FanDuel NBA DFS Sim League Lineup Picks (3/19/20): Daily Fantasy Basketball Advice

Brad Leibfried highlights the top FanDuel NBA DFS Sim League lineup picks for 3/19/20, and a couple of sleepers to consider while building daily rosters.

With the cancellation of nearly every sporting event in the county, daily fantasy sites have had to get creative with offerings. That is certainly the case with FanDuel as they have introduced "NBA SIM leagues".

Premise: Just like every NBA contest on FanDuel, you will pick two point guards, two shooting guards, two small forwards, two power forwards and a center while staying under the $60,000 cap number. However, there is one big difference, the points each player accrues are a random draw from the games that player has played during the season.  The player pool is a bit limited as players must have had at least 15 games played with over zero fantasy points played on the season. Also very key, THE MATCH UP IS IRRELEVANT. This is not a simulated game between the teams shown, this is just the players who are available on this slate. Each player will be assigned a number, say for example 12, the stats from that players 12th game will then be used to total his fantasy points.

Players: The players are priced strictly based on fantasy points per game, while those are the averages, there will be players who are more volatile than others. It is also key to note that not everyone has played the same number of games, which could change the "value" of a player.  LeBron James for example has a 60 game sample to pick from, while someone like Kyrie Irving only has 20 games to pick from, so the odds of a Kyrie game being the one picked is 5%, while the odds any specific LeBron game will be picked is 1.6%.

Review of Our FanDuel Sim League Picks from 3/18/20

There were a few players we highlighted yesterday in our picks, such as Kawhi Leonard and Zion Williamson, who were rock solid plays at their prices. What has also become evident is that as we only have this freeroll, a "stars and scrubs" lineup is the clear path to go.  There are certainly going to be landmines around, but trying to find he biggest upside for the low price options is likely going to be your path to success.

FanDuel High Priced Plays for 3/19/20

Giannis Antetokounmpo: Giannis is obviously the top price player tonight, averaging a huge 57.24 fantasy points per game. He has a low of 32 fantasy points this year, however it is worth noting he only has one game over 80 fantasy points this year.

James Harden: If you played night one of this SIM league, you will likely not roster Harden as the worst game of his season was used for a miserable 27.1 points. It should be worth noting he actually has more 80+ fantasy points game than anyone on the slate tonight and has been over 60 fantasy points in 39% of his games this year.

Luka Doncic: Doncic has been one of the most consistent players in the NBA, however he actually comes into tonight with a little less upside than others. At his current price, Doncic has never gone over 6.6x his salary. With just the mass entry freeroll, Doncic actually lacks the true upside at this price.

Russell Westbrook: Like Giannis, Westbrook is about as steady as it gets with 26 games over 50 fantasy points this year. However, in this format, he does lack some true upside as he has never gone over 6.75x his salary once this year, and has yet to crack the 70 point barrier.  If there were such a thing as cash games, he would be more in play.

Damian Lillard: Perhaps my top play of the day, Lillard is almost $1k less than the top players, but also has five games over 70 fantasy points this year. The one concern here is that in his 58 games, he has been below 70% of them, but in this format we are all about upside.

Andre Drummond: His time in Cleveland has not been as good as his Pistons games his year, but that has also dropped his price down a touch.  Drummond does have big upside with 10 games (18%) with over 60 fantasy points, and his as many 80 point games as Antetokounmpo.

Joel Embiid: Embiid has some very scary games and like Harden, anyone who played this slate yesterday is likely to fade Embiid as he was drawn his worst output game of the season.  That will likely lower his ownership, but with eight games over 6x his salary, Embiid does still have upside.

FanDuel Low Priced Plays for 3/19/20

Robert Covington: At under $6k, Covington has a solid six games at 43 or more fantasy points, which is just 10% of games, but is simply an upside not any in this range have.

Larry Nance Jr.: He does have a big sample of 56 games to pick from, but like Covington, simply has more upside than others in this range. He has six games over 40 fantasy points, which would be roughly 7x his price tonight.

Josh Jackson: Unlike most players, Jackson only has 18 games to choose from, giving each game a much higher likelihood to be picked. In those games, 33% of them have gone over 6x this salary, which is solid upside at this price.

Mo Bamba: There are a lot of bad games here as he has 39 of 60 games under 20 fantasy points, but for pure upside it is hard to go wrong with Bamba. He has eight games over 7.25x his value, including one massive 39 fantasy point game.

Minimum priced Options

Boban Marjanovic: For pure upside, its hard to pass on Boban as he has three games (10%) of his games at 9x or better, including an out of this world 16x game in his bag.  If you want to separate yourself, here's the player, but beware, you are likely to land on a below 10 point game.

Furkan Korkmaz: Like Boban, Kormaz has some huge games in his arsenal, scoring over 30 fantasy points in five games. The only real issue with Kormaz is that he has played in 64 games this year, meaning your odds are not great in catching that big game.

Isaiah Hartenstein: Your low owned option of the day, none will look to Harenstein, but there is a lot of merit to picking him tonight. First off, he only has 21 games to pick from, giving each game roughly a 5% shot to get chosen. From that, realize the Rockets big man has six games over 20 points, three of those are 34+ points, and one game is a massive 57.5 game. There are literally no other players on the entire slate that have a nearly 5% shot to get a game at 16.4x their price.

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