With football taking a one-day hiatus on Friday, the basketball gods bless us with a monster 11-game NBA slate on DraftKings. In NBA DFS tournaments, standing out from the competition is key to securing big wins. To gain an edge, it’s essential to mix in a few low-ownership, contrarian picks. With the help of Stokastic’s NBA DFS Sims, NBA DFS projections and NBA boom/bust probability data, let’s dive into the top NBA DFS contrarian strategy and picks for NBA DFS on Friday, Nov. 8.
NBA DFS Contrarian Picks & Ownership Strategy Today
The NBA Lineup Generator is a versatile, user-friendly tool designed to simplify building DFS lineups. Just select your DFS platform and slate, set your preferred ownership level (chalky, contrarian, balanced, or all), and lock in any specific players you want. With your settings in place, the Lineup Generator will produce high-ROI lineups and offer insights to help inform your choices.
Check out the screenshot to see an example of a slightly contrarian lineup we crafted for today’s DraftKings main slate — where we locked in Myles Turner. For more tips, be sure to read our NBA Lineup Generator guide.
PG/SF: Cody Martin (CHA) – $3,800
Despite being only a few weeks into the young season, injuries have already become rampant across the NBA. From Joel Embiid still waiting to make his season debut to Paolo Banchero tearing his oblique just five games in, the fantasy basketball landscape is much different than it was just a couple of weeks ago. Though Charlotte hasn’t had any catastrophic injuries to their roster like Orlando has with Banchero, Brandon Miller is just returning from a left glute injury, and Miles Bridges is now out two weeks due to a bone bruise in his right knee. With big men Mark Williams and Nick Richards already sidelined for the Hornets, veteran Taj Gibson is currently the most established player in Charlotte’s frontcourt. As the Hornets continue to shuffle their rotations, Cody Martin has remained a constant.
Despite his presumed increased role with Bridges out, Martin still isn’t getting the love he deserves on DraftKings. Though he’s projected to be in 18.08% of lineups, Martin appears in a whopping 43.0% of the top 300 lineups by ROI in Stokastic’s NBA DFS Sims, making him one of the most under-owned players on the slate.
PF Peyton Watson (DEN)- $4,600
On an 11-game slate with value players emerging as a result of injuries, it’s only natural that a bunch of players are falling through the cracks on DraftKings. It’s likely going to be another night where you’ll need massive scores to win tournaments, with stars and scrubs a common lineup construction. As such, players who aren’t projected as elite values are getting squeezed out, with newly minted Nuggets power forward Peyton Watson standing out in a big way from a leverage perspective.
Watson comes into tonight’s action averaging only 15.1 DraftKings points per game. Over the past two contests with Aaron Gordon on the sidelines, however, Watson has put up a combined 55.1 DraftKings points in matchups against the Thunder and Raptors. While Watson was certainly easier to play when he was $3,400 on DraftKings last game, his $4,600 price tag is still well deserved even if the field is too scared to play him. As of this writing, Watson shows up in 12.0% of top-300 lineups, and only 4.30% of lineups are expected to roster him.
C: Nikola Jokic (DEN) – $11,800
It’s always fun to be able to roster players like Nikola Jokic at low ownership, and the Nuggets big man is probably the top differentiator on tonight’s slate. Truth be told, it’s baffling to me that Jokic isn’t projected for more ownership. While I understand that there are a bunch of quality centers to choose from and that Jokic is the most expensive player on the slate, but he’s doing literally everything right now for the Nuggets with both Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon out. Jokic is coming off a monster 82.5 DraftKings point game on Wednesday, as he calmly put up 23 points, 20 rebounds, 16 assists, two blocks and two steals as the Nuggets handed the Thunder their first loss of the season. Though there’s opportunity cost in spending up on Jokic with value centers like Myles Turner and Goga Bitadze lurking, but good luck catching up to Jokic teams when he drops another 80 DraftKings points in a surprisingly good matchup against the Heat.
Due to Jokic’s increased price tag, he’s only projected to be optimal 26.84% of the time this slate plays out. With only 12.02% of lineups expected to roster Jokic, he’s still an elite tournament building block.
Want our DFS Sims for FREE? Sign up with one of our partners and unlock the best DFS tools! Here’s how:
- Pick a partner and register through our sign-up offer.
- Make a deposit and place a bet or build a pick’em entry.
- Screenshot your welcome email and your first settled play.
- Email the screenshots to [email protected] and let us know which Sims sport you want.
That’s it — you’ll get a free month of Core DFS!
