We’ve got an intriguing seven-game slate to work with for FanDuel NBA Saturday. Let’s take a look at the squad designed for play in a GPP tournament.
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Point Guards
Elfrid Payton (ORL): $6,600 v. UTA
The point guard matchup against the Jazz may appear intimidating on paper, but the Jazz just allowed a monster game to Spencer Dinwiddie with Rubio out due to injury, and may continue to suffer defensively against point guards with the more offensively oriented Donovan Mitchell running point. Payton will be a sneaky, lightly owned play with the capability of going off for 45+ points. At $6,600, Payton is at his lowest price since going for 38 points at $6,500 against Miami.
Mario Chalmers (MEM): $3,900 v. HOU
Starting point guard Mike Conley is out at least two weeks which makes Mario Chalmers a pretty standard play in DFS at this price point. Chalmers disappointed in his last outing without Conley, but he put up 31 points in his first start without Conley earlier in the season. He gets a good matchup with the Rockets who are allowing the 4th most points to point guards this season.
We’ve got an intriguing seven-game slate to work with for FanDuel NBA Saturday. Let’s take a look at the squad designed for play in a GPP tournament.
Create FanDuel lineups using our DFS Lineup Optimizer tool
Point Guards
Elfrid Payton (ORL): $6,600 v. UTA
The point guard matchup against the Jazz may appear intimidating on paper, but the Jazz just allowed a monster game to Spencer Dinwiddie with Rubio out due to injury, and may continue to suffer defensively against point guards with the more offensively oriented Donovan Mitchell running point. Payton will be a sneaky, lightly owned play with the capability of going off for 45+ points. At $6,600, Payton is at his lowest price since going for 38 points at $6,500 against Miami.
Mario Chalmers (MEM): $3,900 v. HOU
Starting point guard Mike Conley is out at least two weeks which makes Mario Chalmers a pretty standard play in DFS at this price point. Chalmers disappointed in his last outing without Conley, but he put up 31 points in his first start without Conley earlier in the season. He gets a good matchup with the Rockets who are allowing the 4th most points to point guards this season.
Shooting Guards
James Harden (HOU): $11,800 @ MEM
Rarely will you see a guy put up 48 real-life basketball points and drop in price significantly. Yeah, it was against the Suns, but the loss of Mike Conley hurts the Grizzlies significantly defensively so this matchup isn’t nearly as tough as it appears. Harden should improve upon his 54.8 points in 38 minutes against the Grizzlies last time out, even with Chris Paul back in the lineup.
Donovan Mitchell (UTA): $6,400 @ ORL
I’m usually hesitant to play somebody coming off a big game on a back-to-back, but I can’t avoid Donovan Mitchell here as long as Rubio remains out. The rookie Mitchell went for 38 FanDuel points as the starting point guard Friday night with 15 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds. The Magic present a good matchup for point guards, and Mitchell will be a highly owned play that will likely be worth it.
Small Forwards
Taurean Prince (ATL): $6,000 v. BOS
Prince offers the big game capabilities you want out of a mid-priced player in a GPP, and had his worst game out of his last 10 against the Celtics with only 17 points. Look for him to even that up with a big game this time.
Wesley Johnson (LAC): $3,800 @ CHA
Wow, so Wes Johnson went off out of nowhere for 50 (yes 50!) FanDuel points against the Cavs on Friday. This after doing next to nothing in his previous three games. Maybe the Cavs are just that bad defensively. Fortunately for Wes, the Hornets are also quite bad as they are allowing the second most points to small forwards this season. This could end up being a classic letdown spot for Johnson, but he’s getting minutes and the matchup is right. He probably won’t go for 50 again, but he doesn’t need to in order to be worth the low price of $3,800.
Power Forwards
Derrick Favors (UTA): $6,500 @ ORL
Favors is coming off a disappointing performance in a prime matchup against the Nets, but offers some bounce-back appeal in another good matchup with the Magic. Fire him up.
Noah Vonleh (POR): $3,800 v. SAC
You will probably end up being one of the only ones to take Noah Vonleh if you choose to do so, but I’ll be looking to play him in GPP formats against the Kings. The Kings have been humiliated by interior players all season, but held their own against the Blazers on Friday night in an 86-82 victory. Expect a better performance from the Blazers all around, and possibly even a blowout, which would mean ample opportunity for somebody like Noah Vonleh to take advantage of the Kings defensive interior. Vonleh actually had his best game of the season just two games ago while coming off the bench which was a blowout performance against the Nuggets in which he got 26 minutes. Vonleh only had seven points and six boards in 23 minutes on Friday night, and I’m expecting a better game on the second half of the back-to-back.
Center
Joel Embiid (PHI): $11,000 v. GSW
If you missed Joel Embiid’s last game against the Lakers, then you missed possibly the best performance of the young NBA season thus far. Simply put, this guy is special.
Embiid did very little in only 26 minutes in his last game against the Warriors in Golden State, but he’s now playing minutes in the 30s, and putting up enormous stat lines that will soon have him priced higher than Boogie Cousins. Embiid’s price has dramatically increased from just under $10,000 to $11,000 in the matter of one game, but that shouldn’t scare you off. Embiid will soon be the highest priced player on any given slate, so ride him until he is.
That’s it for the Saturday slate. Best of luck.
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Joey Korman is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Joey, check out his archive and follow him @leaveit2divac.
