Fansided

Daily Fantasy Basketball: How to win playing NBA DFS

By Dan Palyo

PHILADELPHIA, PA - FEBRUARY 12: Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers dribbles the ball against Al Horford #42 of the Boston Celtics at the Wells Fargo Center on February 12, 2019 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Celtics defeated the 76ers 112-109. 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 Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - FEBRUARY 12: Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers dribbles the ball against Al Horford #42 of the Boston Celtics at the Wells Fargo Center on February 12, 2019 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Celtics defeated the 76ers 112-109. 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 Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /
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Russell Westbrook
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Daily Fantasy Basketball: FanDuel Cash Game Strategy

FanDuel got rid of the “drop-score” rule this year, much to the delight of many DFS players. I personally didn’t mind the rule and was able to adjust my strategy accordingly but I know that the majority of players didn’t like it and how it affected roster construction.

FanDuel did not, however, go back to “late swap,” which is something that is still an issue of contention with many DFS players. If you like playing on FanDuel’s site and contest format, you simply have to suck it up and plan accordingly. There will be nights that you get burned by a late scratch, but you can try to minimize those by not rostering players whose status is still undetermined at lineup lock, at least in cash games. If a player is playing in a late-night game and is still questionable at lock, then you can play them in GPPs at much lower ownership, while players on Draftkings will just swap over to them, so there is definitely a way to use this rule to your advantage.

FanDuel really forces you to play certain guys in cash games on a nightly basis with their rigid roster spots. You have to play two guys at every position and can only play one center (something that is a huge bummer to me). For that reason, I focus on trying to lock in the highest raw point producers at positions that are generally pretty weak. Using James Harden at shooting guard is a no-brainer on nearly every slate considering he’s likely to double or even triple up the production of every other player at that position.

Small forward is the other position that I like to pay up for at least one of those two slots with guys like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, and Paul George all being elite plays on a nightly basis.

I don’t punt the center spot in cash very often, but you can usually find a reliable center in the 6-9k range on most nights so I don’t think you have to pay all the way up to Joel Embiid or Nikola Jokic on most nights either.