FanDuel NBA Breakdown: Tuesday, 3/19 – Kemba Time!
By Dan Palyo
FanDuel NBA Breakdown: Tuesday, 3/19
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. As always, my goal is to help you get your research started for tonight’s NBA DFS slate on FanDuel.
My goal when I created the Breakdown was to make this 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.
"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."
I hope you survived the catastrophe that yesterday’s NBA slate turned into as we saw a multitude of stars sit out with injuries or for rest, making it very difficult to know what studs to pay for and which value plays to trust. I am hopeful that we won’t run into another situation like that tonight, but it serves as a reminder that things are going to get dicey with NBA DFS down the stretch.
As long as you’re willing to commit the time and energy to research these slates, I recommend you keep playing. However, if you’re not able to adjust your rosters that last hour before lock, I’d consider taking a day off here and there so you don’t get burned by a last-minute scratch.
As the NBA season winds down, I would encourage you to really take these first look articles with a grain of salt. I do my best to try to anticipate what injuries and rest situations we might encounter each night, but in the final month of the season we are going to see a lot of players sit out and we aren’t always going to know who it will be until later in the evening.
Just be flexible and be ready to pivot to some of your other favorite plays in your lineups.
Tonight we have 6-game main slate on FanDuel. As I’ve said before, I really love 6-8 game slates for NBA and I think we have a really compelling one tonight. Since we don’t have a ton of injuries, let’s jump right into the cash core today.
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.
Ben Simmons (9400)
With Embiid out tonight, I expect Simmons to take over on offense and pad some of his rebounding numbers against a poor rebounding Charlotte team. He’s averaging close to a triple-double against the Hornets this season and he should play about 40 minutes tonight in what looks like it should be a really competitive game.
Jeremy Lamb (6500)
I love this spot for Lamb as I’ve been trying to use aggressive wing players against the Sixers a lot this season. Lamb has been so steady and productive since moving back to the bench and reviving his role as 6th man. He still plays over 30 minutes but gets his more of his minutes staggered from Kemba which has really helped his usage and production.
Clint Capela (8100)
Time and time again this season we’ve seen point guard and centers just hammer the Hawks defense. Capela is fairly-priced tonight and I love this matchup for him. He’s been a walking double-double all season long and he gets to run the pick and roll with elite playmakers like CP3 and Harden. He should cruise to 40 FD points tonight with room for a lot of more.
FanDuel NBA Breakdown: 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.
Kemba Walker (8600)
Kemba is my favorite play on the slate. We get him on the right side of his home/road splits as he’s considerably better at home and in a pace up spot against the Sixers who are without their star center Joel Embiid.
The game has a healthy 225 total and only a one point spread. The icing on the cake here has to be the incredible numbers that Kemba has against the Sixers this season. In three games, he’s averaging 42-6-6 which included a 60-point effort earlier in the year.
Chris Paul (8500)
I’m not sure who will be chalkier, Paul or Kemba, but I love them both and there’s enough value to run them both together if you wanted to do so. CP3 was outstanding in his last game, scoring 50 FD points in 29 minutes and he should make quick work of Trae Young and the Hawks defense tonight. It’s a pace-up spot for Paul and the Rockets and they have a sizeable 120 implied team total tonight.
Myles Turner (7700)
Turner had himself a game last night against the Blazers, posting 45 FD points in 31 minutes. His matchup tonight is juicy as he gets to feast on the Clippers interior and the young Ivica Zubac. I don’t love the spot for Indiana tonight on a back to back, but Turner is a guy I can get behind playing at this price tag.
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.
Frank Kaminsky (4300)
We should get one more night out of Frank the Tank as Cody Zeller is doubtful to play for the Hornets tonight. With no Embiid on the other side I think we see both teams play kinda small tonight and that means Kaminsky might get some run at center, which would be a boon to his fantasy potential and likely mean more minutes in the rotation.
Danuel House (3900)
House is back with the Rockets and has slid back into some major minutes for them on the wing. He’s played 34 and 28 minutes in his two games back with the team and produced 23 FD points in each. Tonight’s matchup is really solid against Atlanta and as long as he’s playing minutes in the high 20’s there’s no reason not to like him.
DeMarre Carroll (4100)
Carroll erupted for 22-7 in 33 minutes against the Clippers this weekend and should continue to see some extended run with Allen Crabbe out again tonight for the Nets. I like him as a very strong punt at the SF position.
Tyus Jones (4700)
It looks like Jeff Teague and Derrick Rose will both miss tonight’s game, leaving Jones again as the starting point guard for Minnesota. He really disappointed in his last start against the Rockets as he was held without a basket, but I think he bounces back tonight against the Warriors.
FanDuel NBA Breakdown: Position Rankings
What some players find really helpful are position rankings. I will rank my favorite players at each position based on their upside and point-per-dollar viability for cash and GPP. Think of this a type of “cheat sheet” but it’s not an exhaustive list of my player pool by any means.
Point Guard
Shooting Guard
Small Forward
Power Forward
Center
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.
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. I wanted to grab several pieces from the Philadelphia-Charlotte game and then incorporate another high ceiling play like Clint Capela against Atlanta. I’m double-punting the small forward position as I just can’t bring myself to really spend up for LeBron or Giannis tonight and the mid-tier seems weaker than usual.
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. I rarely end up playing this lineup as there are always pivots that need to be made as the slate unfolds during the day!
PG: Kemba Walker (8600)
PG: Ben Simmons (9400)
SG: Jeremy Lamb (6500)
SG: Jimmy Butler (8600)
SF: DeMarre Carroll (4100)
SF: Danuel House (3900)
PF: Frank Kaminsky (4300)
PF: Domantas Sabonis (6500)
C: Clint Capela (8100)
Next. DraftKings NBA Picks March 19. dark
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 with your contests