Tuesday, November 1 kicks of a new month of NBA action with a four-game featured slate beginning at 7:30 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: Tuesday, November 1
Core Play of the Day — Nikola Vucevic: Chicago Bulls-Brooklyn Nets
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 44.51 | FanDuel: 42.58
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings: 29.9% | FanDuel: 21.6%
- DFS Salary: DraftKings: $7,800 | FanDuel: $8,300
Typically, most centers aside from Nikola Jokic or Joel Embiid on a short slate are not going to be a featured play. This is because the salary algorithms on DraftKings and FanDuel typically “underprice” centers based upon median fantasy projections.
FanDuel has not adjusted Jock Landale ($4,800) or Bismack Biyombo ($5,000) aggressively enough to account for the absence of Deandre Ayton, so they are in play over Nikola Vucevic on the blue site. DraftKings allows more flexibility with the utility slot so we can always roster two center-only options there.
Chicago heads into Brooklyn to take on the Nets who recorded their second victory of the season last night, beating the Pacers 116-109. Ben Simmons (knee) was out, and he is questionable tonight. Brooklyn has the second worst defensive efficiency rating in the league, and they are also the worst rebounding team.
The potential absence of Simmons does not help the Nets from a rebounding perspective. This bodes well for Vucevic and his competent inside-out game should serve him well tonight. Though the Montenegrin is having a career low 43.2% success rate from the field through seven games, that should improve and the rest of his per-36-minute numbers are in line or slightly better than last year. The 32-year-old has a pair of 50 fantasy point performances in his last four outings and that ceiling is in play tonight.
Kyrie Irving: Brooklyn Nets-Chicago Bulls
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 45.47 | FanDuel: 44.48
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings: 16.7% | FanDuel: 28.3%
- DFS Salary: DraftKings: $9,700 | FanDuel: $9,700
Over his last five games, including one that went to overtime, Kyrie Irving has been logging a heavy workload playing over 38 minutes in each outing, including nearly 43 minutes in last night’s win over the Pacers. In this stretch he is averaging 23.4 field goal attempts with a 50.4% success rate. This has resulted in 33.2 points, 3.2 made three-point attempts, 6.4 rebounds, 4.4 assists and an impressive 3.4 combined blocks and steals.
Chicago is a middle of the pack defense, and they play at a top six pace. Look to Irving tonight as a key building block in all formats on the four-game slate.
Additional NBA DFS Picks Today – Sports Wagering Opportunities
Vucevic not only looks good in the DFS world, he also has a reasonable 11.5 over/under rebounds prop. The Stokastic NBA player projections have him for 14.1 rebounds, which gives him a 75% likelihood of surpassing this milestone. Though Vucevic has surpassed this milestone in just three of his seven games, he corralled 17, 23 and 19 in those appearances. Brooklyn is one of the worst teams on the glass and this looks like a nice opportunity to get in a little extra on Vucevic in this matchup.
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Orlando Magic-Oklahoma City Thunder
Orlando is on the road in Oklahoma City tonight taking on the Thunder as three-point road dogs. Markelle Fultz, Gary Harris and Moritz Wagner are still out with various maladies, though there is a chance that Jalen Suggs (ankle) will be available.
Rookie Paolo Banchero has been amazing as a fantasy producer, scoring 40 or or more points more often than not. All of the injuries to the point guards have forced second-year player Franz Wagner to do more facilitating, which has somewhat dampened his scoring.
Wendell Carter Jr. is a strong option at the center position and a nice pivot away from Vucevic and the Phoenix options. Finally, Bol Bol has shown glimpses of upside and moved into the starting lineup. If that role continues, he is worthy of our consideration on the short slate.
Josh Giddey is still out with an ankle injury, so that means Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will once again have to carry the team. SGA has topped 60 fantasy points in two of his last three games and he has access to that upside once again in this matchup.
The rest of the Thunder options have varying degrees of value and utility on the different DFS sites. Tre Mann, Aleksej Pokusevski, Luguentz Dort and Aaron Wiggins round out the starting five and should be assured of 28 minutes or more. Darius Bazley and Kenrich Williams are placeholder value and can be used in a pinch if no better discount dandies reveal themselves prior to lock.
Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks Today
Tonight, is a frontloaded slate with three of the four games tipping off inside of a 30-minute window. Then there is a two-hour break until the West Coast nightcap. Keep an eye on news with a few Minnesota players currently listed as questionable. Of course, you could always enable notifications from the Stokastic NBA Twitter account and let it do the heavy lifting. If you are a subscriber, the keeping tabs on the Discord channel is key as immediate analysis of any news will be available.
