This article is part of our FanDuel NBA series.
Sunday is a fairly light schedule in the NBA as the NFL gets most of the action. But there are still five games on tap, and there are a lot of really good, near top-caliber players that will play at high paces against average-to-below-average defenses. I'm expecting to see some big point totals Sunday.
Point Guard
Emmanuel Mudiay at OKC ($5500): If you take Mudiay's best performance in each category over his first two games and put it into one line you'd get 17 points, nine assists, five boards, two blocks, two steals and four turnovers. The point is, he is very capable of contributing game-changing numbers in every category. Sunday he will be facing a Thunder defense that has a poor 108.2 defensive rating (22nd in the NBA) and also plays at a high pace (101.3, eighth) which should allow him plenty of opportunities.
Russell Westbrook vs. DEN ($11,200): I really tried not to put Westbrook here because he's the highest priced player in the game and we like to look for diamonds in the rough. But with that said, Westbrook's two-game average of 60.3 FPt is so much higher than everyone else's (14 FPt higher than teammate Kevin Durant, who's the second highest priced player) that his gap over second place is larger than Durant's gap over 15th. In Westbrook's last five regular season games (including last season) he has scored 76.8, 58.7, 57.1, 49.4 and 71.2 FanDuel points. He might very well still be underpriced.
Shooting Guard
Giannis Antetokounmpo at TOR ($6,500): The Greek Freak made his season debut Friday with 27 points, nine rebounds, three steals and two assists, though he had six turnovers and six fouls in 34 minutes. He is only 20 years old in his third NBA season and seems to be inching closer to fulfilling his ridiculous potential. The Bucks have a lot of injuries to their wings (O.J. Mayo) and forwards (Jabari Parker) which opens up even more opportunity for Antetokounmpo to carry a larger load.
Small Forward
DeMarre Carroll vs. MIL ($6,300): Carroll has been very consistent in his first two games of his Raptors career, scoring 31.6 and 30.0 fantasy points, respectively. This is also the level that he established as the norm in Atlanta last year, further supporting that this is the player he is. Carroll is playing against a Bucks team that, through the first two games of the season, has by far the worst defensive rating in the NBA at 122.8 points allowed per 100 possessions. That bodes well for the skill players of the Raptors, including Carroll.
Danilo Gallinari at OKC ($6,600): If Carroll is the safer choice, then Gallinari is the upside play. While he only had 12.9 fantasy points in his last outing, he had 45.1 in the opener. On Sunday, Gallinari will be facing the same poor defense/fast-paced Thunder squad as Mudiay. The potential downside is that he will have to face Kevin Durant, so foul trouble could be an issue, but if Gallinari takes it like a gunslinger challenge, he has the tools to put up big numbers in a hurry.
Power Forward
Dirk Nowitzki at LAL ($6,300): Nowitzki is slightly risky because he is 37 years old and can be throttled down for rest at any time. However, in the first two games of the season he has been very consistent, with scores of 30.3 and 29.4 FPts, respectively, despite only averaging 23 minutes per game. Nowitzki will be facing a very poor Lakers defense (allowing 116.8 points per 100 possessions -- second worst in NBA -- and a pace of 105, which is third fastest) on the road, which means the game shouldn't be a blowout. Plus, Nowtizki played in the Staples Center in his last outing when he scored 16 points in 25 minutes against a much more formidable Clippers defense.
Center
Jonas Valanciunas vs. MIL ($6,100): The Bucks don't have a center with the size and defensive ability to slow Valanciunas if he attacks Sunday. The only question is whether we'll get the "good" Valanciunas that dropped 21 and 15 on the Pacers in the season opener or the other Valanciunas that only managed six points and 10 boards against the Celtics. I expect Valanciunas to overpower the Bucks' bigs and deliver a performance closer to the former than the latter.
