Daily Fantasy Basketball 2015: Best NBA DFS DraftKings Lineup for March 12
Avoiding the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers in daily fantasy basketball this season has been fairly easy. Generally, you just load up against them. Now, when they play each other, like Thursday, March 12, it is time to load up on bargains when setting the best DraftKings lineup.
We have rare, good things to say about a red-hot Knick and even sprinkle in some sleeper buys on some Lakers.
PG Alexey Shved, New York Knicks ($5,000)
We might be a game late on Shved, but he is facing the Lost (pun intended) Angeles Lakers, who are dead last in the NBA against point guards. In this matchup of bottom-feeders, Shved should be able to produce solid, if not spectacular, numbers like Tuesday's.
Knicks coach Derek Fisher has confidence in his fill-in point guard, he told Newsday's Anthony Rieber after Tuesday night's 52.5 DraftKings points:
"I think he's looking forward to playing as much as possible. He's a confident player and he's capable of making plays out there shooting the basketball and off the dribble. He's also a really good passer. We feel like his ballhandling ability will give us a little bit of a different look than maybe what we've had over the last few weeks. Tim's out, so we're just going to give this a look and see how it goes.
"
Shved has minutes, price, matchup and some measure of skills on his side Thursday night.
- Tony Parker, San Antonio Spurs ($5,900)
- John Wall, Washington Wizards ($8,300)
SG Khris Middleton, Milwaukee Bucks ($6,300)
We are not crazy about Middleton playing on a back-to-back, but the shooting guard options are mediocre relative to price Thursday night. Unless you are paying the premium for James Harden ($10,800), Middleton looks like one of the safer bets. He has played some of his best basketball of his young life of late. His price is still a fairly good value, too.
- Wayne Ellington, Los Angeles Lakers ($5,000)
- Rodney Stuckey, Indiana Pacers ($6,300)
SF Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs ($8,100)
Like shooting guard, the options don't look enticing at small forward, especially if you consider the difficulty LeBron James ($10,600) might have reaching his lofty numbers against the Spurs. We will go with Leonard as the top choice, since he offers a discount on what is likely to be James-like production in the expected highest-scoring game of the night.
- Tony Allen, Memphis Grizzlies ($4,200)
- Wesley Johnson, Los Angeles Lakers ($4,500)
PF Derrick Favors, Utah Jazz ($7,800)
We suggest going with one of the top two options on the board at power forward, Favors or Kevin Love ($7,600), if not both. Favors has the slightly more favorable matchup against the Houston Rockets, rather than the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are facing the aforementioned Spurs, who play championship-caliber defense. Favors should be good for 20-10 and around 40 fantasy points here.
- Kevin Love, Cleveland Cavaliers ($7,600)
- Ed Davis, Los Angeles Lakers ($4,900)
C Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz ($7,800)
The Jazz have turned their post over to Gobert, and we should continue to do the same in daily fantasy, even as Gobert's price reaches its peak. Gobert has the longest wingspan in the NBA, and it helps him tally the daily fantasy gems of rebounds and blocks. He also chips in with 10-plus points in the paint. Facing the Rockets without Dwight Howard, we are looking for a 12-12-5 performance or better.
- Marc Gasol, Memphis Grizzlies ($7,500)
- Jordan Hill, Los Angeles Lakers ($5,400)
Eric Mack, one of the giants among fantasy writers, is the Fantasy Football Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, where you can ask him endless questions about your team, rip him for his content and even challenge him to a head-to-head fantasy game.
