Golden State Warriors vs Phoenix Suns

Two of the best Western Conference teams of the last three years square off tonight in a star-filled Showdown slate. With no injuries to worry about, it’s going to be a tough decision of which high-salary players to include in your lineups. Here are the NBA DFS top plays we can invest in for our lineups on FanDuel and DraftKings!

 

 

Golden State Warriors injuries:

Donte DiVincenzo – OUT
Andre Iguodala - OUT

Phoenix Suns injuries:

Jae Crowder - OUT

MVP/CAPTAIN

Stephen Curry (PG)

Curry is still working to try and rediscover the magic from that huge opening night win against the Lakers where he scored 61 fantasy points. But much of that was a product of four steals, and we shouldn’t count on that every night. What we can count on for this salary is 45-50 consistent fantasy points and a boatload of minutes in what should be a very competitive game. This game is sitting around a 1.5-point spread in most sportsbooks which means no blowout, late-game on-the-bench situation for Curry. 

Devin Booker (PG/SG)

Speaking of consistency, Devin Booker has been between 45 and 48 fantasy points in each of his first three games and has not shot below 48% in any contest so far. While the Phoenix Suns rank 27th in pace this year, the Golden State Warriors are a clear first in the league (four points per 100 possessions faster than any other team), so Booker’s regular 40ish minutes should come with plenty of extra possessions. He is my favorite pick for the MVP slot tonight. 

Andrew Wiggins (SF)

After last year’s end-of-season run and the first three games of this year, there is no denying that Andrew Wiggins is turning into a full-blown superstar on this Warriors team. His points have increased each game this year and he is also chipping in big numbers on rebounds (seven per game), assists (almost three per game) and steals (three per game). The salary is high for Wiggins, but you get a 20% discount on Curry and Booker in your MVP slot. 
 

UTILITY 

Chris Paul (PG)

Paul may now be of the age where we don’t see many transcendent fantasy performances anymore, but he is still a consistent source of points per dollar on these Showdown slates. The minutes are just fine for Paul to start the year (33 per game), and he is averaging 35.6 fantasy points per game, but that is buoyed by a 44-point fantasy night against Portland where he needed five steals to get there. We can more realistically predict around 30-35 fantasy points each night for Paul, with a ceiling for more tonight in this huge pace-up spot. 

Deandre Ayton (C)

Ayton was saddled with fouls and a blowout situation in his last game on Sunday. The result was only 24.5 fantasy points on just 11 shots. That should hopefully change tonight and Ayton can walk into a matchup where he won’t have an overwhelming responsibility on defense (against Kevon Looney and James Wiseman), allowing him to cause havoc on the boards and in the paint on offense. The Warriors are the third-worst team at defending the paint – opponents are shooting 70.3% less than five feet from the basket and 61% from five to nine feet this year. Only the Nuggets and Mavericks are worse. 

Jordan Poole (PG/SG)

For this season, Poole looks like he is going to settle into a role right at 27-28 minutes per night, shoot about 15 times, and pile up a decent number of assists and steals. That has been the script in each of his first three games and the 28 fantasy points per game and will likely continue tonight. Klay Thompson is still under 30 minutes per night this year, so there is a possibility that Poole’s minutes decrease slightly as the weeks go along. But tonight, his role looks safe in what should be a very competitive matchup. 

DART THROWS

James Wiseman (C)

It’s probably only a matter of time before James Wiseman is ready to supplant Kevon Looney in the starting lineup. It seems the Warriors are prepping Wiseman for that, as he finally reached 20 minutes in a game on Sunday despite it being a close, five-point affair. Wisemans is averaging 11 points and six rebounds per night, which has led to a nice 20 fantasy points per game. But when he starts actually blocking shots, the potential for much more is lurking. Wiseman was $6,000 the first two nights of the season and is now $5,000. You know what to do. 

Jock Landale (C)

There was much debate before the season about who would play the backup role to Deandre Ayton in Phoenix: Jock Landale or Bismack Biyambo? It’s clearly been all Landale so far and he is trending up in the most important stat of all – minutes. He was at 17 minutes in the Suns’ last game against the Clippers, and he also crossed the 20-fantasy point threshold for the first time. I wish he was a little bit cheaper than $4,000 on DraftKings, as he probably only has a ceiling for 5x at that salary, but if for some reason this turns into a blowout, Landale could end up getting a lot of run. 
 

 

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Dominate your NBA DFS Showdown contests today using our Player Projections that you can use specifically for Showdown!