NBA DFS Picks For FanDuel 12/17/21

As COVID ramps up again, we should be thankful for every slate that we get as the season could be postponed or briefly delayed at any moment. There are a ridiculous amount of players currently in the league's health and safety protocols, so some sort of action needs to be taken. Since so many players are out, other players will have to step in and fill the void, creating for interesting DFS scenarios. The main slate tonight is a large one that features 8 total games, so there are plenty of intriguing player options to choose from. As on most slates, we have a lot of prevalent injury news that we are waiting on which could shake up the slate when released. Be sure to keep on eye on these injury situations as we approach roster lock. Since there are so many games tonight. Let's dive in to the breakdown of the NBA main slate on FanDuel tonight!

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Top Play:

Kyle Lowry (PG - $7000) -

Today's main slate marks my third article of the week, and Kyle Lowry has been my top play in every single one. DFS players like myself will have a bad taste in their mouth from Lowry's last game where he only scored 23 FD points across 38 minutes, so hopefully that will drive ownership down. I will list many of the same numbers that I have in previous articles, but the fact of the matter is, Kyle Lowry at $7000 with the current situation of the Heat is far too cheap, even with his most recent performance. That most recent game was his only game in his past five in which he failed to score 35 or more FD points. Averaging over 35 minutes per game as of late, Lowry's 1.05 FD points per minute average with Bam and Jimmy off the court is too much to pass on.

Best Value:

DeMarcus Cousins (C - $3700) -

On most slates, you are required to search for players to pay down for to get salary relief for your studs. On this slate, you need to look for players to pay up for to cover all your salary with the sheer amount of amazing cheap plays. Due to the insane number of players currently in the league's healthy and safety protocols, there are some serious minutes that need to be filled on almost every team on this slate, which means that some cheap players are going to step into massive roles. Most of these top plays have yet to be revealed as we don't have starting lineups yet, so I tried to cover all scenarios in my player pool. One player that should step into a massive role at a cheap cost is DeMarcus Cousins. With Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis both out tonight, one would assume that DeMarcus Cousins will draw the start. Although he is nowhere near the superstar he once was, Cousins can still fill up the stat sheet when provided an opportunity, and he should get just that tonight. At a price of $3700, it is virtually impossible for Cousins to not smash value if he starts. If you do play Cousins, you can't play the best spend up option on the slate, Nikola Jokic, but it may very well be worth it.

Main Player Pool:

Point Guard:

Jrue Holiday (PG/SG - $8200)

Kyle Lowry ($7000)

Devonte' Graham (PG/SG - $4900)

Other great plays: Steph Curry ($9900), Russell Westbrook ($9200), Dejounte Murray (PG/SG - $9000), Damian Lillard ($8700), Tyrese Haliburton (PG/SG - $7200 - if he plays), Tyus Jones ($5800), Gabe Vincent ($4900), George Hill ($3800)

Shooting Guard:

Buddy Hield (SG/SF - $5100)

Grayson Allen ($4000)

Damion Lee ($3600)

Other great plays: Desmond Bane ($6400), Dillon Brooks (SG/SF - $6200), Will Barton (SG/SF - $6000), Josh Hart (SG/SF - $5900), Pat Connaughton (SG/SF - $5800), Marcus Smart (SG/PG - $5700), Cody Martin (SG/PG - $5100 - if LaMelo is out), Duncan Robinson ($4600), Gary Harris (SG/SF - $4400), Wayne Ellington ($3900), Moses Moody ($3500)

Small Forward:

Khris Middleton (SF/SG - $7700)

Harrison Barnes (SF/PF - $5700)

Franz Wagner (SF/SG - $5700)

Other great plays: LeBron James (SF/PF - $11000), Jayson Tatum (SF/PF - $9600), Miles Bridges ($8400), Gordon Hayward (SF/SG - $7600), Jaylen Brown (SF/SG - $7200), Andrew Wiggins ($5900), Bojan Bogdanovic (SF/PF - $4800), Malik Beasley (SF/SG - $4600), Nassir Little ($4200)

Power Forward:

Wendell Carter (PF/C - $7000)

Jarred Vanderbilt ($5600)

Chuma Okeke ($3900)

Other great plays: Anthony Davis (PF/C - $10200), Jaren Jackson (PF/C - $6300), Aaron Gordon ($5600), Robert Williams (PF/C - $5300), Keldon Johnson (PF/SF - $5300), Jordan Nwora (PF/SF - $4300), Sandro Mamukelashvili (PF/C - $3500)

Center:

Nikola Jokic ($11600)

Jusuf Nurkic ($6500)

DeMarcus Cousins ($3700)

Other great plays: Karl-Anthony Towns ($9400), Jonas Valanciunas ($7800), Jakob Poeltl ($6800), Dewayne Dedmon ($6000), Tristan Thompson (C/PF - $4300), Robin Lopez ($4300)

Cover Picture Attribution: U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Thomas Spangler, DeMarcus Cousins with the Team USA in 2014, marked as public domain, more details on Wikimedia Commons