Wednesday, October 26 keeps the week rolling with a 10-game featured slate starting 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, FanDuel and Yahoo 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: Wednesday, October 26
Core Play of the Day — Giannis Antetokounmpo: Milwaukee Bucks-Brooklyn Nets
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 61.78 | FanDuel: 60.14
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings: 20.5% | FanDuel: 24.8%
- DFS Salary: DraftKings: $11,200 | FanDuel: $11,600
Tonight there are four players at the top of the projections, but Giannis Antetokounmpo rates out as the best by nearly five fantasy points. Though that may not appear to be a lot at first blush, we want to keep in mind that is actually 10% more than the next most highly projected player. NBA tournaments can be wild down to the finish and this is very evident towards the end of the night when the final few minutes of the last game are playing out. Gamers can see their “currently winning” totals move up and down dramatically on every possession as the stat feeds roll in.
The Bucks are hosting the Nets, who have the fourth-worst defense in the league allowing 123.0 points per game. Yes, this is only through three tilts and it should improve, but Ben Simmons has not made his impression yet after missing all of last season. He had back surgery as well, so it could be a few weeks before he gets on track.
Antetokounmpo is carrying a heavy load on offense and is likely to lead the team in points, and rebounds, while being behind only Jrue Holiday in the assist category. Khris Middleton‘s absence is once again looming large, though at least Milwaukee has Brook Lopez back in the mix. The Bucks have played just two games so far this season, so they should be well-rested and ready to rock tonight.
LeBron James: Los Angeles Lakers-Denver Nuggets
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 55.09 | FanDuel: 53.0
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings: 17.9% | FanDuel: 9.5%
- DFS Salary: DraftKings: $9,900 | FanDuel: $10,700
The Lakers head to Denver tonight in search of their first victory of the season. Sacramento and Orlando are the only two other winless teams in the league. Russell Westbrook is doubtful with a hamstring injury, though that actually is a positive for Los Angeles as he is nonexistent on the defensive end and an offensive liability with his poor shooting and diminishing ability to attack the basket.
Anthony Davis is questionable with a back issue, so we will want to keep tabs on his status. Either way, LeBron James is in line for a major workload against a Nuggets squad that is allowing 117.9 points per 100 possessions, which is the second-worst defensive efficiency rating in the league. Lonnie Walker IV, Patrick Beverley and Kendrick Nunn will get the biggest boost with Westbrook out. If Davis ends up sitting, Austin Reaves becomes yet another value option and Damian Jones pops on the radar for the late-slate contests.
Additional NBA DFS Picks Today – Sports Wagering Opportunities
Caleb Martin is back after a one-game suspension and is popping in the NBA player props market with an 8.5 over/under points prop. The Stokastic NBA player projections have him for 12.2 points and a 73% chance at surpassing this benchmark that is currently available at even money. In his three games this season, Martin has averaged eight field goal attempts, including a pair of three-pointers. Last year in the most playing tie of his career, he was successful on just over half of his field goal attempts. He has a 45% success rate over his career, so he should see some improvement from his 33.3% success rate from the early season action.
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Houston Rockets-Utah Jazz
We just saw this matchup on Monday in Houston when the Rockets blasted out to a 114-108 victory. The battle resumes in Salt Lake City tonight and we will want to look to players from both teams as this matchup boasts a 233.5 projected point total.
Houston will be without Alperen Sengun and Jae’Sean Tate is still questionable with an ankle injury that has kept him on the sidelines all season. The three players to target as core options on the Rockets are Kevin Porter Jr., Jabari Smith and Jalen Green. This trio has the most secure path to 30 minutes and each player should produce just over a fantasy point per minute in this matchup. Though he disappointed on Monday, KJ Martin Jr. did play 34 minutes in the starting lineup but dropped only one of nine field goal attempts. He should be in line to rebound towards something in the mid-20s for a fantasy baseline and with so many gamers feeling burned, he will likely be overlooked by the masses.
Lauri Markkanen should continue to see nearly 20 field goal attempts per game, while also providing solid rebounding numbers. Kelly Olynyk is the perfect stat stuffer on a bad team when he receives playing time and we can look to him on DFS sites where he has power forward eligibility. Mike Conley should get decent minutes, but he is best left for the evening slate or a potential game stack. Jarred Vanderbilt is a good rebounder, but he rarely takes more than a handful of shots each game. This has been a trend throughout his career, even when he was getting consistent runs as a starter in Minnesota. He is in play, just know that the floor is very real at around 10 fantasy points.
Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks Today
This is shaping up to be a fun tournament environment. There are games tipping off throughout the night which should lead to a fair amount of late-breaking news and injury updates/confirmations, so make sure to enable push notifications from the Stokastic NBA Twitter account.
