Daily Fantasy DraftKings and FanDuel NBA Picks - Tuesday, October 21, 2024 - Opening Night

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Point Guard/ Shooting Guard

Jrue Holiday
FD - $6400 DK - $5800
Opponent - NY
Proj Pts FD - 31.14 DK - 31.87

Derrick White
FD - $6900 DK - $6300
Opponent - NY
Proj Pts FD - 34.46 DK - 34.58

The Boston Celtics are coming off winning the championship, and without Kristaps Porzingis to start the season, much of the offense should center around the two guards and the two wings. All four are in play in this two-game slate, especially considering they have the highest implied total (223) at -5.5 favorites against the visiting Knicks.

Derrick White had the best season of his career, spiking the three-point percentage to 39% while averaging a 15/5/4 line, all effectively career-highs. He’s simply too cheap on both sites, even in the $6K range.

Meanwhile, Jrue Holiday saw the rate stats dip coming from Milwaukee to Boston, going down to 12.5 points and 4.8 assists, both lows compared to his Bucks tenure. But the efficiency was there, shooting 43% from beyond the arc while averaging 1.7 blocks + steals on the defensive end.

I like stacking both of these Celtics guards and think in this first game there will be plenty of minutes out of the gate.

D'Angelo Russell
FD - $6500 DK - $6200
Opponent - MIN
Proj Pts FD - 34.72 DK - 36.05

Austin Reaves
FD - $6300 DK - $6000
Opponent - MIN
Proj Pts FD - 31.74 DK - 32.85

The Lakers look remarkably similar to last season in terms of their starting lineup, without too much in the way of upgrades in the backcourt specifically. While LeBron James remains the de facto point guard on this team, there should be plenty of minutes for both D'Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves here.

Sure, there’s Gabe Vincent hanging around on the bench, but the starters should see minutes in the 30s+ in J.J. Redick’s team.

Small Forward

Jayson Tatum
FD - $9600 DK - $9000
Opponent - NY
Proj Pts FD - 46.48 DK - 47.97

It’s tough to get away from a Celtics stack on Tuesday in cash, mostly because the team’s production is just so concentrated to the top four guys. Without Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford and the rest of the bench just aren’t candidates to steal of ton of usage or really anything else, from this core group.

Tatum might not be the flashiest guy, but he’s among the steadiest there is in the league. He’s coming off a season averaging a 27/8/5 line on 47/38/82 shooting. He has a very high minutes floor, and short of a blowout, which isn’t all that likely, he projects to see as much run as anyone on the slate. The DraftKings price doesn’t make this all that difficult, and it’s unclear just how good the Knicks defense will be playing KAT at the five and without a deep bench.

Jaylen Brown
FD - $8100 DK - $8200
Opponent - NY
Proj Pts FD - 39.84 DK - 40.7

It’s a lot easier to pull off the Celtics four-man stack on FanDuel, which I think is the play in cash games. It’s a little bit tougher on DraftKings, though fitting three of them into lineups is easy enough. Jaylen Brown is a bit scoring-dependent when it comes to hitting these prices, but like Tatum, his minutes' floor in this matchup should be plenty high enough.

Donte DiVincenzo (FD $5800 DK $5100) is an interesting consideration coming off the bench. He took 17 shots off the bench in the final preseason game against the Bulls. That’s a bit of an outlier, but his role as sixth man should be a big one.

Power Forward/ Center

Julius Randle
FD - $7700 DK - $8000
Opponent - LAL
Proj Pts FD - 37.32 DK - 39.76

Naz Reid
FD - $5000 DK - $4900
Opponent - LAL
Proj Pts FD - 23.93 DK - 24.36

The Timberwolves went to the conference Finals last season, and yet, they look a lot different going into this season. Karl Anthony-Towns is gone with Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo coming in the door. Randle will start at the four, and should be the secondary scoring option after Anthony Edwards in this offense.

In his lone preseason game, Randle took 12 shots in 26 minutes, scoring 15 points and adding six rebounds. On FanDuel, where we need to roster two power forwards, he should have a higher floor at the sub-$8K price tag.

And while Naz Reid is likely still coming off the bench here, the minutes floor should stick in the mid-20s and he’s coming cheap enough on both sites that I am not all that concerned with the production on a smaller slate.

The Timberwolves could mix and match their frontcourt depending on the matchup, with Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle, and Naz Reid all in the mix.

Rui Hachimura
FD - $4200 DK - $5000
Opponent - MIN
Proj Pts FD - 24.97 DK - 25.36

If looking for some cheaper salary relief from a guy who should see minutes, Rui Hachimura can help there on FanDuel especially. He isn’t likely to blow the doors off here, but he is starting and should