FanDuel NBA Breakdown: Friday, 2/8 – Showdown in Philly

FanDuel NBA Breakdown: Friday, 2/8

Welcome back to the Friday edition of the FanDuel NBA Breakdown! I’m “Thunder Dan” and I love playing and writing about FanDuel NBA DFS. I’m ready, as always, to help you get your research started for tonight’s NBA DFS slate on FanDuel.

Tonight we have an 8-game slate on tap that locks at 7:00. There are going to be some newly acquired players making their debuts with their new teams as well as some situations where teams are still shorthanded if their new players aren’t able to suit up. Hopefully, it won’t be as crazy as the post-trade deadline slate we had last night, but there are going to be a lot of factors to weigh when making our roster decisions tonight.

"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.

In order to win in NBA DFS, you have to be flexible with your roster construction and sometimes take things down to the wire before lock with late-breaking injury information. At the same time, I always warn against totally scrapping your original first look build, as sometimes the plays that you were on the night before or that morning end up still being the best plays on the slate.

As always, let’s take a quick look at our injury situation and Vegas information to give us a place to start our research.

FanDuel NBA Breakdown: First Look

INJURY REPORT

OUT: De’Anthony Melton, Emmanuel Mudiay,  Khris Middleton, TJ Warren, Cedi Osman, Gary Harris, Tristan Thompson

DOUBTFUL:  NONE

QUESTIONABLE: Jeff Teague, Jerryd Bayless, Derrick Rose, Tyus Jones, Zach LaVine, Robert Covington, Nikola Mirotic, Etwaun Moore, James Ennis (trade), Jonathan Simmons (trade), Stanley Johnson (trade), Bobby Portis (trade), Paul Millsap, Kevin Love. Mike Scott (trade), Boban Marjanovic (trade), Robin Lopez (buyout),

PROBABLE: J.J. Redick, Ish Smith, George Hill, Giannis Antetokounmpo

You’ll notice I included some of the recently traded players who have yet to be cleared to play tonight for their new teams yet in the questionable section, keep an eye out on throughout the day for news on the status of these players.

VEGAS INFO

The T-Wolves are the only team playing on a back-to-back.

We don’t have all the Vegas totals yet, but there are two games that stand out. The Dallas-Milwaukee game has a total of 222.5 and the Chicago-Brooklyn game has a total of 223.5. Both games have 8-point spreads and I don’t think either of them are likely to become blowouts.

FanDuel NBA Breakdown: Cash Game Core

Welcome to the cash game core 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. I highly recommend playing cash games on a nightly basis to help build that bankroll.

Lauri Markannen (8100)

Markannen should be forced into heavy minutes for the Bulls tonight as they are extremely shorthanded in the frontcourt. He’s coming off a 30-10 performance and has an excellent matchup against the Nets – a team he just hung 45 FanDuel points on last week. He’s more expensive than we are used to but I think he’s well worth spending on for his solid floor.

Andrew Wiggins (6000)

Wiggins is a conditional pick here. I’m expecting that Rose and/or Teague will be out again for the Wolves. If the T-Wolves are fully healthy then I’d likely pivot to another shooting guard in the 5-6k range like Jordan Clarkson or Bogdan Bogdanovic. But if we see the Wolves without their other guards, then I think Wiggins is a great play in all formats. He hit 51 FD points last night against Orlando and tonight’s matchup is just as good against the Pelicans.

Giannis Antetokounmpo (12000)

If I’m paying up for a stud in cash games today it’s Giannis. He’s carrying a probable tag with some knee soreness but he should be good to go for this matchup with Dallas.

FanDuel NBA Breakdown: Top GPP Plays

For tournament plays, I’m looking for more than just 5x. I’m looking for 6-7x or more and we really want to chase those players with high ceilings, not just floors. We also want to take some risks on players that we think we can get at lower ownership than the chalkier cash game plays.

Anthony Davis (13000)

Well, the trade deadline has come and gone and Davis is still a Pelican. The team announced today that they plan to play him and so I’m going to operate under the assumption that he’ll resume his starting role and minutes going forward.

There’s obviously some risk here if they were to ease him back into the lineup at this price, but there’s no one on the slate other than Giannis who can come close to matchup his raw points tonight if he plays well for a full 36 minutes.

Jamal Murray (6700)

I want a few pieces from this Denver-Philly game and Jamal Murray feels very underpriced here for his upside. He showed very little rust in his return from injury on Wednesday, posting a 19-3-11 line on the way to 40 FD points. Attacking point guards like Murray have fared well against the Sixers this season and it’s a pace-up matchup for Murray and the Nuggets.

Eric Bledsoe (7800)

Bledsoe has taken his game to the next level lately, posting 40+ FanDuel points in his last four games including a 50-spot on Wednesday night against the Wizards. The most impressive thing is that he’s been doing it in only 28 minutes per game during that stretch. Tonight the Bucks will be without Khris Middleton, so Bledsoe should get a slight tick up in his already rising production.

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.

Tyler Johnson (4700)

Johnson is my favorite value on the board. He’s already been announced as the starter for the Suns and they’ve been desperate for a point guard all season. We know Johnson can rack up fantasy points when he’s getting regular minutes and I expect him to be on the floor plenty tonight as the Suns will probably want to feature their new guard.

Jabari Parker (4200)

Parker got dealt to Washington on Wednesday, so I’m assuming he’ll be in uniform for his new team tonight. The Wizards need help scoring the ball and are thin on the wing with Otto Porter heading back to Chicago in the deal. I’ll take a shot on him at this price, we’ve seen what he can do even in limited minutes.

Cristiano Felicio (3500)

Bobby Portis just got traded. Wendell Carter Jr. is hurt and Robin Lopez could get bought out. Meaning Felicio could end up seeing a good chunk of minutes at center. He’s dirt cheap and could get use 20-25 FDP for us against the Nets if he happened to draw the start.

Isaiah Canaan (3500)

The Timberwolves have all four of their point guards listed as questionable tonight. Rose, Teague, and Jones all missed last night’s game and Jerryd Bayless got hurt and left the game early. Canaan posted 13 points and 6 assists in 21 minutes relieving Bayless and would be a great punt play if at least 3 of the Wolves guards are out again.

Malik Beasley (4800)

I’m not sure why, but Beasley’s price went back down under 5k, despite the fact that he continues to start and produce for the Nuggets. With Gary Harris out yet again, I expect Beasley to get 30 minutes and he’s shown he’s capable of scoring 20+ points any given night. His only weakness has been a lack of peripheral stats.

FanDuel NBA Breakdown: Value Plays

Today I had to add two special additions to the value plays section. We have two underpriced stars who may return to their respective teams’ lineups after long injury layoffs. Obviously, we are really going to need some concrete info on minutes allowances for both of these guys before we could feel confident using them in lineups are both would likely be GPP plays only.

Kevin Love (5000)

Love has been out since October with a toe injury. He is supposed to test it out in warmups tonight and see if he can give it a go. With how badly depleted the Cavs roster is at this point of the season, Love would likely step into a featured role in the offense and wouldn’t need more than say 25 minutes to potentially pay off this price. His future with the team is uncertain but he might be a DFS target this season yet.

Caris LeVert (4500)

LeVert has been out since the middle of November but is set to make his return tonight. He makes his return to a crowded rotation and his coach is known for spreading his minutes out amongst a lot of players, but LeVert certainly has the type of per-minute upside that is tantalizing. I’m not sure we can expect much more than 15-18 minutes from him right out of the gate, but if we knew he was cleared for 20 minutes I’d take a shot on him at this price.

FanDuel NBA Breakdown: Sample Lineup and Overview

If you’re not familiar with how I wrap up the Breakdown, this is where I give you my thoughts on roster construction and briefly discuss my strategy for how I want to attack the slate.

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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 GPP lineup. You might notice that I have players from my cash core or GPP plays in GPP lineups and that’s because you can always play cash plays in GPPs. A solid GPP lineup usually has some “good chalk” in it mixed in with lower owned, more contrarian plays.

Remember, the sample lineup is for illustrative purposes and is not necessarily a “plug-and-play” lineup. This time of year so much can change in the course of 10-12 hours from when you begin to research a slate to when it actually locks.

PG: Eric Bledsoe (7800)
PG: Jamal Murray (6700)
SG: Malik Beasley (4800)
SG: Andrew Wiggins (6000)
SF: Giannis Antetokounmpo (12000)
SF: Jabari Parker (4200)
PF: Josh Jackson (6900)
PF: Lauri Markannen (8100)
C: Cristiano Felicio (3500)

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!