RADIO
Hello there, RotoBallers, and welcome back NBA! When you're someone who analyzes NBA games every day as I do, the long season can begin to wear you down so the All-star break was a welcome vacation. But I have to admit that after a few days, I was itching to get back to it and I'm glad we have the NBA back in our lives - even if it's just two games tonight.
This slate is going to be tricky, I'll be honest. There's not any great value available since the Spurs are getting healthy and all of these teams have been running deep rotations that make it tough to roster their role-players or bench guys with much confidence. The Washington-Memphis game is much more appealing from a pace standpoint and carries a significantly higher Vegas total, so expect that game to be more popular - and for good reason.
Here are my daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for FanDuel on 3/10/21. You can also check out today's DraftKings lineup picks here. Keep an eye on Rotoballer’s injury news to make sure you have all the best information you need to build those winning lineups tonight and follow me at ThunderDanDFS on Twitter. Now let's get to the picks!
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FanDuel DFS Guards
Ja Morant, PG - vs. WAS ($8,000)
After going 35-5-10 against the Wizards in their recent meeting right before the break, I expect Morant to be like 80% owned on this slate. But on two-gamers, you're going to have to eat some chalk and there's no reason to think that Morant won't thrive again in this spot. It's a big pace boost for Memphis, and Washington has been bad against point guards all season so it's no surprise that Ja had such a big game the last time they faced.
Dillon Brooks, SG - vs. WAS ($5,600)
It was De'Anthony Melton who had the bigger game off the bench in that first meeting between these two teams, but Brooks also had a solid game with a 20-3-2 line and two steals. Melton is actually more expensive on this slate, and that feels like a trap since Kyle Anderson will be back in the lineup tonight and was rested in that first game against the Wizards. Brooks doesn't do all that much other than score, but he did take 19 shot attempts against Washington in that game and these Memphis guards have some considerable upside in this matchup.
Russell Westbrook, PG - @MEM ($9,800)
The Wizards were blown out by Memphis is that first meeting, but Westy still managed to go for 23-6-15 (and eight turnovers, ouch). I usually prefer targeting Bradley Beal over Westy in DFS, but the price difference here is sizeable and Westy has the better matchup as Morant has not proven to be much of a defender so far in his NBA career. It might not be pretty, but Westbrook should be able to pile up counting stats again and there's a strong case for just locking him and Morant and grabbing all the raw points at the point guard position.
Also consider: Jalen Brunson ($5,400), Tim Hardaway Jr. ($5,000)
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FanDuel DFS Forwards
Luka Doncic, SF - vs. SAS ($11,000)
So FanDuel moved Luka to SF, will that be just for this slate or will they leave him there for the foreseeable future? I'm all about it because there's usually plenty of point guard options nightly and SF has been one of the weakest positions on a nightly basis. This move makes strategy pretty easy on this slate as you should most definitely use one of your SF slots on Luka to lock in 40+ FD points. The matchup is solid, too, as the Spurs have been bad against point guards (he's still a point guard in real life, remember).
Justise Winslow, SF - vs. WAS ($4,800)
Taking any of the Grizzlies' secondary pieces is risky tonight, but we need some sub-5k players in our builds if we are going to fit in Morant-Westbrook-Doncic. Winslow is playing off the bench and has seen his minutes slowly increase to the low to mid-'20s. He's not a scorer, but he can pile up boards, assists, and defensive stats as a point-forward and we know Washington turns the ball over quite a bit. Their second unit is particularly bad so some of these Memphis bench players have potential.
Also consider: Trey Lyles ($4,700), Maxi Kleber ($5,000)
FanDuel DFS Centers
Jonas Valanciunas, C - vs. WAS ($7,000)
This is pretty easy, just click on Jonas and let others overthink this one. It's one of the better spots for fantasy production in the NBA - centers vs. the Wizards. To be fair, Jonas only posted 32 FD points in their meeting before the break, but that was in only 28 minutes and the Grizzlies didn't play him late as they had already pulled away. If he plays 30-32 minutes and the game is competitive, he could push for 40 FD points, and none of the other centers on this slate project anywhere close to that. In tournaments, you could take a shot on some cheaper options, but all of them carry a lot of risk.
Also consider: Robin Lopez (4,200)
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