Daily Fantasy NBA Basketball Picks for FanDuel and DraftKings - 11/15/18

Friends! We have a tiny little 3 game Thursday slate, so instead of making recommendations at specific positions we're going to dive into a little game by game breakdown instead. Enjoy!

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Golden State Warriors at the Houston Rockets

No line as of now
You can imagine that the NBA was pretty psyched about getting this game on a 3 game Thursday night, and you can also imagine their disappointment at the state of these two teams at the moment. The Warriors will be without Steph again, and the Rockets will be without the ability to play basketball well.

Draymond Green's return will mean the death of the back-up Warriors bigs' value, but Quinn Cook is still looking like a solid value to me. Durant and Klay are also still in play with Curry's shots spread around, and you could even think about a little Kevin Looney if you're strapped for cash.

On the Rockets side of the ball, you're mostly trying to ask yourself if this game can stay close. PJ Tucker has been playing 38-40 minutes with Melo out of the picture, and should have an excellent floor at a low price. James Harden also looks like a premium play, and you could do worse than Clint Capela at the center position.

Atlanta Hawks at the Denver Nuggets

Nuggets favored by 12 in a game with a 222.5 total
Is this slate a barrel of monkeys or what? Let's start with the Hawks - a team that struggles to contribute a single relevant DFS play a week. The one potential DFS bright spot here is the center position. Dedmon has already been ruled out, and as of this writing Alex Len is listed as questionable. Miles Plumlee has been solid on a per-minute basis, and if he draws the lion's share of minutes at the center position he's a dynamite play at the minimum salary.

Outside of Plumlee? WOOF! I'm not touching any of these guys outside of big tournaments. The minutes and play are both unstable, and they are 12 point dogs.

Let's talk Denver, though. Plenty to sink our teeth into here.

Juan Hernangomez FD - $3800 DK - $3800
Opponent - ATL
Proj Pts FD - 23.3 DK - 23.75
Monte Morris FD - $5200 DK - $4100
Opponent - ATL
Proj Pts FD - 26.17 DK - 25.8
Gonna start with the back-up boys. Hernangomez played 39 minutes (!) in the start against the Rockets, and it looks like he'll get another shot against the Hawks. He wasn't great, but the minutes just give him an absurd floor. Morris, meanwhile, keeps getting more and more minutes off the bench. He's probably already a good play against the Hawks' beleaguered back-court, and when you throw in the fact that he could play more minutes in a blow-out, he looks like a great play.

Elsewhere on the Nuggets you can probably also play Gary Harris, Paul Millsap, and Nikola Jokic, but the blowout risk is real for all of these guys.

San Antonio Spurs at the Los Angeles Clippers

The Clippers are favored by 5.5 in a game with a 219.5 total.
Oy, this game looks like it should provide a good amount of value given the relatively tight spread, but it isn't going to be that easy.

We'll start with the favorites - your Los Angeles Clippers. These guys are overpriced to a man on FanDuel, a site that seems absolutely determined to overprice players the moment they get a glimpse of playing time. On DraftKings, though, we have some value.

Gilgeous-Alexander, Harris, and Harrell are all great values over there even against the Spurs, who are playing a bottom 4 pace this season. It's a small slate, my dudes. This is what you get.

The Spurs present a slightly rosier picture. The Clippers are playing league average defense with a top 7 pace this season, and are one of the better match-ups on the slate for opposing offensive players.

You can easily play LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan on DraftKings, and both are plausible on FanDuel as well. I also like Bryn Forbes on either site, because the savings should really matter in trying to get real players today.

As always, we'll also keep an eye on the Spurs on a second half of a back to back - we could get some guys sitting out on rest for sure.

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