Fantasy Basketball Top Plays and Fades, Saturday January 5

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 12: Elfrid Payton #2 of the Orlando Magic reacts after getting fouled in the first half against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena on January 12, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) Fantasy Basketball Top Plays /

Welcome to the Saturday edition of Fantasy Basketball Top Plays and Fades! We have a nice sized seven game slate in front of us tonight and there’s a ton of players to get to!

There are a lot of studs on tonight’s slate and the first thing that I’ll say about this slate is whatever your main lineup is, don’t fade James Harden. If you want to play a GPP that has a different mix, that’s one thing. You just have to understand the risk you take when you fade this man right now. The price stayed the same on FanDuel and while DraftKings raised the price $1,100, the price wasn’t accurate for the Warriors game anyways. The usage and FPPM with no Chris Paul and Eric Gordon are incredible and we’ve seen 70, 80 and 90 points the last three games. Let’s dig into the rest of the slate and our Fantasy Basketball Top Plays.

Fantasy Basketball Top Plays – Point Guard

Top Play – Elfrid Payton, Pelicans

I was very torn on this one because I want to play Steph Curry against the Kings as well. Both of the games could get out of hand, especially with Cleveland on a back to back but I think that game stays more competitive and the salary is a massive difference as well. Payton has only been back for two games but the minutes limit clearly is off the table because he played 33 minutes against the Nets.

Cleveland has struggled with points guards all season, giving up the fifth most points to the position. They’ve also given up the fourth most real points and Payton is coming off a game where he scored 25. With the pace the Pelicans play, he has double-double upside every night with points and assists.

Honorable Mention – Steph Curry, Warriors

Fade – Mike Conley, Grizzlies

Conley absolutely smashed Brooklyn last night, scoring over 30 real points en route to a massive fantasy day. Not only is that not very likely to repeat against San Antonio, Conley has seen a drop in points, rebounds and assists on zero days rest. He’s been battling injuries basically all season although they haven’t ruined his production. Still, the price is high enough that I think there are better options all the way across the board, even if you want to use that salary at other positions. Given the Spurs are a middle of the road matchup, I’m not going to pay the full price on Conley tonight.

Honorable Mention – Ben Simmons, Sixers(unless Jimmy Butler is out)

PHOENIX, AZ – APRIL 08: Klay Thompson #11 of the Golden State Warriors reacts during the first half of the NBA game against the Phoenix Suns at Talking Stick Resort Arena on April 8, 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

Fantasy Basketball Top Plays – Shooting Guard

Top Play – Klay Thompson, Warriors

If you want to get a piece of the Warriors back court against the awful Kings defense but don’t want to pay the premium of Curry, you can just play Thompson and call it a day. Thompson has some big games against the Kings under his belt in his career but more importantly, the Kings give up the fifth most real points to shooting guards. These are the exact kinds of games that we want to target Thompson in and his price is pretty reasonable across the board. In addition to the real points, the Kings give up 3.3 made three pointers to the SG position and that leads the league.

Here’s the crazy part. So far during the year, Thompson is only shooting 34.9 percent on three’s. That would easily be the lowest mark of his career, as he’s never been under 40.1 percent during any season. His shooting has to turn around soon and there’s not any better time than tonight.

Honorable Mention – Jrue Holiday, Pelicans

Fade – Donovan Mitchell, Jazz

I’ve been trying to get Mitchell right basically all season long and I’ve had pretty limited success and I don’t think I’m about to try my luck at it tonight. He was fine last night in Cleveland, but he’s also usually not going to have a monster game without a big real point total. The last time he was over 25 points was almost a month ago on December 9. The Pistons are just outside the top 10 against shooting guards and there’s not much of a reason to spend that salary tonight. If you do at that spot, I’d rather play Khris Middleton, Luka Doncic or Klay.

Honorable Mention – Malcolm Brogdon, Bucks

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – DECEMBER 21: Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks reacts to a foul called against him during the game against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden on December 21, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

Fantasy Basketball Top Plays – Small Forward

Top Play – Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks

Especially on FanDuel, shooting forward is going to be difficult. The options are three top shelf players, a couple intriguing mid-range options and then a lot of darts. Can you pay for Harden and Greek? Probably not unless there is a lot of value that opens up through the day so the decision is difficult. Still, Antetokounmpo is simply one of the best players on the planet and put up almost 50 FD points in 19 minutes last night. I was concerned about the blowout, which came to pass but he still got close to value.

Tonight, he gets to face the Raptors coming off get smoked in San Antonio and are a bit vulnerable. Similar to the Hawks, Toronto has nobody that can stop Antetokounmpo around the rim and they face almost 32 shots a game from within five feet. This game should stay much closer and you should get much closer to full minutes from him tonight. If you want to pay up at SF, this is the man you do it with.

Honorable Mention – Danuel House, Rockets provided he continues to start because the production has been solid these past few games

Fade – Kawhi Leonard, Raptors

I’m not going too far away here and I will not be playing much, if any Kawhi tonight. It isn’t even really about the massive no-show he pulled in San Antonio, even though that was fairly frustrating. It’s much more the price tag(which is a little rich for my blood even with Kyle Lowry likely remaining out) and the fact the Bucks are very solid against small forwards. They only allow the fifth most real points to the position and even though Leonard has seen a nice bump in rebounds, he’s still going to disappoint if the scoring isn’t there.

On DK, it’s much easier to find the extra $400 to play Kevin Durant and then on FD, Durant is actually cheaper. Durant could be in the better matchup unless the game gets way out of hand and with other high end studs on this slate, I have a very hard time paying this price for Leonard in this spot.

Honorable Mention – Rudy Gay, Spurs

NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 17:Derrick Favors #15 of the Utah Jazz dunks the ball in the second quarter against the Utah Jazz during their game at Barclays Center on November 17, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)

Fantasy Basketball Top Plays – Power Forward

Top Play – Derrick Favors, Jazz

If we’re being totally honest, Anthony Davis is the “top play” for power forward and there’s likely not much debate about that. However, unless you can use a much larger salary cap than the sits provide, he probably ranks behind Harden and Antetokounmpo for me so we need to find other players. Enter Favors, who might have a better matchup down low than one might think.

I wish he and Jae Crowder weren’t splitting minutes they say they are, but Favors shoots the ball a ton from within five feet of the basket. 187 of his 285 shot attempts have come from in close and on top of that, Favors is shooting over 71 percent on those attempts. The Pistons do have Andre Drummond, but he isn’t doing much right defensively at the rim because the Pistons are allowing the highest field goal percentage in that range. You’re going to need to spend a little bit less in some spots and Favors could be a very sneaky place to do it.

Honorable Mention – Draymond Green, Warriors

Fade – Serge Ibaka, Raptors

I know I’m picking on the Raptors a little bit here but some of their players don’t have great matchups or the price is just too high. While Ibaka is a reasonable price, he plays the five a lot despite being listed as a power forward. Milwaukee does allow a fair amount of real points to centers but they don’t allow too many rebounds because of Brook Lopez and the style of game he plays. Ibaka has the athleticism to head out on the perimeter with Lopez but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be good for fantasy tonight. In addition, Ibaka has been mostly shaky since he’s come back from his knee injury. Power forward is no picnic either tonight but I won’t be landing on Ibaka at all.

Honorable Mention – Jaren Jackson, Jr.

SACRAMENTO, CA – NOVEMBER 10: Willie Cauley-Stein #00 of the Sacramento Kings stands on the court during their game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Golden 1 Center on November 10, 2018 in Sacramento, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

Fantasy Basketball Top Plays – Center

Top Play – Willie Cauley-Stein, Kings

Until further notice, I plan to have some exposure to competent centers against the Warriors. They have struggled quite a bit against the position this season and got absolutely destroyed by Clint Capela of the Rockets this past game. I definitely don’t expect a 60+ point performance from Cauley-Stein like Capela had, but he should be very solid at his price point. On DK, he’s the same price as DeMarcus Cousins(who has played as much NBA basketball as you have this season).

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Golden State has given up the 11th most points and the seventh most rebounds to the center position and even if Marvin Bagley is back, I don’t expect him to cut into Cauley-Stein’s minutes to any significant extent on his first game back. The Kings will be careful with their prized rookie and he should be pretty safely on the floor for around 30 minutes. That’s plenty for him to pay his price this evening.

Honorable Mention – Joel Embiid, Sixers

Fade – DeAndre Jordan, Mavericks

It’s not impossible for an opposing center to have a very good game against Joel Embiid, but I’m not putting my money on Jordan to do it on a back to back scenario, on the road at that. The price is reasonable but in a small sample size, Jordan doesn’t size up well with Embiid. He only averages six points and about 13 rebounds in the two games these two have clashed, which only equals about 22ish fantasy points.

There’s not much upside with that trend and it would certainly be a disaster to pay for Jordan and get that little production(just ask Deandre Ayton from last night. Sorry about that call). It’s a seven game slate that includes some very expensive options, so if you want to punt just slide Kevan Looney into the center spot. It’s better than playing Jordan tonight in his spot.

Honorable Mention – Andre Drummond, Pistons

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