Welcome to NBA FanDuel Saturday! We’ve got a generous seven-game main slate on tap that features plenty of star power with five players priced in the five figures, and an additional six priced above $9,000. That does not include Giannis Antetekounmpo who will miss Saturday’s game against the Sixers with some right knee soreness which will affect FanDuel lineups greatly. Let’s take a look:
Create FanDuel lineups using our DFS Lineup Optimizer tool
Point Guards
Eric Bledsoe (MIL): $7,000 v. PHI
A chalk play to start out as Eric Bledsoe will have sky-high ownership sans Giannis for the Bucks. Bledsoe is at his lowest price point since Jan. 1, and is simply too dangerous to pass up without Giannis and Malcolm Brogdon available.
Damian Lillard (POR): $9,700 v. DAL
Damian Lillard is a bit pricey tonight, but he has shown the capability of going off even at high price points. The Mavs present a strong matchup for Lillard who has at least 44 points in four of five games since returning from injury. The Mavs are worst on the slate at defending PGs with a Defense v. Position (DvP) of 47.3 points per game.
Welcome to NBA FanDuel Saturday! We’ve got a generous seven-game main slate on tap that features plenty of star power with five players priced in the five figures, and an additional six priced above $9,000. That does not include Giannis Antetekounmpo who will miss Saturday’s game against the Sixers with some right knee soreness which will affect FanDuel lineups greatly. Let’s take a look:
Create FanDuel lineups using our DFS Lineup Optimizer tool
Point Guards
Eric Bledsoe (MIL): $7,000 v. PHI
A chalk play to start out as Eric Bledsoe will have sky-high ownership sans Giannis for the Bucks. Bledsoe is at his lowest price point since Jan. 1, and is simply too dangerous to pass up without Giannis and Malcolm Brogdon available.
Damian Lillard (POR): $9,700 v. DAL
Damian Lillard is a bit pricey tonight, but he has shown the capability of going off even at high price points. The Mavs present a strong matchup for Lillard who has at least 44 points in four of five games since returning from injury. The Mavs are worst on the slate at defending PGs with a Defense v. Position (DvP) of 47.3 points per game.
Shooting Guards
Sterling Brown (MIL): $3,500 v. PHI
If you Google “Sterling Brown,” you’ll get an actor from “This is Us” instead of a basketball player for the Bucks, but the rookie out of SMU is slated to get a start with Giannis and Brogdon out. Brown really hasn’t had a productive fantasy game this season, but hasn’t seen more than 22 minutes in any game. He’s been a solid contributor when given the chance, and will certainly see an increased usage rate when on the court due to the injuries.
Alec Burks (UTA): $3,500 v. LAC
We’re going to double down on $3,500 SGs with Alec Burks as I’m guessing Rodney Hood (questionable) will end up sitting out tonight’s game. That will mean more minutes for Burks who has shown the ability to put up points when given the opportunity. The Clippers struggle against the SG position with a 41.7 DvP.
Small Forwards
Joe Johnson (UTA): $3,800 v. LAC
The “Clippers Killer” from last year’s playoffs, Joe Johnson, seems poised for an increase in minutes as Rodney Hood looks to be on the wrong side of questionable. Johnson went for 24.5 points on Friday night, and will likely get the opportunity to continue taking advantage of injuries to Jazz players such as Hood and Thabo Sefolosha.
Robert Covington (PHI): $5,100 @ MIL
Robert Covington has been in a major slump, and his price has finally reached rock-bottom as far as Covington is concerned. The match-up with the Bucks is a strong one, and Covington showed some signs of life as he nearly had a double-double two games ago. I don’t expect his price to get much lower than this.
Power Forwards
Taj Gibson (MIN): $5,400 v. TOR
Gibson is at his lowest price point since Dec. 12 when he was $5,300 and went for 35.4 points against the Sixers. Hopefully, another dramatic price drop yields similar results for Gibson who gets a plus matchup with the Raptors. Gibson was last priced below $5,500 in a game against the Sixers on Dec. 12 in which he went for 35 points.
Anthony Davis (NOR): $11,500 @ MEM
Ugh. Anybody who knows me knows that this is the last thing I want to do. Nobody – and I mean nobody (except for maybe C.J. Miles) – leaves games due to injury more than Anthony Davis. I would say he gets hurt about 75% of the time that I pick him. Dead serious. He’s literally the bane of my existence. But here I am, picking Anthony Davis because he had been hot and he’s coming off a complete clunker against the Hawks. Despite the 30 point night, Davis still remains the hottest player among the three highest priced players against a Grizzlies team that has struggled to defend PFs.
Center
Joel Embiid (PHI): $10,400 @ MIL
Joel Embiid has the best matchup among centers against the Bucks who have a DvP of 51 points per game. Embiid is coming off a monster game against Boston and is in the process of seeing his price rise towards $11,000 once again. It hasn’t gotten there yet so continue to ride the first-time All-Star until it does.
That’s it for the Saturday slate. Best of luck!
Create FanDuel lineups using our DFS Lineup Optimizer tool
Joey Korman is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Joey, check out his archive and follow him @leaveit2divac.