FanDuel NBA 3-Man Challenge Strategy: Friday, November 8th
Hello Grinders. FanDuel has its 3-Man Challenge today featuring TOR vs NO, GS vs MIN and NY vs DAL. There are no $5 players on this slate, meaning the 5-1-1 option is not in effect. Instead, we have three $4 players to choose from at the top end.
I’m going to discuss each of the $4 players and my thoughts on whether I feel they are worth it, and then highlight a few of my favorite daily fantasy basketball options from the $3, $2 and $1 tiers below. Let’s dive in!
$4 Players
At the top end, we have Karl-Anthony Towns, Brandon Ingram and Luka Doncic. I get that Brandon Ingram has topped 55 FD points in three of seven games, but I have a really hard time advocating him as an option on today’s slate as he’s up against Pascal Siakam and the Raptors. The Raptors rank league-average in defending the power forward position, so it’s a neutral matchup. In comparison, Karl-Anthony Towns gets to feast on a Warriors team that is allowing the 6th most fantasy points to opposing centers this season. With no Draymond Green to anchor this defense, the Warriors are a shell of their former self. I love this matchup for KAT and I’m prioritizing him first of these $4 players. Luka Doncic will be a contrarian pivot off KAT at the $4 range. His matchup against the Knicks also ranks as a neutral one. We’ve seen him hit 60+ FD points in three of his seven games so their is elite upside here, but I still lean KAT over Doncic if deciding between the two.
$3 Players
I struggle with the $3 range because by playing someone here means you can’t fit in one of KAT or Doncic in the $4 range given the $7 salary cap. There are warts with many of them. Eric Paschall has to deal with KAT down low and a returning D’Angelo Russell for usage. R.J. Barrett will see heavy minutes but has to deal with Luka Doncic. Marcus Morris has to deal with Kristaps Porzingis. Julius Randle hasn’t flashed much of a ceiling yet this season and is being discussed as a center option with Mitchell Robinson out, meaning he’ll have to battle Dwight Powell down low. And Andrew Wiggins is coming off a 47.4 FD game but…he’s Andrew Wiggins. I have trust issues with this guy and it feels like point chasing. That leaves us with the following:
Pascal Siakam – Siakam dropped 49.1 FD points in his last game against the Kings. He gets a pace up matchup here against the Pelicans and an exploitable matchup against Brandon Ingram and a banged up Pelicans team. He dropped 62.1 FD points on this Pelicans team in their season opener so he has the upside to match KAT and Luka at the high end. He’s my top $3 option if going with this range.
Kristaps Porzingis – Porzingis is a notch below Siakam for me in the $3 range because we haven’t seen the Mavs consistently give him heavy usage, but we have the #revenge factor today. Maybe he plays harder in front of his former team. If going with a 3-3-1 approach, I’d consider Siakam in the 2x spot as I view him as having the higher ceiling and Porzingis in the 1.5x spot.
D’Angelo Russell – He may go a bit overlooked with the GTD tag but he’s probable and will have all the usage he wants in this offense. I do worry about this Warriors team being able to stay close in games, but we know this offense will run through Russell now and there’s a chance he has a ceiling we’ve never seen before as the primary scorer on a team that lacks strong secondary options. If building multiple teams, I’d consider getting some DLo exposure.
$2 Players
I don’t love the $2 range either but it’s where you’ll have to go if playing KAT or Luka. These are my favorite DFS options in this range:
Alec Burks – It feels gross to tout Alec Burks, but he dropped 46.1 FD points last game in 31 minutes off the bench. The return of D’Angelo Russell definitely is going to hurt him, but I can see a route where he is staggered with Russell and Burks becomes the primary scorer in the second unit. This also feels a bit like point chasing, but he seems to have a ceiling that many of these $2 players may not have.
O.G. Anunoby – Also feels like point chasing but OG is coming off a 41.7 FD point game and has now scored 40+ FD points in three of his last six games. He’s starting and the minutes will be there. The matchup against the Pelicans is an elite one in terms of pace, and I can see a route where he has a ceiling game. OG is my favorite $2 option.
$1 Players
Dwight Powell – Powell reached 33 minutes last game for the first time this season and could be a sign he’s off any type of minutes restriction soon. He’ll likely have to deal with some combination of Julius Randle, Taj Gibson and Bobby Portis down low, but I can see a route where he’s one of the highest scoring $1 players if he gets another 30+ minutes. It’s a plus-matchup and he’s probably my favorite $1 player today.
Marc Gasol – Let me just say I don’t like Gasol today, but a starter at $1 is still a value. I personally don’t know what kind of ceiling Gasol has, but he has more talent than a lot of guys down in this range. I do worry about the usage and minutes, but a 25-30 FD point game is within range. I personally prefer the upside of Powell over Gasol, but it’s slim pickings down here.
Thanks for reading, and good luck today. May variance be on your side.