NBA GPP Breakdown: Yahoo Edition – Monday, 12/31

Yahoo NBA DFS: GPP Breakdown – Monday 12/31

Welcome to the third edition of the Yahoo NBA GPP Breakdown! I’m Thunder Dan and I love playing NBA DFS. You may already know I write the FanDuel GPP Breakdown here at FantasyCPR, but today I wanted to do another breakdown that is exclusively geared towards Yahoo since they have yet another “guaranteed overlay” NBA DFS tournament tonight.

On Christmas Day, 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. The 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.

Tonight, they’re running another 10-dollar, 10-max entry contest that pays out 10k to the winner and adding 25k of their own money to the prize pool. I love these contests! And the good news is that as more people are playing on Yahoo, we are seeing more of a variety of contests offered by the site.

Most contests on FanDuel or Draftkings with big prize pools are 150 max-entry contests. Yahoo could run these contests and allow veteran players to enter dozens of lineups, but they’ve always capped their GPP’s at 10-entries per player and they have a number of single-entry contests, also. 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. It seems to be working. I mean you’re reading this article right now and getting ready to enter a lineup, right?

What better way to start the New Year than with an NBA DFS Free Roll from our friends at FanasyDraft with $50 of tickets up for grabs!

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 seems to be changing, and that’s why I’m writing going to continue this Yahoo series. Because I think Yahoo has a format that is fun and challenging and gives more average players an opportunity to win!

Yahoo NBA DFS: Strategy and Roster Construction

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 standard scoring system as FanDuel, with steals and blocks being worth 3 points and none of the 3-pointer, 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.  For example, Anthony Davis costs 58 dollars tonight, which is 29% of your entire budget.

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.

However, that’s not necessarily always the optimal strategy on any given night and I do think you should be cautious when using 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 62 Yahoo points per game. James Harden costs 57 dollars and averages almost 55 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 tonight as “spend-ups” for 30 dollars or more.

Anthony Davis ($58)

Suprised? I’ve been on Davis every slate for the last few weeks. He finally let us down in his last game again Houston with only 47 Yahoo points, but tonight he faces the Timberwolves on the second half of a back-to-back. He should fare well against KAT and has averaged over 30 actual points against the other former Kentucky star in 10 career meetings.

James Harden ($57)

There’s no way I’m fading Harden tonight, and I actually prefer him to Davis for one dollar less. He’s been simply amazing since CP3 went down and don’t worry about a perceived tough matchup with Memphis. He had 32-12-10 against the Grizzlies two weeks ago and that was with Paul in the lineup that night. Find the money to get Harden in your lineup!

Kyrie Irving ($44)

Kyrie has been outperforming this price tag most nights and despite only averaging 43 Yahoo points on the season, he’s been at 48 Yahoo points per game over his last 9 games. I like him in a somewhat contrarian against the Spurs.

Steph Curry ($43)

Curry has a dream matchup with the Suns tonight as they bleed production to point guards. He feels too cheap at this tag considering he’s topped 50 Yahoo points in 3 of his last 4 games.

DeAndre Ayton ($32)

This Sun is red-hot! (Sorry I couldn’t resist the chance to use that pun.) Ayton has been cooking with two 60+ Yahoo point games in his last four. The #1 overall pick is emerging as an elite NBA talent and Golden State is vulnerable inside.

Yahoo NBA DFS: Mid-Tier Plays

I’m going to define mid-range players as those who are priced between 16-29 dollars. There is some really great tournament plays here as these players are capable of pushing for 2-3x their value. These are also players that often get overlooked when the “Stars and Scrubs” builds are popular.

LaMarcus Aldridge ($29)

Aldridge is a sneaky play tonight, as many might not be drawn to this Boston-San Antonio game. LMA is coming off two really good games and thrives in the slower-tempo, half court style of play that this game is likely to have.

Klay Thompson ($25)

Klay and the Warriors are big favorites against Phoenix. Thompson has maintained a high level of production even with the Warriors fully healthy over the last few weeks and is coming off a game against Portland where he had 32 actual points. We know what he can do when he gets hot from downtown.

Robert Covington ($24)

Ro-Co is in a great spot here against the Pelicans. The T-Wolves are going to be paced up by the Pellies and Covington has a ton of upside due to his 3-point shooting and defensive prowess. His game log is a roller coaster at times, but if you catch him on the upswing you’ll be rewarded big time.

T.J. Warren ($24)

T.J. Buckets can score and the Suns are going to need him to get 25 points or more if they expect to be able to hang with the champs. I like him and Ayton both for Phoenix, but if Booker ends up missing due to injury, I might get off the Phoenix side of that game.

Elfrid Payton ($19)

Well Christmas is over, so it’s time for Elf to come off the shelf (wow, another groaner). We get the return of Payton for the Pelicans lineup tonight. We have no word on a minutes limit yet, but if he’s cleared for 30+ minutes then he could smash this priced considering he has triple-double upside.

Dennis Schroder ($18)

Schroder continues to log 30+ minutes for the Thunder whether he starts or comes off the bench. The Thunder have a rematch with Dallas tonight and rather than pay up for Westy or PG13, I’ll probably just get some exposure to D-Schro. He’s gone over 30 Yahoo points in three straight games.

Yahoo NBA DFS: Value Plays

I’m 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.

Derrick White ($14)

White is playing really well for the Spurs lately, posting 30+ Yahoo points in back to back games and seeing his minutes creep closer to 30 a game.

P.J. Tucker ($12)

Tucker is just too cheap for a guy that plays almost 40 minutes a game. He won’t dazzle you with his game, but he’s a steady source of boards and defensive stats and a pretty reliable 20+ Yahoo points on most nights.

Mikal Bridges ($12)

The Phoenix rookie is coming on strong lately, as he’s been over 20 Yahoo points in five straight games. His production has been mainly reliant on peripheral stats, but he’s scored 30 actual points over his last two games.

Bryn Forbes ($12)

Forbes has seen 30+ minutes in three straight games for the Spurs and is getting 20+ Yahoo points fairly reliably. He and White have really made Patty Mills the odd man out in the San Antonio rotation.

Austin Rivers ($10)

Rivers is a chalky play tonight as he’s going to start for Houston and play 35+ minutes. That’s hard to fade at minimum price.

Danuel House ($10)

House has emerged as the Houston wing that is getting the most minutes lately and has outplayed Gerald Green. He played 32 minutes in the Rockets’ last game and is now over 20 Yahoo points in three straight.

Kevon Looney ($10)

Looney is one of my favorite values on the board when he’s on the slate. He plays about 25 minutes a game for the Warriors and almost always gives you about a point-per-minute. He’s been very reliable all season.

Yahoo NBA DFS: Sample Lineup and Overview

I’m starting my lineups by plugging in James Harden. There’s probably enough value that you could squeeze Harden and Anthony Davis into your lineup, but you’d need both of them to have ceiling games and all your value to come through to take down a GPP.

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So, instead of using Davis, I’m going to target Kyrie Irving and LaMarcus Aldridge in a game that I think will be sneaky-good for fantasy production. I’m not spending up for the Warriors in my sample lineup, but I do think Curry is a great play if you think the Suns can keep it close. Watch for that Devin Booker news!

Building lineups on Yahoo can be tough. I know I’m always going back and trying to reconfigure my lineups to squeeze one more player that I really like in there. At the end of the day, you got to feel good about the guys you’re rolling out there in those 8 roster spots.

Here’s what my first-look lineup looks like at 7:00 AM.

PG: Austin Rivers ($10)
SG: James Harden ($57)
G: Kyrie Irving ($44)
SF: Mikal Bridges ($12)
PF: P.J. Tucker ($12)
F: Robert Covington ($24)
C: LaMarcus Aldridge ($29)
Utility: Bryn Forbes ($12)

Thanks for reading! I highly recommend giving Yahoo NBA DFS a try if you haven’t already. Also, make sure you check out all the great content here at FantasyCPR, we’ve got you covered for all sports across all platforms!