This article is part of our Yahoo DFS Basketball series.
The NBA has eight games on tap for Friday night, several of which shape up to be fantasy friendly. The Magic and the Hornets both have underwhelming defenses and hot point guards, which is the same story for the Pacers at the Bucks, just replace "point guards" with "do-everything-freakish-small-forwards." Meanwhile, the Warriors have struggled a bit to transition back to life without Kevin Durant and they now face a Karl-Anthony Towns-led Timberwolves team that has been scrappy of late. The Mavericks and Wizards get cracks at two of the worst defenses in the NBA in the Nets and Kings, respectively, which could bode well for their production as well.
GUARDS
Elfrid Payton, ORL at CHA ($18): Payton is a high variance player, alternating between high impact games and disappearing entirely. In his last 10 games, his low game was 8.4 fantasy points and his high was 65.8. However, that 65.8 was his last outing, and he is working on two straight triple-doubles, while two weeks ago he had 15 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. On Friday, Payton faces a Hornets defense that has allowed the 14th-most fantasy points to point guards.
Bradley Beal, WAS at SAC ($34): Beal has scored at least 19 points in 13 straight games, averaging 27.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game over that stretch. His output has been relatively low variance, but consistently positive with occasional explosions. On Friday, he faces a Kings defense that has allowed the third-most fantasy points to shooting guards this season.
Guard to Avoid
Lou Williams, HOU at CHI ($23): Williams can be an explosive player, and in his first games with the Rockets he showed that he can still put points on the board in a hurry. However, he is low on the Rockets' pecking order when it comes to shots, and in his last four games he has averaged only 7.8 points, 2.3 assists and 1.8 rebounds in 21 minutes. Next up is a solid Bulls perimeter defense that has allowed the 10th-fewest fantasy points to shooting guards this season. While Williams has the ability to pop for 28 points at any time, like he did five games ago, the odds are not good enough for his price.
FORWRDS
Khris Middleton, MIL vs IND ($22): Middleton seems to have re-found most of his level in the last five games since his last DNP due to injury, averaging 19.0 points, 5.2 assists, 4.0 rebounds, 2.2 treys and 1.6 steal in 30.8 minutes per game. On Friday, he faces a Pacers defense that has allowed the sixth-most fantasy points to small forwards over the last 10 games.
Wilson Chandler, DEN vs BOS ($25): Chandler always has strong scoring potential, averaging 19 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 2.1 3-pointers and 1.1 combined steals/blocks per game in his last eight. However, this week he has been particularly potent with Nikola Jokic sidelined due to illness, averaging 28.5 points. 8.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 3.0 treys, 2.5 combined steals/blocks per game in those two contests. Jokic was unable to practice Thursday, and is listed as questionable for Friday. If he sits again, Chandler would have a good matchup against a Celtics defense allowing the ninth-most fantasy points to power forwards over the last 10 games.
Forward to Avoid
Andrew Wiggins, MIN vs GS ($36): Wiggins was difficult to put into this space, as it wasn't all that long ago that he was averaging more than 30 points per game over multiple weeks. However, in the last nine days he faced the top-ranked defense against small forwards (the Jazz) and the two-time defensive player of the year (Kawhi Leonard) in back-to-back games, which seemed to carry over into a third straight down performance against the Clippers. On Friday, he faces a Warriors team against whom he has averaged only 27.3 fantasy points per game this season, and that has allowed the sixth-fewest fantasy points to small forwards over the last five games.
CENTERS
Karl-Anthony Towns, MIN vs GS ($49): Towns has scored at least 20 points in 18 straight games, averaging 28.2 points, 13.2 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.9 combined steals/blocks per game over that stretch. On Friday, he faces a Warriors defense that he torched for 25 points and 18 rebounds in December.
Dirk Nowitzki, DAL vs BKN ($20): Nowitzki made NBA history in his last outing, becoming only the sixth player to score at least 30,000 career points. He's still playing at a high level, averaging 16.6 points, 8.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.6 treys and 1.5 combined steals/blocks per game over his last 12 games, and he now faces a Nets defense that has allowed the second-most fantasy points to power forwards this season.
Center to Avoid
Al Horford, BOS at DEN ($23): Horford is averaging 32.6 fantasy points per game this season, but he has only reached that mark once in his last 12 games. He is also only a game removed from having missed two contests with an elbow injury. Horford actually has a good matchup Friday against a Nuggets defense allowing the ninth-most fantasy points to centers in their last 10 games, but Horford hasn't shown the ability of late to really take advantage.
