Welcome to the Saturday edition of FanDuel NBA lineup advice. Once again I’ll be focusing on the main slate, which features nine matchups tonight. Only four players check in above $10,000 salary, while another six will cost you $9,000 or more. In an interesting scheduling quirk, ten teams are playing in the second game of back to backs tonight, making it more important than ever to keep up on new updates as tipoff approaches.

Check out today’s NBA Shot from FanDuel

Point Guard

Trae Young (PG – ATL): $9,600 vs. TOR
There’s a good reason that Young is the most expensive point guard on the slate. Atlanta’s second-year point guard comes with one of the highest ceilings in fantasy basketball. He’s inside the top ten in scoring average at 25.6 points per game, while also averaging the third-most assists in the NBA with 8.6 per game. He’s coming off of a relatively down night in a blowout loss Friday, which combined with his high salary, could keep his ownership down as he looks to bounce back against the Raptors tonight.   

Others to consider:

Collin Sexton (PG – CLE): $5,500 vs. Portland
Sexton gets a solid matchup against Portland, who gives up the most FD points to point guards on the season. While rookie Darius Garland is also listed at point guard for the Cavs, Sexton has a team-high 25.9% usage rate and comes with more scoring upside than his rookie teammate.

Mike Conley (PG – UTA): $7,300 vs. NO
We haven’t seen a huge fantasy game from the veteran point guard since his arrival in Utah, but he’s quietly averaged 39 FD points over his last two outings. He could put up even more tonight in what should be a high paced game with both the Jazz and Pelicans ranked in the top eight in the league in pace of play. 

Shooting Guard

Fred VanVleet (SG – TOR): $7,700 at Atlanta
VanVleet is practically a must-start as long as Kyle Lowry remains out. He’s average 42.7 FD points per game in the six games without Lowry. There’s a strong chance he goes over 50 FD points tonight against a Hawks team that gives up the fifth-most overall points in the league.

Others to consider:

Donovan Mitchell (SG – UTA) $8,600 vs. NO
Mitchell is another player who looks to benefit from a high-paced game with the Pelicans tonight. He’s put up three 50+ FD point performances so far this season and could be in line for his fourth in a plus matchup against New Orleans tonight. 

J.J. Redick (SG – NO): $5,000 at UTA
Redick has been on fire lately, hitting at least four three-pointers in each of the last three games while averaging 32 FD points over that span. His time on the court could take a hit if teammate Josh Hart returns to action tonight, but if not Redick should have no problem hitting 5X value again.

Small Forward

Pascal Siakam (SF – TOR): 9,300 at ATL
After a breakout season last year, Siakam has been even better this year as he’s completely crushing his career averages in points, rebounds, and assists. He’s only failed to hit 30 FD points once this season but has gone over 40 in nine of fourteen games played. He also couldn’t ask for a better matchup tonight than Atlanta, who gives up the most FD points in the entire NBA to the small forward position. 

Others to consider:

Giannis Antetokounmpo (SF – MIL) $12,900 vs.DET
The only reason to consider leaving Giannis out of your lineup tonight is his sky-high salary. He’s double-doubled in every game this season and notched over 50 FD points in all but one, while he’s also topped 75 FD points on three occasions already this season. He’s on pace for a historic season and you’re getting him in your lineup if you can.

Wesley Iwundu (SF – ORL): $3,500 at IND
Aaron Gordon has been ruled out of tonight’s game with an ankle injury, and Iwundu is starting in his place. Don’t expect a huge game from him, but Iwundu should do enough to be worth his minimum salary and allow you to pay up for studs elsewhere.

Power Forward

Lauri Markkanen (PF – CHI): $7,500 at CHA
It’s been an inconsistent season so far for Markkenen as he’s struggled to hone in his deep shot. He comes with plenty of risk as he’s failed to hit 20 FD points in two of his last three games, but he gets a great matchup against the Hornets, who give up the fourth-most FD points to power forwards. He has 60 FD point upside, as he showed in the first game of the season, which combined with his likely low ownership makes him a nice tournament option tonight. 

Others to consider:

LaMarcus Aldridge (PF – SA): $7,500 at NY
Aldridge isn’t the fantasy stud he used to be, but he still has the ability to put up big games on occasion. The Spurs are one of the many teams playing in the second half of a back-to-back set tonight, and the last time they did Aldridge went for 52.6 FD points against Portland. It wouldn’t be shocking to see a similar performance tonight against the lowly Knicks.

Al-Farouq Aminu (PF – ORL): $4,200 at IND
The Magic are going to be short-handed in the frontcourt without Aaron Gordon or Nikola Vucevic tonight, which puts Aminu in play as a nice salary saver. He should run into enough rebounds to hit value at his $4,200 price tag, and if he can find his shot he might end up going hitting 8X value.

Center

Mo Bamba (C – ORL): $3,500 at IND
Nikola Vucevic is going to miss several weeks with an ankle sprain, which opens up an opportunity for last year’s lottery pick in Orlando. Bamba hasn’t produced much thus far in his NBA career, but it’s tough to ignore a center at the minimum salary that should see plenty of minutes in the frontcourt. He should have no problem racking up at least the 17.5 FD points he needs to hit 5X value. 

Others to consider:

Andre Drummond (C – DET): 9,700 at MIL
As the best rebounder in the league, Drummond always needs to be considered when he’s available. He’s averaging over 2.5 more rebounds per game than Giannis Antetokounkmpo, who’s second in the league and will be facing Drummond and the Pistons tonight. 

Here’s an example of a lineup you can roll out tonight. It has plenty of high ceiling, albeit risky players slotted in the lineup. This makes it more of a tournament play than anything else. It also leaves with $600 leftover, so you have some room to pivot if any relevant news breaks before tipoff.

PG: Trae Young – $9,600
PG: Collin Sexton – $5,500
SG: Donovan Mitchell – $8,600
SG: Fred VanVleet – $7,700
SF: Pascal Siakam – $9,300
SF: Wesley Iwundu – $3,500
PF: Lauri Markkanen – $7,500
PF: Al-Farouq Aminu – $4,200
C: Mo Bamba – $3,500

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Aaron Larson is a correspondent at FantasyPros. For more from Aaron, check out his archive and follow him @aalarson.