We have a good seven-game daily fantasy basketball main slate on Saturday night, beginning with the Clippers heading to The Garden to play the Knicks at 7 p.m. ET and ending with the Hawks playing the second game of a back-to-back against the Nuggets at 9 p.m. ET. Our FanDuel lineup has a good mix of veterans with favorable matchups and a couple of young players with high DFS ceilings.
Before we break down all of our selections, here are the most notable scoring rules for FanDuel contests: Made three-point shot (+1 point), rebound (+1.2 points), assists (+1.5 points), steals and blocks (+3 points), field goal made (+2 points) and free throw made (+1 point).
MORE NBA DFS: Saturday DraftKings lineup
Saturday night's FanDuel Picks: NBA DFS lineup for GPP tournaments
Saturday main late swap slate, $60,000 budget
PG Chris Paul, Suns @ Pistons ($8,100). Paul had an excellent game on Friday against the best team in the East (Celtics), as the Suns won 106-94. The future Hall of Fame point guard had 15 points, eight assists, and six rebounds for 40.2 FanDuel points. It was the fourth time in the past five games that Paul scored at least 40 or more FD points. He's also played well on the road since returning from injury, averaging 52.05 FanDuel points per game (two games). The 37-year-old Paul should not have another good outing tonight against the Pistons, who also just played last night against Charlotte. The Pistons are making things work with their new backcourt of Jaden Ivey and Alec Burks. However, Detroit is allowing the second-most FD points per game to PGs (51.79) this season and 54 FanDuel points per game over their last seven.
PG Josh Giddey, Thunder vs. Rockets ($7,800). Giddey gets an opportunity to play the Rockets again this week after scoring 44.6 FanDuel points (20 points, eight rebounds, eight assists) against them on Wednesday night. The second-year guard has played well this season and has been a great complement to first-time All-star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Giddey is averaging 16.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game. He's the perfect DFS player, as he does a little bit of everything on the floor. Giddey is averaging a ridiculous 61.6 FanDuel points per game over his past five games, which shows you how good he's been lately. Even if Jalen Green does play for Houston, we still like Giddey to have a monster performance and potentially have a triple-double.
SG Mikal Bridges, Suns @ Pistons ($7,500). Bridges is one of our favorite plays across all DFS platforms for tonight's slate, as he's been on fire lately. The former Villanova standout is averaging 23.1 points and 5.1 assists per game on 46.6 percent shooting from the field in his past 10 games. When it comes to DFS, he's been one of the league's best two guards, producing 37.2 FanDuel points per game over his past five games. We like him to stay hot against the Pistons, who allow the most FanDuel points per game (44.89) to SGs this season and the third-most points to the position.
SG Anfernee Simons, Trail Blazers @ Bulls ($6,300). Simons came through for us big time last night as the young kid could not miss from three-point range on Friday night against the Wizards. The 23-year-old had 33 points on 11-of-19 shooting from the field and 9-of-12 shooting from behind the arc. He has scored 30 or more FD points in six out of his past seven contests. Simons will look to carry his hot shooting into tonight's game against the Bulls. Chicago has done a solid job defending the three-point line lately, allowing teams to shoot 35.5 percent (12th-best in the NBA). However, the Bulls are giving up the fourth-most three-pointers made to SGs this season (3.46), making this a good matchup for Simons to capitalize on.
SF Paul George, Clippers @ Knicks ($8,300). The 32-year-old George did not play his best basketball on Thursday night against the Bucks, who held him to 16 points (6/16 FG, 2/5 3pt), six rebounds, and two assists. Even though he didn't shoot the ball well from the field, the All-Star forward still had 32.2 FanDuel points. The vet will try for a much better performance tonight against the Knicks. New York snapped their two-game losing streak on Thursday night with a win over Miami. This season, the Knicks only allow teams to shoot 45.4 percent from the field, which is good for third in the NBA. That's not great news for George, but the Knicks are also giving up the fifth-most FD points per game to SFs this season (42.76). If the veteran small forward can play his game and get into a rhythm offensively, he could have a huge performance.
SF Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Nuggets vs. Hawks ($5,200). The veteran wing has been one of the better three-point marksmen in the NBA this season, shooting 46.2 percent from behind the arc. Now he will get to play the Hawks, who are one of the better teams at defending the three-point arc at 34.7 percent. However, to his credit, Caldwell-Pope has shown that he does not need to depend on the three-point shot, as he's shooting 42.9 percent on two-point field goals over his past three games. He's also doing a solid job of grabbing boards and handing out assists, which has helped him produce 32.7 FanDuel points per game over that period.
PF Jabari Smith Jr., Rockets @ Thunder ($5,700). The rookie power forward played well against Toronto on Friday night, recording 14 points, eight rebounds, and three assists (25.1 FanDuel points) in 32 minutes. Smith Jr. will try to build off that performance heading into tonight's game against the Thunder. The rookie went up against Oklahoma City on Wednesday night, producing nine points and seven rebounds (17.4 FanDuel points) in 26 minutes. Smith Jr. could've scored more points against the Thunder's frontcourt if he didn't suffer a rib injury. The former Auburn standout might fly under the radar due to the other players at the position, but he has a favorable matchup to exploit.
PF Dario Saric, Suns @ Pistons ($5,100). If you are looking for a value play at the PF spot, look no further than Saric, who has given the Suns quality production over the past seven games. The former first-round pick had a double-double in Friday night's win over the Celtics, consisting of 14 points and 13 rebounds. Saric also had three assists, which helped him score 33.1 FanDuel points. The veteran power forward is averaging 23.2 FanDuel points per game over his past several games. With Cam Johnson likely playing against the Pistons, Saric's production might dip. However, at a $5,100 salary, there's more upside to having him in your lineup than other players at this price point.
C Ivica Zubac, Clippers @ Knicks ($5,800). To round our NBA DFS lineup for tonight's action, we will roll with Zubac, who recorded his second-straight double-double on Thursday night against Milwaukee. The vet had 12 points and 13 rebounds (31.1 FanDuel points) in 29 minutes. Zubac has posted 30 or more FanDuel points in three out of his past four contests. He will try to add another double-double to his resume against the Knicks, who gave up 32 points and nine rebounds to All-star center Bam Adebayo earlier this week. Please remember that this is not a great matchup for Zubac, as the Knicks allow the second-fewest FD points per game to centers (43.83). However, we aren't looking for Zubac to be the scorer like Adebayo was. We need him to clean the glass and score some baskets when the opportunity comes.
