NBA DFS Advice for October 22, 2021

We have another leviathan of a slate tonight, as twenty teams are going to be taking the floor. Like the slate that we saw on Wednesday night, there are so many options we like with this many games. Our initial reaction to this slate is that it is going to be very hard to decide between studs. We have quite a few stars who are coming into tonight’s slate with crazy price tags. A lot of the guys who did not shoot well for there first game of the season are wildly underpriced for their second. Our big challenge tonight will be determining which of the studs provide the most value, and what kind of lineup we want to commit to. We are looking at a stars and scrubs style for tonight, however there are a few midrange plays we need to talk about. Our core lineup includes plays at all different price points and has our cash game lock priorities. In todays premium content, we will get into some ways to get difference for tournaments. We tried to make this slate as easy as possible to navigate for anyone just making one or a few lineups.

Here’s a balanced core For DFS Basketball 10/22/21 (using DraftKings Values)

James Harden was a priority for us in the season opener for a few reasons. He is way cheaper than his production over the last few seasons implies he should be. Harden averaged 54.3 FPTS on the season last year, so his $9,400 price tag is very enticing. In the Nets first game, Harden shot terribly, and his minutes were limited by a blowout loss. Still, his floor proved to be over 40 FPTS. Harden is one of the best offensive players ever, we are not concerned about one poor shooting night to start the season. There are going to be a lot of nights where Harden’s shots are falling, combined with the role he is playing his upside is monstrous. Harden is one of the guys we are throwing in our cash game cores, but we really like getting to him in tournaments as well. It is very likely Harden is not under $10,000 for long, so we want to buy low while we have the chance.

Another guy who was in our core lineup for there first game is Fred VanVleet. The Raptors lost Kyle Lowry in the offseason, and Pascal Siakam is hurt to start out the year. VanVleet should have a huge offensive load on his shoulders, and we saw him carrying the ball a ton during game one. The Raptors got blown out by the Washington Wizards on Wednesday, and VanVleet struggled to get his shots to fall. That poor performance has caused VanVleet’s price to fall to $6,900, which makes him an absolute smash for tonight. It is hard to justify not going to VanVleet at a price like this. He averaged 40 FPTS per game last season, and he is expected to produce even more in his current role. VanVleet has huge upside, and a big game could make a must play at this price. Even if everything goes wrong again, our lineup can stomach it with a price like this.

Domantas Sabonis was an absolute beast in the Pacers first game on Wednesday. He put up 33 and fifteen while seeing 39 minutes of floor time. It was a big surprise to open the slate and see that Sabonis had has price cut significantly for tonight’s slate. Sabonis is only $9,000 for this one, despite his monster performance a few nights ago. The Pacers play the Wizards tonight, who were one our favorite matchups to attack all year last season. The Wizards play a lot of weaker frontcourt defenders like Montrezl Harrell so we really like getting to Sabonis in this matchup. We love Sabonis for cash games as he can easily hit some great value here. However, he is solid for tournaments as well as he is often under owned compared to some bigger names.

Most of our favorite plays on this slate are at the top end, as it is really the studs that stand out. However, the fact that we really want to get to a few of those stars means we must look for some budget plays that will hold up. We want a few guys under $4,000 for tonight, as that allows us to really maximize on our studs. Nicolas Claxton is a guy we are looking at to save some salary here, as he is in a reliable spot for a $3,800 player. Claxton should be starting at center again for the Nets, which means a solid amount of floor time playing the best position for DFS. Claxton was solid in game one and played around 25 minutes. If his floor time is similar tonight, that is the type of value we are looking for in our lineup. 

Here’s a balanced core For DFS Basketball 10/22/21 (using FanDuel Values)

Point Guard

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – PG ($6,700 DK) Gilgeous-Alexander is one of our favorite plays on the slate here, as this price point is just ridiculous. We really liked SGA going into game one, and he is another guy who shot poorly from the field. However, he put up 17 shot attempts and was the clear first option for the Thunder. SGA averaged 41 FPTS per game last season, and he is only getting better as he ages. If SGA has a standard game tonight, he will be giving us fantastic value at this price. We expect to see Gilgeous-Alexander priced over $8,000, so there is not much to hesitate about in this spot.  

Shooting Guard 

Jalen Suggs – ($4,000 DK) Rookies are always interesting this early on in DFS. Obviously we have a lot of risk, but there is a ton of upside for the price as well. Suggs played 30 minutes last game, and he has some responsibility handling the ball and running the offence. Suggs is one of the best prospects for this Orlando teams future, so we are confident his role will remain solid. Suggs has some great upside if he gets hot, and you are not going to find much cheaper minutes then this.

Small Forward 

Kevin Durant – (9,300 DK) Durant has everything we are looking for in a spend up option. His role for Brooklyn is immense as Kyrie Irving remains inactive, and he has colossal scoring upside. Durant is also coming at a fantastic price point here. With Irving out Durant should be a five digit player, and he is a little cheaper tonight at $9,300. It is very likely that Durant gives us some fantastic value in this spot, and he could be a top producer on the slate. The only thing preventing us from playing even more KD is that we like Harden’s upside more on the same team.

OG Anunoby – (6,200 Dk) Anunoby was one of our core plays on Wednesday, as the Raptors are giving him a much larger role this season. Anunoby could not buy a basket last game, but the result make us even more interested in rostering him at this price. Anunoby shot three of seventeen from the field last time out, and he still went for 32 FPTS and gave us decent value. Anunoby is doing a ton for the Raptors offence, and he is a good rebounder. He is also a guy who usually chips in a few defensive stats. Last game we saw VanVleet and Anunoby as the first options offensively. Even though Anunoby had a bad shooting night, we are very excited about the fact that he took 17 shots. Anunoby is a main guy offensively right now, which means he is going to have some monster nights.     

Power Forward 

Jayson Tatum – (8,800 DK) Tatum is coming at a really nice price here, as we always expect him to be over $9,000. Tatum shot an ugly seven for thirty last game, but just like with Anunoby you got to be excited he is taking that many shots. Furthermore, the Celtics should have a much easier matchup on offence tonight. The Raptors have a weak defense that hardly resembles the staunch defensive squad they were for years. Tatum should be able to score easily here, and we like trying to squeeze in his upside at this price. The only problem here is there are so many studs we like; we are not going to be able to play them all.

Center

Precious Achiuwa – (3,600 DK) Assuming that Achiuwa gets the start again, we really like going to him for value. We saw decent production out of Achiuwa last game in 18 minutes. However, he was in foul trouble early on. It is likely that Achiuwa plays over 20 minutes if he can avoid foul trouble tonight, and his $3,600 price tag is hard to look past. We really need cheap plays here, and there is not as much value on the bottom of this slate as there is the top. A starting center like Achiuwa for $3,600 gives us some reliable production while allowing us to focus on our stars.

General strategy 

As we have mentioned throughout the article, it is very challenging to decide what stars to leave out on a slate like this. For example, on another slate $8,800 Tatum with a great matchup would likely be a core play for us. But tonight, it is hard to find a roster spot for him with Sabonis, Harden, Durant, and our cheaper studs all to consider. For Cash games tonight, we like going to Harden and Sabonis, as they are both very underpriced for there usual production. We also like to us VanVleet for Cash and SGA if we can fit him. There are two ways to go here with your stars, either you play two or three of the $9,000 plus guys. Or you play one of the superstars and more of midrange studs. Typically for a DFS slate we would lean more towards the pure stars and scrubs style. However, the two most underpriced players on this slate are VanVleet and SGA, so we really like trying to fit those two in if possible. For tournaments, we like getting to a bit more of a balanced build as most people will lean stars and scrubs. A lineup built around FVV, SGA, Anunoby and Michael Porter Jr is a great approach for a balanced style tonight. The other thing we want to talk about is some injury news. Joel Embiid is questionable for the Sixers. If he ends up out, Andre Drummond is pretty much a lock for us, and Tobias Harris looks great as well. Bradley Beal is also questionable; we want pretty much anyone who shoots it for Washington. With a slate this big, it is important to decide a core and stick to it, otherwise it is easy to get lost in all the options.

Go win your lineup and tell us how you did. Twitter (@FantasyDFSX) is a good place for that.