Every day with FanDuel, you’re the GM. Use your NBA knowledge to create the best nine-man team with a salary of $60,000. Once your roster is set, enter a contest, sit back and enjoy the games.
Players To Watch: October 30
Bradley Beal ($7,200)
The Washington Wizards fancy themselves as a contender for not just the Southeast Division crown, but the Eastern Conference at large. A win tonight against another East team with similar grand designs, the Milwaukee Bucks, will only help bolster the Wizards’ hopes for this season. Washington’s Bradley Beal had a solid debut in the opener in Orlando, amassing 24 points (on 9-for-19 shooting), six rebounds and a block in 38 minutes for 29.2 daily fantasy points. He’s matched up against Khris Middleton ($5,800) tonight — another rising shooting guard in the East and an equally solid option as these two should go back and forth in the scoring column all night long.
Derrick Favors ($7,400)
Utah’s young frontcourt of Derrick Favors, Gordon Hayward ($7,200) and Rudy Gobert ($8,100) are enough to make daily fantasy owners salivate with their ability to rack up stats in a variety of daily fantasy categories. Favors did exactly that in the season-opening loss to the Pistons with his 26-point (on 10-for-16 shooting), six-rebound showing in 35 minutes. Favors faces a stiffer defensive challenge tonight in Nerlens Noel ($7,600), but his jump shot looked good in the opener and there’s no reason to think he can’t amass a 20-point, 8-or-so rebound night (with a few blocks) against Philadelphia tonight.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope ($5,500)
A cheaper option at shooting guard, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has keyed the Detroit Pistons’ run to a 2-0 record. Yes, it’s early in 2015-16, but he’s upped his averages to 18.5 points, three 3-pointers a game and 4.5 rebounds. Even better? Well, his daily fantasy points average for the season is 25.4. How much stock can we put in Caldwell-Pope’s season, though? Glad you asked. A matchup tonight with perhaps the best defensive shooting guard in the NBA, Jimmy Butler ($7,700), will provide a good litmus test for where both these players are headed in 2015-16.
Festus Ezeli ($3,500)
With Andrew Bogut ($5,400) out indefinitely after he suffered a concussion in the Golden State Warriors’ season-opener, the starting center job is Ezeli’s tonight and for the forseeable future. In the opener against the New Orleans Pelicans, Ezeli had 13 points, four rebounds, a steal and a block in just 17 minutes. Project that out over a full 30 or so minutes and you are looking at some fantasy gold, potentially. On the flip side of tonight’s matchup with the Houston Rockets, center Clint Capela ($4,500) is active on defense and will surely make Ezeli work for his buckets.
Karl-Anthony Towns ($6,100)
Who knows if years from now we’ll talk about Karl-Anthony Towns’ debut with the Minnesota Timberwolves. This much is certain, though: the No. 1 overall pick of the 2015 Draft didn’t disappoint. A 14-point (on 6-for-10 shooting), 12-rebound effort in a win over the Los Angeles Lakers is nothing to sneeze at, particularly when you consider Towns did this while Ricky Rubio ($7,800) and a revived Kevin Martin ($5,200) were having standout performances. Joffrey Lauvergne ($3,700), the Denver Nuggets’ young center, and rookie Nikola Jokic ($3,500) will work with Kenneth Faried ($6,900) to try and keep Towns under control tonight. Lauvergne may be a worthy pickup on his own as only the untested Jokic would take any of his minutes.
Nikola Mirotic ($6,000)
As one of Chicago’s primary floor-spacers and 3-point shooters, Mirotic entered 2015-16 with a key role to fill if the Bulls are to realize their Finals dreams. While any such goal is a long way away, Mirotic is living up to his end of the deal thus far. He’s averaging 3.5 3-pointers a game (last season that number was 1.2, mind you) and is on pace to nail 280 3s this season. He won’t get you a ton of blocks and his defense leaves a lot to be desired overall, but his offense and solid percentages overall (52.4) and on 3-pointers (58.3) make him stand out. How he fares against another small forward off to a solid start — Detroit’s Marcus Morris ($5,600) — will be fun to watch tonight.
Mo Williams ($5,800)
No, you haven’t flashed back to say, 2008-09. That’s probably the last time Mo Williams was considered a top-flight guard prospect in fantasy basketball. But don’t sleep on what Williams is giving the Cleveland Cavaliers as their starter while Kyrie Irving mends. Williams is right on pace with his career averages through two games (14.0 points, 5 FGs, 3.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists) while chipping in three 3-pointers, too. He’ll face an equally deft scorer tonight in the Miami Heat’s Goran Dragic ($6,400), so he’ll have to play some defense, too. But there’s no reason to think Williams can’t continue his trend of solid, veteran play as long as Irving remains sidelined.
Daily Fantasy Minute, Oct. 30
Daily Fantasy Recap, Oct. 29
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