NBA Court Report: Tuesday, February 2nd
One of the most discussed topics in DFS is ownership percentage. As soon as rosters lock, the first thing everyone does is check to see their player’s ownership in each respective contest they entered. There’s nothing like getting that premature rush of excitement when you see a player you were on all day being low owned in a GPP.
My hope with this article is to illuminate the importance of ownership percentage, and perhaps pick up on some trends throughout the course of the NBA season. For now, the article will include ownership for the FanDuel NBA Slam.
FanDuel NBA Slam: Tuesday, February 2nd
I wish I hadn’t started this on a short slate because there’s not much analysis to be dug out, but them’s the breaks. Below you’ll find ownership percentages for most players at each position with some thoughts and findings about how everything shook out.
Point Guard
| Player | % Owned |
| Ricky Rubio | 35.8% |
| Damian Lillard | 32.7% |
| Kyle Lowry | 30% |
| Isaiah Thomas | 25.7% |
| Michael Carter-Williams | 22.2% |
| Archie Goodwin | 8.1% |
Nothing really surprising here. The ownership among point guards actually directly lines up with the RotoGrinders Expert Consensus Rankings at the position. Since his 42 FD point game last week against the 76ers, Archie Goodwin has turned in some incredibly paltry performances with his worst output being 6.8 FD points in 36 minutes on the court. Woof. This incredibly low floor clearly scared the masses off, as evident by his 8.1% ownership on a short slate. Much of his poor performance can be attributed to his horrendous shooting % (7 of 36) over his last three games.
Shooting Guard
| Player | % Owned |
| James Harden | 49.9% |
| Dwyane Wade | 33.3% |
| Zach LaVine | 22.7% |
| DeMar DeRozan | 20.4% |
| Andrew Wiggins | 19.6% |
| Langston Galloway | 14.2% |
Similar spread here. On a night with some cheap, viable options at various positions, ownership of the studs at each respective position remain high. With the exception of his matchup against the Spurs, Harden has been absolutely on fire lately. While it would be hard to imagine him hitting 70 FD points again tonight with this matchup against the Miami Heat, Harden is easily the front runner for highest fantasy point output on tonight’s short slate. I’m a bit surprised to see Galloway’s ownership down at 14% given how consistent he’s been playing with Jose Calderon out. The matchup with Boston is very tough, but a guy getting over 30 minutes a night for $4,600 seems too cheap.
Small Forward
| Player | % Owned |
| Carmelo Anthony | 59.6% |
| Trevor Ariza | 31.8% |
| P.J. Tucker | 20.3% |
| Luol Deng | 17.7% |
| Giannis Antetokounmpo | 16.7% |
| Corey Brewer | 11.9% |
| Justise Winslow | 11.8% |
Nothing much to point out here, really. Melo and Ariza were easily the one and two options at SF. From a raw fantasy output perspective, Giannis should have been the second highest owned player at small forward, but his price tag was tough to fit in with all the other favorable plays at other positions out there.
Power Forward
| Player | % Owned |
| Josh Smith | 37.8% |
| Chris Bosh | 37.3% |
| Julius Randle | 32.1% |
| Amare Stoudemire | 22.5% |
| Kristaps Porzingis | 18.4% |
| Markieff Morris | 15.6% |
| Jabari Parker | 14.7% |
When news broke that Clint Capela was ruled out, Smoove became one of the premier value plays of the night. One would have to assume he took a chunk of Bosh’s ownership percentage with him as well. Hassan Whiteside was ruled out, and the Heat announced Amare Stoudemire as the starter. While he is not the same player he once was, he has flashed 30 fantasy point upside recently, making him a fine value play against the Rockets.
Center
| Player | % Owned |
| Gorgui Dieng | 41.8% |
| Karl-Anthony Towns | 40.9% |
| Greg Monroe | 7.2% |
Perhaps the easiest decision of the night was to take one of the two Centers in Minnesota and move on. You really couldn’t go wrong either way, but the price tag of Gorgui was enough to make him the highest-owned center of the night, barely edging out his teammate. Monroe wasn’t in a bad spot either against Portland, and his owners have to be thrilled with his single-digit ownership percentage.