Tuesday brings a robust 10-game featured slate, returning to the usual 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. Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid are coming off strong games against Indiana and they are playing the Pacers again tonight. Let’s dig into the NBA DFS picks and core plays.
NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today: Tuesday, November 14
Core Play of the Day — Tyrese Maxey — Philadelphia 76ers vs. Indiana Pacers
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 44.94 | FanDuel: 43.28
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings: 5.9% | FanDuel: <5.0%
- DFS Salary: DraftKings: $8,900 | FanDuel: $10,100
Tyrese Maxey is coming off a command performance, having dropped 50 points on the Indiana Pacers Sunday. Tonight these two teams are back at it again and it looks like he has established a new baseline expectation. This is not chasing a big performance and unless you have been living under a rock, it should not surprise you to learn that Maxey is averaging just over 50 fantasy points per game and more importantly a career-best 1.3 fantasy points per minute, which is a significant jump over his 0.91 from last year.
Clearly it helps that James Harden is no longer with the team, which allows Maxey more field goal opportunities (20.1), but he has also doubled his assists (7.2) from last season. Most importantly, it appears that Joel Embiid is genuinely excited and proud of his developments, which bodes well for this budding partnership.
Embiid is dealing with a sore hip, but he has been on a heater with 50-plus fantasy points in seven of his last eight games, including five with 60 or more. Look to this duo again tonight as there should be plenty of value options appearing throughout the day with 20 teams in action.
Nicolas Batum is away from the team attending to a personal matter, which should lead to additional minutes for De’Anthony Melton and Robert Covington.
Dejounte Murray: Atlanta Hawks at Detroit Pistons
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 43.65 | FanDuel: 42.62
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings 17.4% | FanDuel: 21.2%
- DFS Salary: DraftKings: $8,300 | FanDuel: $8,600
Trae Young is away from the team celebrating the birth of his second child. That means Dejounte Murray will be the primary ball-handler as well as the main backcourt scoring option. Detroit has stumbled over the last five games, with a dreadful 119.3 points allowed per 100 possessions. Jalen Duran missed two of these games and he is out again tonight, which means far less protection at the rim.
Since the beginning of last year, Murray has averaged 1.09 fantasy points per minute, 1.02 alongside Young and nearly 1.2 when running solo. Young leaves behind 35.8 minutes, 18.7 field goal attempts, 24.4 points and 10.2 assists. Bogdan Bogdanovic, Saddiq Bey and De’Andre Hunter should all have an uptick in field goal attempts and minutes as the rotation is tweaked to account for the available players.
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Portland Trail Blazers at Utah Jazz
Portland is without Anfernee Simons (thumb) who is likely to be on the shelf for another month. Rookie Scoot Henderson (ankle) has a two-week timeline, while Malcolm Brogdon (hamstring) is likely to be back for Friday’s game, with a chance he will play tomorrow. Then there is Robert Williams III, who had season-ending knee surgery.
Utah is in flux as well, with Walker Kessler (elbow) out for at least the next 10 days and Talen Horton-Tucker was moved to the second unit with rookie Keyonte George being tabbed as the starting point guard. In his two games with those responsibilities, the 16th overall selection of the 2023 NBA Draft has been decent with 20 assists, though he has scored only 14 points. He should improve on his 5 for 20 (25%) conversion rate, though in his lone season at Baylor, he had a sub-par 37.6% overall field goal rate.
Ochai Agbaji joined the starting lineup in place of Kessler, with John Collins (ankle) and Lauri Markkanen serving as the nominal center, with Kelly Olynyk continuing to see 20-24 minutes off the bench.
The Trail Blazers and Jazz have each seen salaries stabilize for the various absences, but this game environment with a 230.5 point total as well as two teams that play up-tempo and do not prioritize defense, well there are ample fill-in DFS options at various salary levels and positions.
Turning our attention to FanDuel, Jerami Grant, Shaedon Sharpe and Collins are the priority plays. Jordan Clarkson and Ochai Agbaji get the nod on DraftKings, with George being a neutral option on both sites, mostly due to the uncertainty of where his ceiling will be and just how much beyond 30 fantasy points it can stretch with a reasonable performance.
Olynyk is also a wild card at $4,500 and with power forward eligibility. In the two games without Kessler, he has not cracked 21 minutes, but if he can get to 24-25 tonight, that could nudge him close to 30 fantasy points, if his shot is falling, though the 32-year-old is going to need efficiency on his side as it is unlikely the Jazz overburden him with minutes.
Additional NBA Building Blocks Pick — Sports Betting Opportunities
Paolo Banchero is a solid DFS play with his ability to contribute across the box score, but we can hedge against him a little by looking to his under 8.5 rebound prop tonight. NBA Bet Pro currently has the second-year forward projected for 34.9 minutes and 7.35 rebounds. The “True Odds” (how OddsShopper measures the potential expected ROI of a given wager) of -157 indicate that this wager has an expected ROI of just over 4%.
It is not fun rooting for unders, but that is where the value often is when it comes to player props as the sportsbooks take advantage of people looking to root for positive outcomes. Over his last five games, Banchero has averaged 35.9 minutes, with 8.2 rebounds. In three of those games, he has recorded nine or fewer boards. On the season he is averaging 33.9 minutes and 6.9 rebounds, with a 7.3 per 36 minutes rate and just two games corralling nine or more caroms.
Brooklyn is running a little short-handed without Ben Simmons and Cam Thomas, but they still have Nicolas Claxton, Mikal Bridges, Dorian Finney-Smith and are a slightly above average rebounding team.
Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today
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