This article is part of our FanDuel NBA series.
Another Saturday, another 16 teams are in action on FanDuel. Today's slate offers a good mix of bottom-tier defensive matchups along with top offensive options to choose from. This article will help you find the best players and matchups to help maximize value within your rosters.
Point Guard
Damian Lillard, POR vs LAL ($8,700): Lillard kicked off 2016 by going on a tear, producing a five-game stretch where he scored at least 44 fantasy points in five straight games, with three double-doubles in that span. He has cooled off over the past three games, and that's actually a good thing for our DFS rosters. His recent struggles have taken down his price by $800 since his peak salary of $9,500 on Dec. 5. This sets him up well to take advantage of the best point guard matchup we can possibly get. Look for Lillard to get back into 40-point territory again against a Lakers squad that is allowing more fantasy points to opposing point guards than any other team this season.
Norris Cole, NOP vs. MIL ($4,300): With Eric Gordon out for 4-6 weeks with a broken finger, it was Cole, not Jrue Holiday, who was announced as the surprise starter for the Pelicans. He rewarded fantasy owners who rostered him with 12 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, good 31 fantasy points and over 7.7x on his $4K price tag. His salary is still very reasonable, and he has been a consistent producer when getting additional minutes. Cole has managed to score at least 22 fantasy points in five of the seven games where's played at least 30 minutes this season. Using Cole as a cheap salary saving option today should help you roster some of bigger studs.
Shooting Guard
C.J. McCollum, POR vs LAL ($7,700): It should be no surprise that we are once again targeting the Lakers. Not only are they fourth-worst in the NBA in fantasy points allowed to opposing shooting guards, they are last overall as a team in defense versus position. McCollum is very similar to Lillard as another Blazer who has since cooled after putting together a hot streak at the end of December. This has afforded us a $700 discount off his peak price tag, making him the top available option at shooting guard today.
Devin Booker, PHO vs ATL ($4,500): If told you that the most productive shooting guard in terms of value returned on his price tag since Jan. 1 was a rookie playing for one of the worst teams in the league, you probably wouldn't believe me. But when you look at the game logs and see that Booker has paid off an average of 6.2x his price since the new year started, and he has four games where he's paid off at least 7.3x value this month, then you begin to see why he made today's list. Atlanta is known as a strong defensive team, but with Kyle Korver manning this spot, he is a weak spot in their defense that you can attack, as evidenced by their bottom 10 ranking in FanDuel points allowed to shooting guards.
Small Forward
Andrew Wiggins, MIN vs MEM ($6,900): When it comes to cash games, it doesn't get much more consistent than Wiggins. He's scored at least 31 fantasy points in seven of the past eight games. Wiggins should be able to take advantage of a plus matchup against Matt Barnes, who has led the Grizzlies to the ninth-worst ranking in terms of fantasy points allowed to opposing small forwards. The price has held steady at $6,900, and Wiggins has done his part by scoring at least 21 points in seven of the past eight games.
Power Forward
Paul Millsap, ATL at PHX ($8,900): Lost in all the Golden State hype and talk about Draymond Green being an All-Star snub and the most complete power forward in the game is the fact that Millsap has actually outperformed Green from an overall perspective this season. Millsap holds an edge over Green in field goal percentage, free throw percentage, scoring average, steals and blocks. Millsap also gets the benefit of matching up against the sixth-worst team in power forward defense, but he's so amazingly consistent, you can call him matchup-proof and play him any day you can afford the salary.
Center
Greg Monroe, MIL at NOR ($7,700): For the second straight game, Monroe finds himself in an elite matchup, this time against the Pelicans. The Pelicans have quite possibly the least athletic roster of bigs in the NBA, which unsurprisingly has led them to being second-worst in the NBA in FD points allowed per game to opposing centers. The price tag increase finally caught up to Monroe, as evidenced by his $700 salary increase from Friday to Saturday. Monroe has proven his consistency by posting double-doubles in all but three games this month, and he should have no trouble earning his ninth double-double in January on the road in New Orleans.
