FanDuel NBA Breakdown: Tuesday, 1/15 – Youth Movement
By Dan Palyo
FanDuel NBA Breakdown: Tuesday, 1/15
Welcome back to the Tuesday edition of the FanDuel NBA Breakdown! I’m “Thunder Dan” and I love playing and writing about FanDuel NBA DFS and I enjoy doing these daily breakdowns for our loyal CPR readers.
Last night was one of my worst DFS nights in a long time. The Celtics crashed and burned and many of my value plays busted. I had shares of Harden and Davis who both were great but still couldn’t put together any winning lineups. When the chalk busts, it can bust hard, which is a great reminder as to why we are always looking for pivots in GPP contests.
Tonight we have our second six-game slate in a row on FanDuel. I really don’t mind these medium-sized slates that much.
They offer enough choices at each position for us to vary our lineups without having to worry about the range of outcomes for hundreds of different players. We certainly have an interest slate tonight filled with revenge narratives and a ton of high-priced players.
"The FanDuel NBA Breakdown is a first look article that is intended to be a starting point for your cash game or GPP research for FanDuel NBA DFS."
My goal when I revamped the Breakdown was to create an all-inclusive article that gives you a place to start your research for FanDuel NBA cash games and GPPs. When making my cash and GPP picks I always take into account salary, Vegas trends, ownership, and match-up and I always do my best to give you a clear rationale for why I believe each player makes a great GPP or cash target.
There will be information that comes out during the day that will likely push us onto certain plays or off others. Sometimes there are players mentioned in this first look article who get ruled out during the day, or other players emerge as good plays when surprise injury news emerges.
My best advice is to never settle on a lineup too early in the day and be willing to be flexible enough to incorporate the new information that becomes available throughout the day. At the same time, don’t abandon your core plays unless the slate absolutely demands it!
For the sake of time, and lack of injuries, I’m going to skip the injury report and Vegas info and jump right into my favorite cash plays!
FanDuel NBA Breakdown: Cash Game Core
Welcome to the cash game core plays section of the Breakdown! I’ve been giving you a GPP core in the past, so instead, I wanted to provide you with a solid trio of players to start building your cash game lineups with tonight.
Russell Westbrook (12000)
I’m not getting too cute with my top spend tonight. Westy is in a pace up spot and has easily the best match-up of any player on the slate as the Hawks are one of the worst teams in the league defending point guards.
Russ hasn’t been shooting the ball well, but he should be able to get the rim with ease tonight against young Trae Young. I’m penciling him in for 55+ and figuring out where to pay down at other positions.
Dennis Schroder (5300)
Sure, it’s a revenge spot for Schroder, but more importantly, it’s just an excellent match-up for the Thunder, who have the highest implied team total on the board. Schroder is still too cheap for his role as 6th man.
He’s coming off a 41 FD point performance in his last game against the Spurs and dropped 34 against the Hawks earlier this year. His 25% usage is one of the highest of any bench player in the league and he’s got a pretty safe floor here tonight in this spot.
Justise Winslow (6800)
Miami’s rotation can be maddening to figure out as Coach Spoelstra is playing 10 or 11 guys most nights, but one thing we can count on is Winslow playing 30+ minutes as the Heat’s primary point guard.
He’s flourished in that role and Miami will need him on the floor alot tonight, especially if they ask him to defend Giannis for stretches. It’s a pace up spot for Miami and I think Winslow has a pretty safe 30-35 FanDuel point floor in this game.
FanDuel NBA Breakdown: Top GPP Plays
Nikola Jokic (11100)
I can’t remember seeing three centers over 11k on a slate on FanDuel before but that’s what we are looking at tonight. I’m rolling with the Joker because I think the revenge narrative in the Philly-Minnesota game is going to drive up the ownership on Towns and Embiid.
Meanwhile, Jokic is in a game with a one point spread and facing a GSW team that really has no one who can guard him (good luck, Draymond!). I think he is poised for a big night and we all know the type of massive triple-double potential he has.
Trae Young (6900)
With Jeremy Lin being questionable tonight, I’m really interested in Young here. His price is very affordable and he’s certainly got big-game potential as we’ve seen him pop off a few times this season already.
He’s quietly been playing really well lately and just dropped 40 FD points in a tough game against the Bucks. I’m going to roll out the youngster tonight regardless of Lin’s status, but if Lin does sit then he will be a lock in my main GPP build.
Wendell Carter Jr. (6000)
Carter has shown a ton of upside in his rookie season. The return of Bobby Portis (5000) tonight concerns me a bit, but his minutes have been limited to around 18-20, leaving Carter about 28-30 minutes on most nights.
He’s got a great matchup against the Lakers, who give up a ton of production to opposing centers and I think he’s got a ton of potential for a big performance tonight.
FanDuel NBA Breakdown: Value Plays
For our purposes here at the Breakdown, we classify players priced at 5000 or less as “value plays.” Identifying value has been crucial this year on FanDuel as the new “drop score” rule has forced us into playing a lot of “stars and scrubs” rosters in both cash and GPP formats. This is very much the case tonight with some high priced studs on the slate.
Richaun Holmes (4600)
Holmes has been a beast off the bench. He’s such a dynamic fantasy player that he’s regularly topping 30 fantasy points in only 18-25 minutes of playing time. He’s still way too cheap for his steady role with the Suns.
Derrick Jones Jr. (4600)
Jones is a dynamic young player who is playing so well that it’s hard for his coach to keep him off the floor. After picking up a DNP-CD two games ago, he’s bounced back for 29 and 25 FD points in his last two outings. As long as he’s in the rotation, he’s in play due to his great per-minute production.
Andre Iguodala (4300)
Iggy has been pretty consistent lately as he’s anchoring the second unit for the Warriors. He even dropped 31 in his last game against Dallas. As long as he’s playing 20-25 minutes he’s got a pretty solid floor and is a pretty safe value play.
Malik Beasley (4700) and Monte Morris (4600)
If Gary Harris sits out again tonight, we will probably see Beasley get another start at SG. He’s been really solid for the Nuggets over the last several weeks and makes for a nice option in what should be a really good game with the Warriors.
Morris comes off the bench, but has been a solid contributor all season, too, and can easily rack up 25 FD points with his three-point shooting, assists, and steals.
FanDuel NBA Breakdown: Sample Lineup and Overview
You might be wondering, what about the Philadelphia-Minnesota game? Well, I certainly think it’s an intriguing spot, but it’s only 8:00 AM and that game already has more buzz around it than all the other games combined.
Players like Butler, Wiggins, and Towns are all going to have massive ownership on this six-game slate. I don’t really do revenge narratives in DFS, even if this one is one of the better narratives out there with how things went down in Minnesota this season. I’ll probably have some exposure to that game, but the contrarian in me says to target some of the other spots on this slate.
I usually like punting one or two spots on FanDuel with this year’s new “drop score” rule. Playing a lineup of all 5-7k players just makes zero sense to me and you’ll find that the guys winning consistently on FanDuel are going “stars and scrubs” pretty frequently.
Today’s sample lineup is a HYBRID lineup. You’ll see my cash core plays in there mixed in with some of my GPP plays and value plays. That means it’s a lineup you can enter in cash contests and GPPs and is a combination of safe and risky plays.
Remember, the sample lineup is for illustrative purposes and is not necessarily a “plug-and-play” lineup. There’s still a lot of injury information we need before 7:00 tonight when lineups lock.
PG: Russell Westbrook (12000)
PG: Trae Young (6900)
SG: Andre Iguodala (4300)
SG: Dennis Schroder (5300)
SF: Derrick Jones Jr. (4600)
SF: Bojan Bogdanovic (5200)
PF: Richaun Holmes (4600)
PF: Wendell Carter Jr. (6000)
C: Nikola Jokic (11100)
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.
And keep coming back to FantasyCPR for the best free content in the industry! Good luck in your contests!