricing system is unlike the system used by FanDuel, Draftkings, or FantasyDraft.  Anthony Davis costs 58 dollars tonight, which is 29% of your entire budget. He’d only cost you 21% of your budget on FD2 and FanDuel, and 23.5% on DK.

The high cost of elite players is offset by the fact that there are dozens of players priced between 10-15 dollars and usually quite a few viable minimum-priced 10-dollar plays on any given slate.  You’re not likely to find that many viable 3500 plays on DK or FD as often.  This pricing lends itself well to the “stars and scrubs” roster construction in which it’s fairly easy to plug-in your favorite 2-3 higher priced star players and then fill in around them with value plays.

That’s not necessarily the optimal strategy on any given night and I do think you have be careful playing too many 10-dollar players as there’s no “drop score” like on FanDuel. The winning GPP lineups usually score 350 or more fantasy points, so you’re looking for your lineup to score roughly 1.75x the 200 dollars you paid for them.

I’m going to run through my favorite plays on the slate at each pricing tier and briefly discuss what kind of output we are looking for from each of the tiers as it relates to roster construction and building winning lineups.

Yahoo NBA DFS: High-End Plays

One thing you’ll notice about high-priced star players on Yahoo is that they are priced at about a dollar per average fantasy point.  For example, Anthony Davis is priced at 58 dollars and is producing an average of 61 Yahoo points per game.

We are looking to secure some raw points here, and on a lot of slates, it makes sense to pay up for whoever we think the highest scorer is going to be.  We want these players to outperform their price tags and do better than just 1x, but there’s no specific number we are looking for (the 6-7x rule that we apply to FD and DK just doesn’t apply here). Here’s who I like for 30 dollars or more tonight.

Anthony Davis ($58)

I’ll most likely lock in Davis tonight, as I think he’s the clear favorite to lead the field in fantasy points and it might not be close. He’s still a bargain here priced under 60 dollars and it’s easy to fit him into lineups.

Karl-Anthony Towns ($41)

The Big KAT has been mediocre lately, getting himself into foul trouble and failing to hit 40 fantasy points in three straight. But this matchup is juicy, as he gets the Bulls tonight – a team with a weak interior that he crushed earlier this year for 70 Yahoo points.

Andre Drummond ($41)

If you’re not feeling KAT, then maybe I can interest you in another beast like Drumm in a matchup against Washington that he should smash. It certainly feels like it could be a two center night.

Victor Oladipo ($35)

Oladipo has one of the best matchups of any guard tonight as his Pacers travel to Atlanta to take on the hapless Hawks defense. He’s underpriced here due to his recent injury and the fact he’s only had a few big games since returning. 50+ is easily possible for Dipo here.

DeAaron Fox ($33)

I’m drooling over this late game between the Kings and Clippers as it has a total pushing 240 and should be played at a crazy pace. I love Fox here and he’s been regularly over 45 Yahoo points lately, making him a solid value.

Yahoo NBA DFS: Mid-Range Plays

I’m going to define mid-range players as those who are priced between 16-29 dollars. There are some really great tournament plays here as these players are capable of pushing for 2x their value or more.

Lauri Markannen ($28)

Lauri has been coming on strong, with 40+ fantasy points in 4 of his last his last 5 games. He’s in a good spot here vs. the Wolves tonight.

Derrick Rose ($27)

Rose is questionable, but if he suits up he’s an elite play as fellow guard Jeff Teague is still out. Toss him a “returning to Chicago” narrative if you like just for fun.

Buddy Hield ($27)

Buddy is on fire right now, and even though he’s getting a little pricey here for a scoring-dependent player I think he’s still firmly in play.

Danilo Gallinari ($27)

I love Gallo tonight, and he’s one of my favorite plays on the Clippers side of the late-night hammer. He’s been filling it up lately and should push for 40+ Yahoo points tonight in a game that I think will shoot out.

Kris Dunn ($25)

Zach Lavine could return to steal shots, but Dunn is still playing well and producing. He’s definitely worth consideration here.

DeAndre Ayton ($24)

Ayton is absolutely crushing his competition right now and is badly underpriced for his recent production. One look at his game log will show you his ceiling and he’s got a solid matchup here against Orlando.

Montrezl Harrel ($20)

This is too way too cheap for a guy who’s averaging over 30 Yahoo points per game in this late game with the massive total.

Willie Cauley-Stein ($20)

Big Willie is playing more minutes lately with the rookie Marvin Bagley III hurt. Pay attention to his status today, but this is still a solid price on WCS either way.

Bogdan Bogdanovic ($18)

Don’t be fooled by Bogdan coming off the bench, he’s still an elite play due to his usage and minutes. He’s another piece of the Kings I really like tonight.

Yahoo NBA DFS: Value Plays

I going to define “value plays” as those that are 15 dollars or less. There’s also some great value down here and we usually see several cheap guys go 3-4x on winning GPP rosters. But be careful, because not all cheap plays are good plays! Here are my favorite values tonight.

Cody Zeller ($14)

Does Zeller play center? Is he playing against Brooklyn? Then, of course, we like him here as it’s become one of the easiest spots to target in NBA DFS this year.

Monte Morris ($13)

I love playing this dude and for some reason, Yahoo hasn’t priced him up as quickly as the other sites. He’s functioning as the Nuggets sixth man right now, playing 25+ minutes off the bench. He’s gone over 2x this price in six straight games.

Rodions Kurucs ($12)

The European rookie has come on strong lately with two 30+ Yahoo point performances and has seen 30+ minutes in those games. He should easily smash this price.

Alec Burks ($12)

I’m not loving this Cavs-Grizz game tonight, but Burks is one cheap piece I don’t mind using. He’s playing 25+ minutes and has been relatively consistent in his new role with the Cavs who are missing David Nwaba and Rodney Hood tonight.

Darius Miller ($10)

I love Darius tonight, he’s playing big minutes with Mirotic out of the lineup and producing 20+ fantasy points with regularity.

James Johnson ($10)

“Neck-Tat” Johnson is minimum price, but starting for Miami and averaging 27 minutes a game in his last two. He’s got 3x potential tonight if his current role and minutes continue.

Yahoo NBA DFS: Sample Lineup and Overview

There’s a lot of different ways to go with roster construction tonight, but especially on Yahoo as you can easily make a lot of combos that you’re really going to like.

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I want to stack the Kings-Clippers game, or at least get a large chunk of exposure to that one. But plugging in Anthony Davis is my first priority. Here’s my first draft build just to give you an idea of my thought process.

PG: DeAaron Fox – $33

SG: Bogdan Bogdanovic – $18

G: Spencer Dinwiddie – $24

SF: Danilo Gallinari – $27

PF: James Johnson – $10

F: Darius Miller – $10

C: Anthony Davis – $58

Utility: Willie Cauley-Stein – $20

That’s all I got for you today! I hope you consider playing NBA DFS on Yahoo as their site is incredibly player-friendly and giving us plenty of incentives to play there.  If this article gets a positive reception, I’d be happy to continue it a few times a week. Make sure you check out all the other great content on FantasyCPR!