NBA Starting 5 (GPP): Friday, December 8th
The Starting 5 Series will provide Grinders a quick look at the day’s top positional plays, as analyzed by one of our daily fantasy sports experts.
Friday, December 8th
Happy Friday, Grinders! Welcome to the Friday edition of the NBA Starting 5 series! Fridays offer us solid slate sizes and large DFS tournaments, so it is a great day to analyze the NBA from a GPP perspective.
Let’s take a look at five of my favorite tournament plays of the day. For reference, I will be using DraftKings pricing throughout the article.
Point Guard: Elfrid Payton, Orlando Magic – $6,600
If you are playing GPP contests on DraftKings tonight, there’s a lot to like about Elfrid Payton. First, all other things considered, he is always a strong tournament option. He has always brought high upside and a low floor to the table. Second, there should be a more secure role for him in this game. With both Terrence Ross and Evan Fournier sidelined, D.J. Augustin will be asked to play alongside Payton a little more. When you combine Payton’s upside with a more secure dose of minutes, there’s plenty of appeal there.
The matchup with Denver isn’t a bad one, either, so that doesn’t serve to slow the momentum. The final factor is that Payton is extremely affordable on DraftKings compared to other sites. He costs just $6,600 on DraftKings, while he costs $1,500 more than that on FanDuel. While I still think the GPP upside is there on FanDuel, the DraftKings price is just too cheap to ignore. Fire up Payton as one of the top tournament plays of the night.
Shooting Guard: Will Barton, Denver Nuggets – $6,900
On the other side of the Magic/Nuggets game, we have Will Barton as the top option on the Denver side. Even though he hasn’t been starting, Barton has played the most minutes on this team over the past month. With Nikola Jokic and Paul Millsap both sidelined, Barton will continue to shoulder the majority of the offensive load. Though he doesn’t necessarily see a huge boost in usage, Barton averages a very solid 1.05 DraftKings points per minute with them off the floor. When you apply that to his usual 34-36 minutes per game, that gives you over 35 fantasy points per game. He also has the upside for more than that against an Orlando defense that ranks near the bottom against both guard positions.
Small Forward: Kevin Durant, Golden State Warriors – $10,700
Play the man. If I am spending up for one high dollar play this evening, it’s going to be Durant. His usage rate goes up by more than 4% with Curry off the floor this year, and that sends his usage rate up to over 35%. His role will be very similar to that of LeBron James on the Cavs, where Durant is simply tasked with taking over the game at times. That alone gives him monster upside, and the $10,700 price tag on DraftKings is more than reasonable given the circumstances.
It’s obviously a small sample size, but the early returns are encouraging. In the first full game with Curry on the shelf, Durant put up a triple-double with 35 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists against the Hornets. The floor is solid, the ceiling is massive, and the sky is the limit. Fire up Durant with confidence this evening, even in a matchup against a Detroit team that will look to slow the game down. The opportunity is too great to ignore.
Power Forward: Marvin Williams, Charlotte Hornets – $3,900
The Hornets are very thin up front right now, and they will be without their two top reserves up front in Cody Zeller and Frank Kaminsky. This should translate to a few extra minutes for the likes of Marvin Williams and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. I could have very easily put Kidd-Gilchrist in this article at small forward and moved Durant to power forward, as I don’t have a very strong take between the two. Neither Williams nor Kidd-Gilchrist have the highest of usage rates. This pick is more about the cheap price tag and the very secure minutes that both will see tonight. The Bulls have struggled a bit defensively against the forward spots this year, which certainly doesn’t hurt the outlook. This is one of the most logical spots for value on tonight’s slate.
Center: Nikola Vucevic, Orlando Magic – $8,100
If I had to pick one game to stack up in GPPs tonight, the Magic/Nuggets game sure looks tasty. Orlando is going to need other players to step up offensively with both Fournier and Ross on the shelf. Vucevic put up a massive line in the overtime win over the Hawks the other night, piling up 22 points, 16 rebounds, four assists, two steals, and four blocks. The center spot is definitely one that you probably want to spend up on this evening, and Vucevic is one of the top options should you choose to do that. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him be one of the top point per dollar performers at the position. He also gets a boost with Nikola Jokic out for the Nuggets again tonight.
Good luck tonight, everyone!