Friday wraps up the work week with a gigantic 11-game featured slate, with a 7:00 p.m. ET lock time on DraftKings and FanDuel. There are several options in the player pool worth analyzing to find the top NBA DFS building blocks and NBA DFS picks. De’Aaron Fox, Nikola Jokic, Victor Wembanyama, as well as participants in the Lakers and Trail Blazers tilt will be amply represented across lineups tonight. Let’s dig into the NBA DFS picks and core plays.
NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today: Friday, November 17
Core Play of the Day — De’Aaron Fox: Sacramento Kings at San Antonio Spurs
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 46.57 | FanDuel: 45.69
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings: 8.8% | FanDuel: 9.9%
- DFS Salary: DraftKings: $9,000 | FanDuel: $9,300
After missing five games over two weeks with an ankle injury, De’Aaron Fox returned to action with 35.9 minutes against Cleveland on Monday and then he played 38.3 minutes on Wednesday, when he led the Kings to a road upset of the Lakers in Los Angeles. San Antonio should have Keldon Johnson back tonight, though the Spurs are still missing Devin Vassell. Sacramento is currently listed as 7.5 point road favorites and they do not play again until Sunday.
This is a very winnable game, though we have seen the Spurs play tough at home. That bodes well for the Kings likely needing their core players for most of the action tonight, as San Antonio is 1-4 at home, but the four losses have been by a total of 26 points, including an overtime loss to the Toronto Raptors.
Domantas Sabonis is one of many centers who warrant consideration tonight, though he has the most appeal on the two-game evening sub-slate. San Antonio has a few intriguing discount dandies with Victor Wembanyama, Malaki Branham, Jeremy Sochan, Devonte’ Graham and Keldon Johnson worthy of tournament consideration for the featured slate on DraftKings. This list shrinks to Webanyama, Graham and Johnson, though Zach Collins slides into the mix with his dual power forward and center eligiblity.
Los Angeles Lakers at Portland Trail Blazers
This is the third game in four days for Los Angeles and the fifth game for the Lakers since last Friday. Anthony Davis and LeBron James have each missed one game in this stretch and James is questionable for tonight. The short-handed Trail Blazers almost came away with a victory in Los Angeles last Sunday, closing the gap to 104-103 with just over three minutes to go, before the Lakers secured a 116-110 win, sinking all four free throws in the final 80 seconds.
The Lakers lost to the visiting Sacramento Kings 125-110 on Wednesday, so they are at 6-6 and in need of some wins. There are three games tipping off at 10 p.m. ET or later, so there will be ample pivot options for those who roster James, and need to swap if he is ruled out. Of course, his absence would create extra opportunities for the remaining Lakers, so leaving flexibility to roster a few players from the final three tilts of the night is a terrific tactic.
Malcolm Brogdon, Scoot Henderson and Anfernee Simons all remain out and while salaries have stabilized for the Blazers, there is still room for profit potential. Jerami Grant and Shaedon Sharpe look good on the main DFS sites, with Skylar Mays moving into consideration on the DraftKings featured slate. Deandre Ayton is an option on the late-slate, as an alternative to Alperen Sengun, Jusuf Nurkic and of course Davis.
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Centers of Attention
Nikola Jokic projects as the best fantasy point per dollar option on DraftKings, even with a $12,500 cap hit. Interestingly enough, the highest projected lineup with him and without him are essentially deadlocked on DraftKings, while on FanDuel, the lineup without him is one point higher.
For those wondering, it is Joel Embiid, Mitchell Robinson and Onyeka Okongwu coming in mostly with double-center lineups on DraftKings when the Joker is left out of the deck. On FanDuel it is Robinson, PJ Washington and John Collins with PF/C eligibility and Nikola Vucevic all anchoring lineups that project a tick higher than the Jokic rosters.
Even at $12,800 on FanDuel, Jokic is still the eighth best fantasy point per dollar option. Over his last six games, four of which were without point guard Jamal Murray, the two-time NBA MVP is averaging 36.0 minutes and 21.7 field goal attempts, with a 56.2% conversion rate. This works out to 33.2 points, 15.7 rebounds, 9.2 assists and 2.2 combined blocks and steals. Yowza!
It is likely with 22 teams in action that a few more extreme punt options become available, but the point is that with the larger player pool and plethora of center-only and players with dual-position eligibility, well there are ample ways to craft lineups that are not beholden to any one particular player tonight. This should make for a wild tournament setting.
Alperen Sengun, Anthony Davis and Jusuf Nurkic are among the other center-exclusive players who warrant strong consideration in tournaments. This means the field will be sprinkling these seven center-only options across lineups, so going overweight on any one in particular creates an imbalance as there will be six others that can knock them off from a fantasy point per dollar perspective, while also creating different roster constructions and inherently more unique lineups.
Additional NBA Building Blocks Pick — Sports Betting Opportunities
D’Angelo Russell is an interesting upside play in various fantasy formats with a terrific matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers. Tonight we can look to a +500 payout on his double-double prop. NBA Bet Pro currently has him projected for 33.1 minutes, 17.92 points and 7.05 assists. The “True Odds” (how OddsShopper measures the potential expected ROI of a given wager) of +460 indicate that this bet has an expected ROI of just over 6%.
Russell has double-digit points in every game this season, so we are really wagering on his ability to reach 10 assists. He has done so only once this season, on Sunday against these same Blazers. He has two games this season with nine assists and one with eight, so clearly he is live enough for us to consider this lofty payout. For those considering a more attainable wager, with a mostly even payout, then the 26.5 points + rebounds + assists (PRA) at -104 for the over is -106 “True Odds” which is a slight positive. NBA Bet Pro currently has him projected for a 28.51 PRA.
Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today
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