Happy Saturday! Due to the wild fires impacting Los Angeles, today's five game main slate has been reduced to a three game main slate with both Los Angeles teams postponing their games.

With the smaller slate comes a smaller player pool and more concentrated ownerships on the chalk plays. 

 Let's dive in. 

 

 

Before actually diving into the meat and potatoes, welcome to the NBA DFS season. If this is your first time reading our column on NBA DFS picks, I just want to welcome you and give you a few tips and tricks on what you should be looking for each night.

  • News outlets: reliable sources that give us injury news & starting lineups
  • Pace of play: who's playing fast vs. who's playing slow. Which teams get a pace-up spot (more possessions) vs. pace-down (fewer possessions)
  • Usage rates: is a percentage of how many plays that player is being used in
  • NBA DFS Projections
  • Lineup Generator
  • NBA Ownership

NBA DFS Picks & Daily Fantasy Playbook Today, January 11th

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Pre-Lock Update

This section will be used for anything that changes from the morning until right up to roster lock. 

Injury updates, players we’re higher on than we were in the morning and so much more.

NBA Injuries, News & Updates Today, 1/4

 

 

NBA DFS Slate & Game Overviews

With the NBA season just kicking off we don't have data yet for teams regarding pace of play and defensive matchups. In the section below, I’m listing the most notable things we need to look at in Las Vegas, including notable O/U and spreads.

Toronto Raptors vs. Detroit Pistons

  • Total: 229
  • Spread: DET -4.5

Memphis Grizzlies vs. Minnesota Timberwolves

  • Total: 231
  • Spread: MIN -1.5

Miami Heat vs. Portland Trail Blazers

  • Total: 219
  • Spread: MIA -3.5

 

 

 

NBA DFS Core Player Pool & Lineup Picks

Here are the core players I’m looking at for my NBA DFS picks tonight. You can see the full analysis of tonight’s NBA DFS projections and player pool below or skip ahead to building the best lineups possible by locking these into the aforementioned lineup generator now.

High

Cade Cunningham, PG Detroit Pistons

Even when the Pistons are down you can't ever count out Cunningham who was looking like a bust against the Warriors the other night until he completely took over in the second half of that game. A story we've seen time and time against this season with Cade who is taking that next step towards being an NBA star. He finished that game against the Warriors with 59 fantasy points, scoring 32 points with six rebounds, eight assists, one block and three steals. 

On a short slate, few have the ceiling that Cunningham presents and I'd expect him to be a popular play here against the Raptors.

Anthony Edwards, SG Minnesota Timberwolves

We've been saying for the past week that the price on Edwards is only going to go up as he begins to put up dominant fantasy production and for today's slate he is at $8,900 on DraftKings which is likely the last time we see him below $9,000 on the season.

In a tough, slow matchup against the Magic the other night where the Timberwolves only scored 104 points he managed to pull out 21 points in a 40 fantasy point effort.

I'd expect to see more scoring from Edwards and an overall complete game here against the Grizzlies in a game with a 231 total where Minnesota is a 1.5-point favorite.

Scottie Barnes/RJ Barrett, PG/SF Toronto Raptors

I won't lie to you here, it's tough to decide between playing Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett on a given night as both have proven to have tremendous upside when on the floor this season but we are now also starting to see the price tags drop on both players with the Raptors fielding a fully healthy roster. I think that's a mistake and we should look to play both here today against the Pistons.

 

Mid

Anfernee Simons, PG/SG Portland Trail Blazers

Truthfully whether it is Simons, Sharpe or Henderson, I think all Portland guards are going to be in play tonight against the Miami Heat.

What we love about Simons is the minutes, where in competitive games we've seen him play 40 minutes and the shot attempts where he should be locked in for over 20 a night when playing those full-time minutes.

He has an elite scoring ceiling as we saw against the Pistons a few nights back where he scored 36 points on his way to 54 fantasy points. On a short slate, you want guys who have that kind of ceiling to help you take down a GPP.

Jaime Jaquez, SF/PF Miami Heat

Jaquez continues to benefit from the Jimmy Butler suspension, having entered the starting lineup and he's rewarded the coaches with great play while on the floor. Against the Jazz the other night we aw Jaquez play 36 minutes and finish with 43 fantasy points.

In the double-OT game against the Kings he played 46 minutes and triple-doubled. He has solid upside at a good price.

Malik Beasley, SG Detroit Pistons

It's a shot makers game and nights when Beasley makes his shots he is a tremendous value. This matchup against the Raptors should provide him plenty of opportunities to shoot the basketball and if they go down you can look for close to 6x return on his price tag.

 

Value

Naz Reid, PF/C Minnesota Timberwolves

He's finding his minutes whether they come at center or power forward and he is being productive, averaging 30 fantasy points over his last six games while playing 26.5 minutes per contest.

The Grizzlies can play small and that matchup would benefit Reid whose three-point shooting has improved to nearly 40% during this six game stretch.

Nikola Jovic, PF Miami Heat

He's a really good player that took a year or so to develop and now we are seeing exactly what he is capable of doing. He doesn't start and that is going to always limit his upside but Jovic can fill the stat sheet, and stretch the floor. At under $5,000 on DraftKings, he is averagign 26.7 fantasy points per game over his last six.

Mike Conley, PG Minnesota Timberwolves

Bargain play, yes, Conley has moved to the bench but he is still playing over 20 minutes and night over the last three games and in those three games we've gotten over 20 fantasy points in each. At just $3,500 on DraftKings that gives us close to 7x return on the investment.

Isaiah Stewart, C Detroit Pistons

Nothing more than a GPP dart throw here but Jalen Duren is no stranger to the occasional foul and Stewart has legitimate 10x upside if he ends up seeing 20-to-25 minutes off floor time at his price tag on DraftKings today. There's also a good chance he only plays 15 minutes so just understand the risks but he has been a really good fantasy point per minute player this season.

Player Pool

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Stacks

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