The NBA season (and, thus NBA DFS season) gets underway in earnest Wednesday with an 11-game slate of games. Two of the biggest, Celtics vs. 76ers and Thunder vs. Jazz, feature big-name players on new teams. DraftKings has created single-game daily fantasy basketball Showdown contests for each of those games, and so we've put together lineups for each of them. The approach I've taken to both centered around one concept: Who's the cheapest player available with a decent chance of dropping 30 real points Wednesday? This led me to the starting small forwards for Boston and Utah, Jayson Tatum and Bojan Bogdanovic.
Paying down slightly in the captain's slot allows plenty of the studs to fill my two lineups. The biggest omissions are Ben Simmons and Chris Paul, but we were able to fit Joel Embiid, Kemba Walker and Tobias Harris in the first lineup and Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell and Danilo Gallinari in the second. A few value plays round them out and give us a good shot at big nights.
MORE NBA DFS: How to win daily fantasy basketball contests | Oct. 23 NBA Playbook (coming soon)
DraftKings Showdown NBA DFS Picks: Celtics vs. 76ers
CAPTAIN (1.5x points, 1.5x price): Jayson Tatum, Celtics ($12,300). I've touted Tatum to anyone who will listen since he entered the league, and it's time for him to take a leap after playing with Team USA in the offseason. There are a lot of mouths to feed for the Celtics, but Tatum may be the second-most important behind Kemba Walker at this point.
FLEX: Joel Embiid, 76ers ($11,200). Embiid is prone to the occasional game that feels like it wins you a DFS contest by itself. Boston's debated starting the likes of Daniel Theis and Robert Williams at center with Al Horford gone. I don't know about you, but that doesn't scare me one bit.
FLEX: Kemba Walker, Celtics ($9,800). Boston debut for Kemba sounds like an occasion he'll rise to. He's missed out on playing meaningful games in recent times, and we can look all the way back to UConn to see how he embraced the big stage. National TV against the Sixers to open the season counts as a big stage, so Kemba should get buckets.
FLEX: Tobias Harris, 76ers ($8,400). Harris can fill it up in a hurry from three, and once you get beyond the highest-priced options in this game, that's exactly what we want, as threes are the quickest way to a big DK points game.
FLEX: Carsen Edwards, Celtics ($4,200). We round out the lineup with two rookies making their NBA debuts, which is risky because we honestly don't know what their roles will be. But Edwards fits the microwave role, and he hit eight threes in a quarter of a preseason game just last week. If any of that heat is still alive, he'll return value.
FLEX: Matisse Thybulle, 76ers ($4,000). Thybulle turned heads all preseason and might have All-Defensive Team in his future. For his first NBA game, we'll just take 20 solid minutes with some finishing at the rim and some defensive stats to pad his DK total.
DraftKings Showdown NBA DFS Lineup: Thunder vs. Jazz
CAPTAIN (1.5x points, 1.5x price): Bojan Bogdanovic, Jazz ($7,200). Taking a guy debuting with a new team is always risky, and Bogdanovic didn't have a shining preseason. Hopefully that all lowers his ownership, and we can get a 25-point game out of the perfect wing option to pair with Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley.
FLEX: Rudy Gobert, Jazz ($10,600). Gobert isn't quite Embiid, but expecting 20 and 10 isn't unreasonable for the big Frenchman.
FLEX: Donovan Mitchell, Jazz ($10,000). Mitchell is this game's Kemba, and he should also come out flying after playing for Team USA in the offseason. With Thunder ace wing defender Andre Roberson missing out on this game, there shouldn't be anyone who can really slow Mitchell.
FLEX: Danilo Gallinari, Thunder ($9,200). Gallinari will be guarded by the likes of Bogdanovic and Joe Ingles in this one, so it won't be defense that stops him from having a good night in his OKC debut. It's the healthiest Gallinari will be all season, so let's get him while he's intact.
FLEX: Joe Ingles, Jazz ($7,400). Ingles will probably come off the bench for Utah, but he might be a part of its closing lineup and should see about 30 minutes. A well-rounded statline provides him a good floor, and his ability to occasionally get red hot from three provides some ceiling.
FLEX: Terrance Ferguson, Thunder ($1,800). With Roberson out, I'm not sure why Ferguson is this cheap. He may not start, but he should walk into at least 20 minutes in an off-ball, be-an-athlete role. He doesn't have to produce much to make using him at this price the right call.
DraftKings NBA DFS Picks for Wednesday, Oct. 23
If you're more of a large slate kind of person, here's how I'd construct a lineup on the 11-game main slate on DraftKings.
PG Darius Garland, Cavaliers @ Magic ($4,400). Garland should be handed the keys right away by John Beilein, and his early inefficiency won't hurt his overall volume to compile DK points.
SG Kendrick Nunn, Heat vs. Grizzlies ($3,200). He just dropped 40 in the preseason and Dion Waiters is suspended, so Nunn should get game one minutes.
SF T.J. Warren, Pacers vs. Pistons ($5,400). A new-look Pacers team will need scoring with Victor Oladipo out, and if there's one thing Warren can do, it's score.
PF Bam Adebayo, Heat vs. Grizzlies ($7,000). The Grizzlies should play fast with Ja Morant, but maybe not well, so the pace in this game could lead to a big double-double for Bam.
C Thomas Bryant, Wizards @ Mavericks ($6,600). The Wizards are bad this year, but that means plenty of shots for Bryant, who continues to improve his three-point stroke.
G Luka Doncic, Mavericks vs. Wizards ($9,400). Doncic should take advantage of a bad Washington team and flirt with an opening night triple-double.
F Will Barton, Nuggets @ Trail Blazers ($4,300). Expect a fast-paced game where Portland's lack of perimeter defense is exposed by the microwave scoring of Barton.
UTIL Nikola Jokic, Nuggets @ Trail Blazers ($9,600). Liking the Nuggets tonight means I've gotta like Jokic, who has no one near good enough to handle him from Portland.