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We have a typically compact five-game slate on a Thursday night, but there are intriguing matchups across the board. That includes a Warriors-Mavericks battle in Dallas highlighted by a Curry-Luka showdown, a Blazers-Sixers interconference clash and a Nuggets-Lakers showdown to cap off the night.
Philly and the Jazz are relatively heavy favorites against Portland and the Hawks, respectively, but the other three games have narrow spreads that foreshadow just the type of close contests we prefer for DFS purposes. While three contests don't have totals on the board as of early Thursday, there should be plenty of offense throughout the night considering the stars that will take the floor.
In this article, I will be providing you with my daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for FanDuel on 2/4/21. I’ll be providing multiple player suggestions for players at guard, forward and center on FanDuel, aiming to highlight one option apiece at the high, middle and lower end of the salary scale. You can also check out DraftKings lineup picks and injury news before lineups lock. Good luck, RotoBallers.
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FanDuel DFS Guards
Luka Doncic, PG – vs. GSW ($11,300)
Doncic, with his seemingly limitless fantasy ceiling, is precisely the type of player that can maximize the opportunities presented by a pace-up game against the Warriors. Golden State is averaging an NBA-high 109.1 possessions per game on the road, while the Mavs check in with just 102 per home contest. Doncic naturally doesn’t come cheap, but in a testament to his massive upside, he’d met or exceeded a 5x return on his salary – 56.5 FD points or more – on eight occasions in 21 games. The Warriors have actually done a solid job on paper against PGs specifically, but with Doncic churning out four triple-doubles over his last eight games alone, there’s no question he can break the slate with one of his high-end games.
Ben Simmons, PG – vs. POR ($8,700)
Simmons has been a bit of a wild card lately with his fantasy production, interspersing a pair of sub-30-FD-point tallies among a trio of 50-plus efforts. However, Simmons has generally been a reliable source of at least 30 FD points the majority of the season, and he’d delivered over 5x his current salary on seven occasions already going into Wednesday night’s game against the Hornets. The Trail Blazers make for a potentially good facilitator for one of his standout performances, as Portland is allowing the second-highest offensive efficiency (32.9 percent) to point guards, along with elevated 47.8 percent shooting to the position.
Dennis Schroder, PG – vs. DEN ($5,300)
Schroder is probably best suited for tournaments, as the veteran guard has seen his fantasy production fluctuate a fair amount thus far this season. However, Schroder heads into Thursday’s highly favorable matchup with back-to-back tallies of 27.1 FD points, and he also posted 24.1 four games ago versus the 76ers. In all, Schroder has delivered over 5x his current salary in exactly half his 22 games, and Thursday, he’ll face a Denver squad that’s giving up the third-highest offensive efficiency (32.4 percent) to PGs, along with the second-most assists (10.2) per contest. Meanwhile, Schroder is still scuffling with his shot (42.1 percent from the floor), but he will head into Thursday’s game with five consecutive double-digit scoring efforts.
Also consider: Trae Young ($10,500); Stephen Curry ($9,900); Donovan Mitchell ($7,800); Tim Hardaway Jr. ($5,500); Eric Gordon ($5,400)
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FanDuel DFS Forwards
LeBron James, SF- vs. DEN ($10,700)
James is often the obvious choice if you’re paying all the way up in at least one of your forward spots, and such is the case again Thursday. Denver has done solid work statistically against small forwards, but needless to say, James frequently defies positional matchups and has the talent to exploit the 47.2 percent shooting Denver allows overall. The Nuggets also rank in the bottom 10 in shooting percentage allowed in the paint (50.8), and James checks in with tallies of 56.2 and 73.6 FD points in two of his last seven games alone, a range he could certainly hit Thursday in what should be a highly competitive matchup.
Kristaps Porzingis, PF – vs. GSW ($7,500)
Porzingis now has five tallies over 40 in the last eight games following another spectacular showing against the Hawks on Wednesday. The big man is still in the midst of getting into the full swing of things after not making his season debut until Jan. 13 due to last summer’s knee procedure, but like Doncic, he should be poised to benefit from the Warriors’ lightning-fast pace in the form of some extra possessions to work with. Additionally, the Warriors have a serious size shortage at the moment with both Kevon Looney (ankle) and James Wiseman (wrist) sidelined, meaning Porzingis should frequently have his way Thursday with the likes of Draymond Green and Eric Paschall down low.
Draymond Green, PF - at DAL ($5,800)
Speaking of Green, while he’ll be under duress frequently on the defensive end, he’s also slated to see plenty of minutes with the absences of both Looney and Wiseman. Green checks in having scored over 20 FD points in five consecutive games, and the four times he’s delivered over 5x his salary thus far this season have come within the last 12 contests. Green notably logged a season-high 36 minutes Tuesday versus the Celtics after Looney went down early and with Wiseman already sidelined; therefore, a similar workload Thursday against a Mavs team allowing the third-most rebounds per game (34.9) to frontcourt players and ranked in the bottom 10 in offensive efficiency allowed in the paint (58.9 percent) could well lead to a fruitful fantasy performance.
Also consider: Christian Wood ($8,900); Tobias Harris ($7,900); Juan Toscano-Anderson ($4,900); Jae'sean Tate ($4,700)
FanDuel DFS Centers
Nikola Jokic – at LAL ($11,000)
Jokic will come into Thursday’s matchup well rested after Denver’s last scheduled game against the Pistons on Monday was postponed, and he also is fresh off having racked up 74.9 FD points in a supposedly tough matchup against the Jazz on Sunday. That performance was incredibly Jokic’s ninth of at least 60 FD points this season, including his third with at least 70. The big man is already boasting new career highs in nearly every major category this season, and despite the Lakers being one of the league’s best defensive squads overall, L.A. is ranked just inside the bottom half of the league in overall shooting percentage allowed to centers (53.6) and allowing the 10th-highest three-point shooting percentage to the position as well.
Joel Embiid, PHI – vs. POR ($10,200)
Embiid trampled the Hornets for 55.2 FD points on Wednesday, and he’ll have a chance to make it back-to-back spectacular efforts Thursday against a Trail Blazers team that’s a lot more vulnerable to centers without Jusuf Nurkic (wrist) down low. The back-to-back set shouldn’t affect overly affect Embiid, considering he hadn’t played since last Friday prior to Wednesday’s matchup against Charlotte. Factoring in Wednesday’s effort, Embiid has eclipsed 50 FD points in five of his last six games, and the Blazers are now ranked in the bottom half of the league in offensive efficiency allowed against centers (32.1 percent) and in the paint (56.9 percent) with Enes Kanter handling starting duties the last eight games.
Also consider: Clint Capela ($8,800); DeMarcus Cousins ($6,000)
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