NBA daily fantasy picks: Five players who could help your lineup for Jan. 22
Friday greets the daily fantasy player with a nine-game NBA slate that features Steph Curry at the $11,000 threshold for his second straight game. Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant join him in the five-figure club, while Blake Griffin, who is getting very close to returning to the floor, will miss another game for the Clippers. One of those players north of $9,000 who always plays with a chip on his shoulder now has a boulder up there after recent developments this week. We’ll talk about him later, but understand that he’s the centerpiece of our lineup.
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PG: Isaiah Thomas ($8,400) vs. CHI: Point guard is, yet again, the deepest position on the board. Thomas is the fifth-most expensive player at the position behind Curry, Westbrook, Chris Paul and Kyle Lowry, but there are plenty of merits for slotting him into your lineup. He’s averaging just shy of 37 fantasy points per game in his last three and gets to matchup with a Chicago defense that has allowed the fourth-most fantasy points per game to point guards this season. Thomas, surprisingly, had his worst game of the last few weeks against Chicago, but he should bounce back nicely on Friday.
SG: Rodney Hood ($5,500) @ BKN: Hood has turned into the second-best scorer in Utah behind Gordon Hayward, making him a bargain at $5,500. He’s getting more minutes with Alec Burks (ankle) out, and his usage rate has increased thanks to Derrick Favors’s back injury. He had his best game of the season on Wednesday, scoring 29 points in Utah’s overtime loss to the Knicks. Utah remains in New York, where it’ll take on a Brooklyn defense that has allowed the eighth-most fantasy points per game to shooting guards.
SF: Chandler Parsons ($5,800) vs. OKC: Parsons, too, is coming off his best game of the season, scoring 30 points and pulling down eight rebounds in an overtime win over the Timberwolves on Wednesday. What’s most encouraging, however, is that Parsons minutes are finally where we’d expect them to be now that he’s fully healthy. Over his last six games, he’s averaging 35.2 minutes, and while the production has been spotty, the fact that he’s on the floor in earnest is great news. He missed Dallas’s game with Oklahoma City last week, but should take advantage of the great offensive environment on Friday.
PF: Draymond Green ($9,300) vs. IND: My favorite Draymond Green might be a “ticked-off-because-he-got-snubbed-by-the-fans” Draymond Green. He’ll certainly be headed to the All-Star Game, but he did everything to earn the starting spot that the fans denied him. Expect him to take out his frustration on the Pacers. The matchup may not be great, but that won’t deter Green. The only concern is a potential blowout, but there’s also a 218 over/under in Pacers-Warriors.
C: Rudy Gobert ($7,000) @ BKN: The last time Gobert played one of the friendliest defenses to centers, last Saturday against the Lakers, he put up 48.6 fantasy points. He draws a Brooklyn team on Friday that has surrendered the fourth-most fantasy points per game to centers. In his last three games, he’s averaging 14.3 points, 13.3 rebounds and 3 blocks per night. That almost feels like a floor against the Nets.
