FanDuel NBA breakdown Tuesday Oct. 22- Opening Night tip-off

FanDuel NBA Breakdown – GPP Core

Pascal Siakam (8,000) – It is really a shame that we have so many superstars on such a small slate, because Siakam is going to draw a juicy individual match-up for opening night. He is also one of my favorite players in the game, so I am slightly biased here but if the price tag was a little bit cheaper, he would be a cash core player. Siakam had a 21% usage rate last season, but that was with Leonard on the court, and as we all know he no longer plays for Toronto. The usage rate jumps almost 2% with Leonard off the court. The real key here is how many minutes he was playing, Towards the end of the year he was over 40 minutes more often than not. He also get the Pelicans who are without Zion, so a match-up with Brandon Ingram is very appealing.

Montrezl Harrell (7,300) – This is another one of my favorite players, that we just won’t be able to afford if we play both studs from the Lakers in our cash lineup. Still, Harrell was well over a fantasy point per minute scorer, with a 23.6% usage rate. The main problem was that he comes off the bench, and doesn’t play more than 25 minutes very often. He will occasionally play 20 minutes even, it just depends on the flow of the game, and foul trouble, which makes him very risky. This also makes him the perfect candidate as a GPP play. He has a very high ceiling with his ability to rack up blocks, rebounds, and points. You just have to be okay with his floor which is around 20 points.

Fred VanVleet (5,600) – This is only a GPP play because of how cheap Lowry is. He is normally priced above 8k, which is an easy fade for me in cash games, but at 7.6k I will have interest in him. Fred has a 19.6% usage rate with Leonard off the floor, and was getting some starts as well last season. With Danny Green shipped out of town it is very possible he slides into the shooting guard role, which would automatically make him a cash game play. Until we get the starting lineups I will list him as a very good GPP play for right now, just keep that in mind, either way he should log solid minutes.