Monday, October 31 wraps up the month with a seven-game Halloween slate tipping off at 7:00 p.m. ET on DraftKings and FanDuel. Let’s look at the player pool and discuss the top NBA DFS picks today for DraftKings and FanDuel lineups. As always, you can head over to the Stokastic NBA DFS & Fantasy Basketball home page for all the fantasy basketball content you need for any given slate. Let’s dive into our NBA DFS Building Blocks.
NBA DFS Building Blocks Today: Monday, October 31
Core Play of the Day — Tyrese Haliburton: Indiana Pacers-Brooklyn Nets
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 41.63 | FanDuel: 40.16
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings: 10.7% | FanDuel: 10.3%
- DFS Salary: DraftKings: $8,500 | FanDuel: $8,700
How crazy is it that the Knicks are no longer the most dysfunctional team in The Big Apple? The Nets have been a tire fire inside of a dumpster fire on their way to a 1-5 record. They have been abysmal on defense while allowing 117.8 points per 100 possessions. Heck, they even rolled over for the Pacers on Saturday in a 125-116 loss.
Indiana has won two straight and is sitting at 3-4, just outside of the top eight teams in the Eastern Conference. This is looking like a massive scrum with four teams likely to surge ahead of the pack and the tanking teams dropping out. The Pacers look like a ‘tweener franchise and it may be worthwhile to focus on winning since their lottery chances are not going to be as good as the other inept franchises.
Tyrese Haliburton has been stupendous this season and already has four 50-fantasy point games under his belt. He is the primary offensive option as well as the leading facilitator and he contributes in the steals category. This gives him a nice floor and clearly tournament upside at a reasonable salary.
Kevin Durant: Brooklyn Nets-Indiana Pacers
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 49.89 | FanDuel: 48.9
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings: 15.8% | FanDuel: 25.1%
- DFS Salary: DraftKings: $10,000 | FanDuel: $10,000
Tonight on DraftKings, the top five point-per-dollar options are only eligible as centers. That makes Kevin Durant an excellent option as he qualifies for both forward positions on DraftKings and FanDuel. Indiana is only slightly worse than Brooklyn from a defensive efficiency perspective and if Durant wants to make the playoffs this year, he is going to need to put the team on his back. Though he is no spring chicken at 34, through six games his stat line is eerily similar to last year, when he averaged 50 fantasy points for only the second time in his career.
Additional NBA DFS Picks Today – Sports Wagering Opportunities
Nick Richards has a 5.5 over/under rebounds prop, which is low considering he is averaging 12.8 per 36 minutes this season and 9.3 for his career. Though he is coming off the bench, he has carved out a solid 19-to-20 minutes in the Charlotte rotation. The Stokastic NBA player projections have him for 7.5 rebounds, which gives him a 76% likelihood of surpassing this milestone.
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Sacramento Kings-Charlotte Hornets
There are three games on tonight’s docket with a 232 or higher projected point total, including this matchup with the Kings taking on the Hornets in Queen City. Starting with the visiting squad, both De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis are standout fantasy stalwarts. Fox essentially has a floor of around 40 fantasy points, with the ability to reach 50 if things go his way. Sabonis has been somewhat disappointing this season, but it has been mostly the result of foul trouble as his per-36-minute rates are all in line with his typical production of the last few campaigns.
Veteran Harrison Barnes, newcomer Kevin Huerter and rookie Keegan Murray are all similar fantasy options and essentially interchangeable on the court. Let personal preference, price and projected production be your guide in selecting the one that is the best fit for each of your rosters. Barnes and Huerter actually have better point-per-dollar ratios on DraftKings and FanDuel, though gamers typically prefer flocking to the rookies.
Charlotte is still without LaMelo Ball, while Terry Rozier (ankle) is doubtful and likely to miss a fifth straight game. This is a shame, as who wouldn’t want to roster Scary Terry on Halloween?! Cody Martin (quad) is also doubtful, having played only one game this season.
The salary algorithms have adjusted for the new roles of the ambulatory Hornets and while there are no standout values, this is a terrific matchup against the Kings, who have the seventh-worst defensive efficiency rating, allowing 115.0 points per 100 possessions.
Dennis Smith Jr. is the “best” play, but he is still looking for his first 40 fantasy point game of the season. Gordon Hayward has been decent, but he has also been playing minutes in the mid-30s, which usually is the catalyst for him breaking down with some sort of injury.
Kelly Oubre Jr. and P.J. Washington can be confounding, but they also have a 40 fantasy point upside if their respective shots are falling and rebounds are bouncing their way. Lastly, Mason Plumlee is one of the aforementioned best plays at the center position with his discounted salary.
Memphis Grizzlies-Utah Jazz
Ja Morant missed the last game with an illness and is questionable tonight. If he is out, all of the remaining Grizzlies are excellent options as there is quite a void to fill. If he plays, we can still look to Desmond Bane, Dillon Brooks, Steven Adams, Santi Aldama and Brandon Clarke, though they are neutral fantasy options to sprinkle across lineups.
Somehow the Jazz is 5-2 this season despite dealing away Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell and Royce O’Neale this summer. They are likely to regress back to the bottom of the pack as the season rolls on, but in the meantime, take advantage of their salaries as well as tonight’s matchup against the fourth-worst defense in the league.
Lauri Markkanen is the primary target as he should approach 20 field goal attempts most nights. He is eligible for both forward positions on DraftKings and FanDuel, which helps work him into lineups. Jordan Clarkson and Mike Conley are solid plays, though each needs a little scoring luck to provide above-average fantasy production.
Kelly Olynyk does have power forward eligibility and he is always a threat to pop off for 40 fantasy points in solid matchups like tonight. Jarred Vanderbilt is a trap since he cannot be counted on to take more than a handful of field goal attempts most nights. Then we have Collin Sexton, who had a season-high 32 minutes against Memphis on Saturday, but Conley not active for that matchup. It will be interesting to see if this means Sexton seeing mid-20s minutes as his new baseline as he continues to recover from a devastating knee injury that sidelined him for most of last year.
Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks Today
Keep an eye on news tonight with Monday Night Football and Trick-or-Treaters at the door. To be safe, why not just enable push notifications from the Stokastic NBA Twitter account? Of course, subscribers should be keeping tabs on the Discord channel, where immediate analysis of any news will be available.
