January 16, 2018

Daniel Marcus highlights the top FanDuel NBA DFS lineup picks for 1/16/18, and a couple of sleepers to consider while building daily rosters.

We're back with another Tuesday edition of FanDuel lineup picks for the NBA slate, and to no one's surprise it's a small slate. There are only four games, which gives the opportunity to do a bit more of a deep dive on each game and position. The good news is there should be plenty of offense to go around.

At first glance, Portland and Minnesota stand out as the easy teams to target on the slate. While I found that to be true of Minnesota, I expect to be underweight with Portland ownership relative to the field. That comes from the high price of Damian Lillard (though he is still very much in play) and that the Suns actually defend against opposing shooting guards relatively well. I plan to be heavy on Minnesota as a result, with some of the picks below mixed in as well.

Below you will find our daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for FanDuel on 1/16/18. These DFS lineup picks can vary from higher-priced players and elite options, to lower-priced players and value picks on FanDuel. You can also read more DFS lineup picks for DraftKings and other sports too.

FanDuel DFS Guards

Jeff Teague - PG @ORL ($6,900)

Both elite point guards on tonight’s slate, Damian Lillard and Kyrie Irving, are in play against decent matchups and Lillard especially with plenty of upside at his cost. However, I’ll pay down a bit and land on Jeff Teague who has performed well in his return from injury, going over 5X in his past two performances. He is still priced nicely and heading into a kushy matchup, meaning I’ll be happy to pay down slightly here and look for studs elsewhere on the slate.

Yogi Ferrell - PG @DEN ($5,300)

Ferrell has played big minutes over the past three games in which he has been starting alongside Dennis Smith. He has responded with three 30 FD point nights, but his price has yet to uptick sharply enough to  push him out of range as a strong consideration. His minutes should remain safe tonight as J.J. Barea has already been ruled out, so use Ferrell with confidence on tonight’s slate.

Jrue Holiday - SG @BOS ($7,500)

Holiday doesn’t have a great matchup against the Celtics, but he has been on an excellent run over the past two weeks. In addition, he gets a slight boost from the absence of Jameer Nelson, leaving one fewer guard in the rotation. Given his recent performances, the small slate, and lack of other high-priced studs, Holiday is one to turn to despite a relatively tough matchup.

Also Consider: Marcus Smart- SG, vs. NO ($5,500)

FanDuel DFS Forwards

Jimmy Butler - SF @ORL ($9,400)

Butler is the sure-fire stud to play tonight, regardless of contest type. Entering tonight’s slate, only the Lakers have been worse against opposing small forwards than the Magic on the season. There will be massive ownership on him as he is far and away the best small forward on the slate, there’s a $2,600 price dip between he and Harrison Barnes, but it’s chalk worth eating tonight.

Dirk Nowitzki - PF @DEN ($5,000)

Dirk has been a nice cash game play for most of the season as he has shown a floor of about 17 FD points, but regularly puts up 5X production or better. Despite that, he doesn't really stand out on most slates but with so few games tonight and relatively few quality power forward options on the slate, he is worth considering. There is some risk tonight given the Mavs are playing in altitude as they travel to Denver. However, Dirk has not performed poorly there over the past two seasons and the Mavericks are not on the back end a back-to-back, which alleviates some of the risk. That leaves him as a solid cash game option, though Al-Farouq Aminu is my preferred option in GPPs.

Also Consider: Al-Farouq Aminu- PF vs. PHO ($5,500)

FanDuel DFS Centers

Al Horford - C vs. NO ($7,100)

Though the Pelicans aren’t necessarily a team to frequently target with bigs, opponents have found success against them of late. For example, Enes Kanter returned 6.9X value, Jusuf Nurkic 5.4X, Marc Gasol 5.9X, and Andre Drummond 4.8X. Horford hasn’t put up any massive performances of late, but given both his track record and opponents’ against the Pels, he is a viable option in all contests if you are unable or unwilling to pay up for the big guns at center

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