3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on Friday 4/7/23
Basketball is the most consistent sport for daily fantasy purposes.
A top slugger in baseball will have his fair share of 0-for-4 days, and an elite fantasy football player is at risk of having games where his team's offense is shut down.
A high-salaried NBA stud is generally going to get his, though. With so many possessions in a game providing opportunities to produce, top fantasy basketball options will post high scores just about every night.
While this consistency puts us in an excellent position to identify top plays, it also means you can't afford to miss when you're paying up for someone. Even with strong value plays in your lineup, paying up and getting a dud will likely leave your lineup drawing pretty close to dead.
Which top players should be the focal points of your lineups today?
Luka Doncic, PG/SG, Mavericks ($11,800)
There are motivation concerns across Friday's slate, but no team has motivation quite like the Dallas Mavericks, so I'd blame no one for going here.
Dallas' season is quite literally on the line Friday. With a loss, they'll be eliminated from the play-in tournament. This is a winnable matchup against the Bulls, who have DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine questionable for this to potentially rest.
Whatever guarantee New Orleans has of a close game is amplified with the Mavs. Dallas has won just once by double digits since March 1st thanks to an atrocious 118.6 defensive rating in that time. You can't win convincingly if you can't stop anyone.
Luka Doncic is one of the few soldiers remaining for this last-gasp effort. Kyrie Irving, Christian Wood, and Tim Hardaway Jr. are among the players sitting tonight, and with those three off the floor this season, Luka has averaged 54.7 FanDuel points per 36 minutes on a massive 39.4% usage rate.
He's -- by far -- the safest place to stash salary tonight.
Anthony Davis, PF/C, Lakers ($11,600)
Amidst those motivation concerns, the Los Angeles Lakers need a win. That much is known.
With that said, Anthony Davis is -- by far -- the best way to spend your salary at the top of this slate. Pascal Siakam has motivation for Toronto, but his $9,700 salary is leaps and bounds above his rate of 41.4 FanDuel points per 36 since the break.
In that same span, with or without LeBron James, Davis has posted 53.4 FanDuel points per 36. That's more palatable considering the assignment he'll draw in this contest.
The Suns are locked into the West's fourth seed, so they have zero motivation, and we'll likely see reduced -- or eliminated -- roles for their key players, including Kevin Durant and Deandre Ayton in the frontcourt. That could mean Davis is attacking Jock Landale in a must-win game. Woof.
Davis and James are two studs with supreme motivation, and their outlook only improves if the Suns end up trying in some capacity. It'll help avoid a blowout.
Brandon Ingram, SF, Pelicans ($9,900)
The Pelicans also need every "W" they can get in the wild, wild Western Conference.
With that the case, I'll just keep going back to this evolved version of Brandon Ingram at a four-digit salary. He's playing like a five-digit-salaried player at present, taking on increased playmaking duties over the past month or so. He's posted 7.52 assists per 36 minutes since March 1st, which would be a new career-high mark if translated to a full season.
As a result, Ingram has eclipsed 50 FanDuel points in five of the Pels' last six competitive games. The big nights should keep coming in this playoff push when he's eclipsed 38 minutes in each of his last five games.
Now, there's no guarantee this one is super competitive. New Orleans is an eight-point favorite over the rest Knicks, but the Knicks' reserves still posted 138 points last time out without RJ Barrett and Jalen Brunson. I'm not sure the play-in-bound Pelicans have the firepower to blow out a squad -- even without motivation.
