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The top daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for DraftKings and FanDuel on January 14, 2022. Mike Marteny provides NBA DFS analysis and sleeper picks for building optimal DFS rosters.
We have a pretty full Friday with nine games in the Association. Teams are still racked with injuries and COVID, so make sure to check out our injury news. Most of the big stars will be in lineups tonight, with the notable exceptions of Draymond, Klay Thompson, Bam, Kristaps Porzingis, and Clint Capela. That's much better than it was a couple of weeks ago!
We begin at 7pm Eastern with Orlando in Charlotte, Toronto in Detroit, Phoenix in Indy, and Boston heading to Philadelphia. The Warriors tip in Chicago a half hour later. Atlanta tips in Miami a half hour after that. The Cavs tip in San Antonio a half hour later. We finish off the night at 10pm Eastern with Sacramento hosting Houston and Dallas in Memphis. This is going to be a good one!
This article will provide you with my daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for DraftKings and FanDuel on 1/14/22. Remember to monitor the NBA injury news as the slate can completely change before lineups lock.
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DraftKings and FanDuel Guards - NBA DFS Lineup Picks
Luka Doncic - PG, DAL at MEM ($10,900 DK, $10,500 FD)
The Unicorn is still out and Memphis is on the second night of a back-to-back set. They aren't great against guards when they aren't coming off of a game in which they tousled with the Timberwolves for the full 48 minutes. Luka has broken the 60 fantasy point threshold twice in five 2022 games. He has a legitimate shot of bringing that up to 50% tonight.
Darius Garland - PG, CLE at SA ($7,800 DK, $8,000 FD)
Garland put up a triple-double on Wednesday with Ricky Rubio, Collin Sexton, and Rajon Rondo all out of the lineup. He did that despite a dreadful shooting night from the floor. We aren't penalized for poor shooting and the only one that might return is Rondo. Garland has an open path to put up big numbers once again. His price is way too low for the ceiling that Garland provides.
Eric Gordon - SG/SF , HOU at SAC ($5,000 DK; $5,400 FD)
Houston's guards are slowly getting healthy, but none of them are providing consistent production aside from Gordon. It feels like Houston is auditioning Gordon in preparation to move him in the next couple of weeks. It wont be hard to do that if he shoots like he did on Wednesday. We never really know what Houston is going to do, but Gordon is still getting consistently good minutes and shots for now. He's worth chasing in GPP formats against a Sacramento team that has struggled against perimeter shooters for most of the last decade.
FANDUEL ONLY PICK:
Cade Cunningham - PG/SG, DET vs. TOR ($6,000)
Cunningham has struggled a bit of late, but he's still $1,600 less on FanDuel, making him a fine tournament play. Cunningham put up 49.2 DraftKings points against Utah on Monday, so maybe that's a sign of things to come. The Pistons took it easy on him against Chicago on Tuesday's back-to-back set. I'm willing to take the chance with Cunningham on FanDuel since his ceiling is over 8x value at this price.
Others to consider: Fred VanVleet ($10,000 DK, $9,700 FD), LaMelo Ball ($8,900 DK, $8,000 FD), Tyrese Haliburton ($7,400 DK, $7,800 FD), Lance Stephenson ($5,100 DK, $5,700 FD)
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DraftKings and FanDuel Forwards - NBA DFS Lineup Picks
Miles Bridges - SF/PF, CHA vs. ORL ($8,000 DK, $7,900 FD)
Neither site is really paying much attention to Bridges and his minutes and production with Kelly Oubre out of the lineup. Bridges has notched 81 minutes over the last two games and has finished each game right around 40 fantasy points. He's going to be a big factor in this game again as he tries to pick up some of the slack left by Oubre. This is a great matchup for Bridges. His price is lower than I thought it would be on both sites.
Evan Mobley - PF/C, CLE at SA ($7,300 DK, $7,500 FD)
Only the Warriors with Draymond Green guarding Mobley have held him under 30 DraftKings points since his return from the COVID protocols on December 28. Memphis is the only other team to hold him under 38 after that first game back. That's a span of eight games where he has at least 38 fantasy points with the exception of the Warriors game. His consistency makes him a nice play on both sites and he has a good ceiling against the Spurs here.
Chimezie Metu - PF on DK/C on FD, SAC vs. HOU ($4,300 DK, $4,800 FD)
I like Metu a whole lot more on DK where he isn't clogging up your center spot. He's a suitable punt on FanDuel as well, but if he has a bad night and a couple of the higher-priced centers go off – a couple certainly will – you're in a heap of trouble. If he has a lackluster night at PF on DK, you're not totally sunk. However, Metu did get back into the starting lineup against the Lakers on Wednesday and finished north of 7x value on DK and at about 6.5x on FD. He's worth the risk against a poor Houston team.
Others to consider: Jayson Tatum ($9,300 DK, $9,700 FD), John Collins ($7,000 DK, $7,700 FD), Harrison Barnes ($5,500 DK, $5,500 FD), Devin Vassell ($4,000 DK, $4,800 FD)
DraftKings and FanDuel Centers - NBA DFS Lineup Picks
Joel Embiid - C, PHI vs. BOS ($11,200 DK, $10,700 FD)
Forget prices, recent trends, all of that nonsense. Embiid owns the Celtics. It's bought and paid for. When he plays the boys from Boston, he's going for 60 or more. Want proof? Embiid already has 129 DraftKings points in 73 minutes against the Celtics this year. He averaged almost 60 against them last year as well. Embiid is a set and forget tonight.
Jarrett Allen - PF/C, CLE at SA ($7,700 DK; $8,000 FD)
Allen is a center only on DK, but since we can play two of them there anyway, it's not as big of a deal. This is another nice matchup for the Cleveland bigs. Allen struggled a bit against Utah, but he has at least 12 points in every January game and at least 12 boards in five of the seven. He's a double-double waiting to happen, which is a nice little bonus on DK.
Jakob Poeltl - C, SA vs. CLE ($6,300 DK; $6,100 FD)
Fantasy and DFS players will still complain that Poeltl often doesn't play more than 32 minutes or so, but his per-minute stats are among the elite. Like Allen, he's a constant double-double threat. Something will have to give here. Poeltl adds more in assists and steals than Allen does. I prefer Poeltl's upside on FanDuel due to the different scoring over there for defensive stats.
Others to consider: Pascal Siakam ($9,500 DK, $9,800 FD), Christian Wood ($7,400 DK, $7,200 FD), Omer Yurtseven ($7,200 DK, $6,800 FD), Robin Lopez ($4,400 DK, $4,700 FD)
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