Daily Fantasy Basketball 2014: Best NBA FanDuel, DraftKings Lineup for Nov. 26
With 13 games on the slate, Wednesday night in the NBA is going to be jam-packed with action.
Daily fantasy basketball is much more enticing—who am I kidding? It's always enticing—when there are more options to choose from, so let's take a look at a few potential lineups.
FanDuel ($60,000 Budget)
| PG | Mike Conley, MEM | at LAL | 7,000 |
| PG | Brandon Knight, MIL | at MIN | 7,400 |
| SG | Eric Bledsoe, PHO | DEN | 7,000 |
| SG | Monta Ellis, DAL | NY | 7,400 |
| SF | Wilson Chandler, DEN | at PHO | 5,300 |
| SF | Trevor Ariza, HOU | SAC | 6,000 |
| PF | Paul Millsap, ATL | TOR | 8,600 |
| PF | Mirza Teletovic, BKN | at PHI | 4,700 |
| C | Brook Lopez, BKN | at PHI | 6,500 |
| Total | 59,900 |
There's a lot of balance to this lineup. Only one player costs more than $8,000, and only one is below $4,000.
Mike Conley is coming off probably his worst game of the season, but as one of the most consistent players in the league, he's way too difficult to pass up against the Los Angeles Lakers' league-worst defensive efficiency. As for Brandon Knight, we'll let Stan Van Gundy and his complete lack of bias put it simply:
That's a pretty vague statement, but Knight is averaging 18.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 33.6 minutes per game. And he's playing the Timberwolves, who are better than only the Lake Show in defensive efficiency.
Eric Bledsoe is a little difficult to trust because of the Suns' backcourt logjam, but Denver and Phoenix—both among the five fastest-tempoed teams in the Association—are going to produce a shootout. You're going to want to invest in that game.
It's tough to find better consistency for $7,400 than Monta Ellis, who has at least 24.0 FanDuel points in each of his last 10. He'll have it all against the Knicks' shaky defense.
A red-hot Wilson Chandler, who is averaging 19.3 points, 7.3 boards and nearly a block and a steal in the last week, is terrific value at $5,300. As is Trevor Ariza, a three and steal machine who is logging over 36 minutes per game, at $6,000.
The most expensive acquisition of the squad goes to Paul Millsap, a 20-10 threat who also averages a ridiculous 2.1 steals. The lowest is Mirza Teletovic, who has been playing well lately and won't have to do much to live up to his $4,700 price.
Finally, Brook Lopez is coming off three days' rest, he's playing the Philadelphia 76ers, who are last in the NBA in rebounding percentage and he's fairly cheap at $6,500.
DraftKings ($50,000 Budget)
| PG | Stephen Curry, GS | at ORL | 9,400 |
| SG | Courtney Lee, MEM | at LAL | 4,300 |
| SF | Kostas Papanikolaou, HOU | SAC | 3,800 |
| PF | Brandan Wright, DAL | NY | 4,700 |
| C | DeMarcus Cousins, SAC | at HOU | 10,500 |
| G | Danny Green, SA | IND | 4,600 |
| F | Andrew Wiggins, MIN | MIL | 4,700 |
| UTIL | Zach Randolph, MEM | at LAL | 7,900 |
| Total | 49,900 |
While the first lineup was a balanced one, this is more a mix of studs and sleepers. I personally like going balanced a bit more, but this route undoubtedly has its advantages as well.
Advantage No. 1: You have guys like Stephen Curry, DeMarcus Cousins and Zach Randolph on your team.
Curry is on the second night of a back-to-back, but as Reggie Miller and Andrew Bogut alluded to, he broke out of his mini slump in a big way on Tuesday night:
Although he won't score 40 every night, his shooting touch is clearly back, and he typically fills up the box score with assists, steals and rebounds as well.
DeMarcus Cousins is unstoppable down low right now, and a Rockets team missing both Dwight Howard and Terrence Jones from the post certainly isn't going to change that.
And Randolph gets the nod because, well, Lakers.
As far as the value picks, it's best to go with players with high floors. Courtney Lee is probably the best of the bunch. He's a T.J. Maxx-esque bargain at $4,300, as he averages 13.8 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.2 steals in a healthy 33.2 minutes per game.
Kostas Papanikolaou has put up good numbers in Howard's absence, and he is only an option so long as the big man remains sidelined. Brandan Wright is going to continue to hover around 20-25 minutes, which is a bit concerning, but he's a model of efficiency, pouring in at least 19.0 DraftKings points in seven straight games.
Lastly, Andrew Wiggins' usage has shot up with the injury to Kevin Martin, while Danny Green is absolutely scorching right now.
