FanDuel NBA 3-Man Challenge Strategy: Friday, November 22nd
Hello Grinders. We have an interesting 3-Man daily fantasy basketball contest upon us with four games to choose from. We’ll need to monitor some key injury news, and for that I’d recommend monitoring RotoGrinders’ Situation Room.
I’m going to do something a bit different today, in that rather than talk about options to consider using the 5-1-1, 4-2-1, 3-3-1 or 3-2-2 roster constructions, I’m going to go down each tier and highlight a few of my favorite options. Let’s dive in!
NOTE: Be sure to check out RotoGrinders’ NBA DFS news and alerts before you lock in your teams!
$1 Range
Nerlens Noel – Despite playing 23 and 20 minutes in his last two games, Noel has dropped 34.1 and 36.1 FD points in those games. His last game was also against the Lakers, so there’s a chance he puts up an encore performance with similar results. While Noel isn’t starting, it’s been revealed that starter Steven Adams has been working through his knee bruise and the reason why he’s averaged just 25.7 minutes per game this month. Assuming we continue to see some kind of timeshare between the two, Noel is worth a look given his block and steal upside.
JaVale McGee – McGee is on the other side of this game and also a viable $1 option. I normally don’t love targeting centers against Steven Adams, but as mentioned above, Adams isn’t healthy right now and can be exploited to some degree. McGee just finished with 30.2 FD points against this Thunder team in only 22 minutes, so he’s in a similar situation as Noel where he’s in a timeshare with Dwight Howard and needs defensive stats to pay off his salary tag given his limited minutes.
$2 Range
Update – Derrick White has been ruled OUT
Dejounte Murray – Murray was shifted to the bench in his last game against the Wizards and played just 19 minutes, but still managed to finish with 30 FD points. The move was made by Coach Popovich to provide the struggling Spurs with more offense in the starting unit via Patty Mills. Derrick White is questionable for this game and should he be ruled out, I’d expect some kind of timeshare between Murray and Mills. Even if Mills starts, I tend to think this profiles as a better game for Murray as he’s 6’4’‘ with a 6’10’‘ wingspan, and that’s a better matchup against the 6’10’‘ Ben Simmons. Murray would’ve seen more minutes in the Wizards game too had the Wizards not pulled away in the 4th quarter.
Lauri Markkanen – Markkanen has been awful this season, but there’s some reason for optimism. Markkanen is dealing with an oblique injury and it’s contributed to his 37.3% field goal percentage this season. He was able to shoot 7-for-14 last game and chipped in 2 blocks and 1 steal against the Pistons, leading to 39.2 FD points. It was his highest fantasy output since opening night so while it does feel like point chasing, it’s also possible he’s starting to turn a corner. I don’t love his matchup against the Heat who have plenty of size to throw at Markkanen, but there’s upside here if his shot is falling.
Danilo Gallinari – I thought about writing up Goran Dragic against a woeful Bulls defense, as he’ll have all the usage in the second unit. I also thought about writing up Wendell Carter, who has a tough individual matchup against Bam Adebayo but has flashed 35-40 FD point upside. I think both are fantastic options in the $2 range. I decided to write up Gallo instead for a different reason – I think Gallo has a safe floor but not the type of ceiling I’d want for this format, and for that reason, I actually feel like Gallo is a $2 trap. Gallo is averaging 28 FD points per game this season, which is in-line with the averages for both Dragic and Carter. I do think Gallo’s minutes are more secure, and I’d argue his floor is more secure, but I don’t think he carries the same ceiling. He’s averaging just 0.1 blocks and 0.6 steals per game this season, and in a FanDuel format that heavily rewards defensive stats, that makes me not love Gallo.
So this is all to say that Gallo appeared like a solid “safe” option at first glance in this $2 tier, but I’d rather take shots on the Dragic’s and Carter’s of the world over Gallo.
$3 Range
Bam Adebayo – It feels weird to prioritize Bam in the $3 range over some of these other names, but Bam is the type of player who racks up blocks and steals quickly. This is also an elite matchup, as the Bulls allow the second most points to opposing centers.
Ben Simmons – If Derrick White is out, Simmons will get to face some combination of Patty Mills and Dejounte Murray. The 76ers are also down Josh Richardson, which should lead to more assist opportunities for Simmons. A matchup against the Spurs sounds daunting, but this is not the same Spurs team we’ve been used to. They have a 5-10 record, have lost seven straight games and have the third worst defensive rating in the NBA right now.
$4 Range
Joel Embiid – Everything I just wrote up for Simmons above applies even moreso to Embiid. When Richardson is off the court, CourtIQ shows us that Embiid sees a +2.3% usage bump and owns a team-high 36.0% usage rate while averaging 1.15 FD points per minute. This is the front-end of a back-to-back for the 76ers so it’s possible Embiid’s minutes are somewhat monitored, but Embiid has gone on record saying he intends to play in both games.
$5 Range
Luka Doncic – I love LeBron, and I love AD, but what Luka Doncic is doing right now is nutty. He’s hit 53 or more FD points in nine of his last 10 games, and managed 70.5 FD points against the Warriors in just 25 minutes. The Cavs rank 19th in defensive rating as a team and there’s nobody on this team that should be able to stop Doncic. Don’t get me wrong, LeBron and AD have just as much upside as Doncic, but they will be splitting the usage for the Lakers. Doncic has free reign to do whatever he wants in this offense and his ceiling has been insane, making him my favorite $5 option.
Thanks for reading, and good luck tonight. May variance be on your side.