Fantasy NBA Best Plays To Win – Friday January 18

Good day and greetings from your fantasy NBA best plays to win host and avid player. We’ve got a 7 game slate with the last 2 showing the highest totals.

The Pelicans and the Warriors are going to hold the highest owned of our fantasy NBA best plays, and the rest of the card will be looked at to find great values.

The Timberwolves game would hold the next best interest as they have had some wild games of late.  Another place to look would be the Utah Jazz side except for the blowout possibility.

The big question on this slate is do we want to center around a top player such as Anthony Davis or Stephan Curry, or do we want to spread around numerous lineups with various players.

This whole season has been crazy with the top guns producing so many points that fading them means losing, and it seems to be getting even crazier.  Witness Wednesday as Harden produced over 80 DraftKings points and Curry scored 23 in the 3rd quarter alone on New Orleans.

Let’s look at some possible big winners that may be overlooked tonight with all the big guns to roster.

Fantasy NBA Best Plays Just Under The Radar:

Karl-Anthony Towns ($9700), Minnesota
He had a very bad game last time out and while he is prone to posting a poor score, he also can surprise and be the best on the slate.  His ownership will be low due to erratic results and his relatively close cost to the more fan favorites just above him, but that makes him a super play if he connects tonight.
He has a history of bouncing back from rough outings, and comes with a high 86 projected ceiling.

Nikola Vucevic ($9400), Orlando
Most fantasy fans already know that centers against Brooklyn fare very well, but he will be lightly owned for the same reasons as Towns – $600 more and you can roster Curry, $700 more gets you Durant.  Who would want Vucevic?
Yet that is the very reason to play him.  He could have a great night as he comes with a 61 projected ceiling and the Nets still rank 30th against centers.

Now let’s look at some others that could have huge games while being lightly owned.

Fantasy NBA Best Plays To Win – Fading The Crowd

While everyone will be scrambling to play Davis, Curry and Durant, we can be looking to roster those middle tier gems in great game flow situations to equal these top point producers and leave us some salary room.  Let’s look at the best possibilities remembering that all these listed below will have some reason for the public not to roster them, leaving us with a nice low ownership status.

Donovan Mitchell ($8900), Utah
He is in a superb spot here against a weak Cleveland team with the only chance of coming up short being the blowout possibility.  With the Jazz favored by 15 that certainly could be the case, however even if he only plays 33 minutes he could garner 60 DraftKings points in this situation.

Blake Griffin ($8700), Detroit
Perfect spot for him at home against Miami where he could post a big number with hardly anyone rostering him given the low 207 game total.  Vegas predicts this will be a close game and Griffin could surprise with 55+ DraftKings points.

Damian Lillard ($8600), Portland
This should be one of the best possible situations for Lillard.  While he normally earns around 47 points, in this crazy wild game ahead we can expect him to contribute close to 60 DraftKings points.  That is an aggressive call on my part as his projected ceiling is 54, but with the up tempo pace and the game itself forecast by Vegas to be close, I will say he exceeds the ceiling.

Hassan Whiteside ($6500), Miami
Has a solid floor and always on the verge of a double-double, and here against the Pistons should realize that mark.  Detroit does not defend centers well at all, and here Whiteside should exceed his normal output.

CJ McCollum ($6300), Portland
I don’t mention his name very often but in this fast paced game ahead he should hopefully cover his cost rather handily.  Both CJ and Lillard should rock the stats tonight.

Now let’s look at how we can play the top 3 stars:

Fantasy NBA Best Plays to Win – Stack Warrior Greats

One strategy would be to stack Stephen Curry ($10000) and Kevin Durant ($10100).  On DraftKings this would leave you with just under $5000 per player for the rest of your roster.  This can be achieved especially if there is some injury news toward game time.

Here are some possible players under the $5000 mark who could fit:

Rodions Kurucs ($4300), Brooklyn
As long as he remains a starter he will most likely cover this low cost.  He has a high shooting percentage and should be dependable providing he continues to get good court time as Hollis-Jefferson comes back from injury.

Kevon Looney ($4000), Golden State
Surprisingly efficient recently, in most cases exceeding 1 DraftKings point per minute and in the up tempo game ahead should continue to out-perform and easily cover this low salary.

Joe Harris ($4900), Brooklyn
He performs well under the right conditions and here he should be good enough to cover his cost.  No big surprise can be expected but a solid performance is all we really need from him.

Now Let’s See How We Can Roster Davis:

Including Anthony Davis ($11700) will give us a little more salary room but not enough to make a huge difference over the Curry and Durant stack.  We will be left with a little under $5500 instead of $5000, but looking over the player pool in this slate I cannot find any gems making one any better than the other.

I am going to use multiple entry tournaments, because I believe one of the following 3 strategies will place high and be a solid winner.  Let’s take a look at these and see how they play out:

Fantasy NBA Best Plays To Win – 3 Game Plans

I believe one of these 3 ways to approach this slate will produce high results, and since I am divided on which one is best, I am going to play a 20 entry slate with these 3 approaches:

Roster Anthony Davis ($11700), New Orleans
The highest salaried player by far, but if he goes off huge without us we will be left in the lurch.  We still have some room to roster players listed earlier and watch for injury related openings for cheaper options around him.

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Stack Stephen Curry ($10000) and Kevin Durant (10100), Golden State
This strategy still leaves some room for maneuvering and covers the possibility of these 2 greats dominating the board.  A choice has to be made between these methods as its impossible to roster all 3 top players, but we can cover whichever works best this way.

Start with Karl-Anthony Towns ($9700) Minnesota
The 3rd strategy I’m using is to forget the top 3 and start with him along with Nikola Vucevic.  These 2 have a chance to contribute just as much leaving us with even more salary room.

I am torn here in this 7 game slate as to which of these will be the best play but it covers all 3 possibilities and should make us a winner on the night.

On a 20 entry tournament, roster each 3 methods as equally as possible.  Try using Lillard and McCollum, and other sleepers from the last 2 games on the slate as these have the highest game totals and should give us an extra boost.

Kevon Looney looks particularly good in this spot and at $4000 should be an easy roster winner.

This is one time I don’t have an opinion for single entry tournaments as to which strategy is best, except to say one of these will work well enough to compensate for the other 2 and make us a money winner on the night.   Let the games begin.

Good Luck To Us!