Wednesday marks the middle of the work week with an eight-game featured slate beginning at 7 p.m. ET p.m. ET on DraftKings and FanDuel. There are several options in the player pool worth analyzing to find the top NBA DFS building blocks and NBA DFS picks, including some intriguing playing time situations that provide steady value options. Let’s dig into the NBA DFS picks and core plays like Terry Rozier and Miles Bridges along with the key Kings and some solid fantasy-point-per-dollar options from the Pacers, Wizards, Spurs and Pistons.
NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today: Wednesday, January 10
Terry Rozier: Charlotte Hornets vs. Sacramento Kings
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 48.07 | FanDuel: 46.4
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings: 30.3% | FanDuel: 27.6%
- DFS Salary: DraftKings: $8,500 | FanDuel: $9,000
Tonight Terry Rozier rates out with the sixth-best median fantasy point projection for the featured slate on both DraftKings and FanDuel. On the former site, he is also tied with the best fantasy-point-per-dollar ratio and he is a strong seventh on the blue site. Rozier has been on a heater with a pair of 50-fantasy-point outings and one topping 60 in his last four games. He has been dialed in from downtown, averaging 10.8 3-point attempts with a 44.2% success rate in this timeframe.
LaMelo Ball may return this week, but for now he is still sidelined as are Mark Williams, Gordon Hayward and Frankie Ntilikina. PJ Washington is doubtful with a shoulder injury and likely to miss a fifth consecutive game, while Cody Martin (groin) is questionable.
Miles Bridges is averaging in the mid-40-fantasy-point range over the last eight games, and this is a matchup well-suited for his skillset. If he stays in the starting lineup, Martin should be considered in line to get 32-34 minutes, but there is an enhanced risk of him aggravating his groin injury.
This is a back-to-back for Sacramento, which managed to overcome a 47-point first quarter in Detroit last night, by allowing just 45 total points in the second half. Domantas Sabonis played 38 minutes, locking up a triple-double with 37 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists, along with a trio of steals. De’Aaron Fox played 33 minutes and Keegan Murray played 35, with each having strong fantasy performances.
The Kings also allowed 130 points at home to the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday and their defense has been suspect. That bodes well for both the Hornets keeping the game closer as 7.5 home-dogs, while likely pushing the key contributors from both teams into fantasy relevant performances.
San Antonio Spurs at Detroit Pistons
This is a matchup between the two most futile franchises in the league, with the Spurs posting only five wins this season and, of course, the Pistons collecting just three. One of these teams will get one tonight, and with Detroit 3.0 underdogs at home and without Cade Cunningham, well, we will just have to see who wants it more.
San Antonio is 2-28 in the last 30 games, while currently on a five-game slide. The Spurs last played on Sunday and play again on Friday when they host the Charlotte Hornets and then Saturday when the Chicago Bulls are in town. The expectation is that everyone should be available tonight. While the team has indicated they will be taking it easy with rookie Victor Wembanyama, he had 50 fantasy points in Cleveland and also against the Bucks last Thursday on TNT. Even though he is unlikely to play much more than 25 minutes, he can still post a relevant fantasy score in this matchup.
Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell and Tre Jones also rate out as secondary tournament targets. Killian Hayes, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Jalen Duren each played just over 31 minutes, so they should be in line for a similar workload tonight. Detroit has been rolling out a deep rotation, so even with Isaiah Stewart missing his seventh game and Cunningham his second, it is really a three-man pool for DFS purposes, unless someone else is ruled out.
Indiana Pacers vs. Washington Wizards
T.J. McConnell saw a pre-emptive salary increase on both DraftKings ($6,700) and FanDuel ($7,000), which is good to see as it makes him a decision point, instead of an automatic lock. We have seen the Pacers struggle without Tyrese Haliburton, though tonight they are going against the hapless Wizards, who are 7.5-point road dogs.
Andrew Nembhard has been dealing with a sore back that held him out for nearly a week, with him playing just 12 minutes off the bench on Monday. He projects well, but we need to get more information about his potential role, in order to properly assess his risk/reward potential. Benedict Mathurin does a little bit of everything, but it is his scoring that unlocks his fantasy upside, and this is a good matchup, with a major offensive void that needs to be filled tonight.
Myles Turner, Jalen Smith, Bruce Brown Jr. and Aaron Nesmith are fine to sprinkle in across tournament lineups, but that is more about gaining some differentiated exposure to this matchup boasting a slate-high 252.5-point total.
Landry Shamet (personal) is out tonight, so his 15 or so minutes will be dispersed across the back of the rotation. Kyle Kuzma and Deni Avdija are the key Wizards to target, with point guard Tyus Jones joining them on DraftKings.
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Additional NBA Building Blocks Pick — Sports Betting Opportunities
Scottie Barnes is having a career season; however, the acquisition that brought Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett over from the Knicks in exchange for O.G. Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa has reshaped some of the Toronto offensive responsibilities. That means we should be interested in the under on his 5.5 assists prop, which is currently available at -115. Per the true odds of -135 (how OddsShopper measures the potential expected ROI of a given wager), this opportunity has a nice 6% expected ROI as a function of the inefficient line.
It is crucial to take advantage of OddsShopper to look at all the available lines since that can easily be worth another 2% to 3% for your ROI, even on perfectly neutral bets, based on how the different books value things. To demonstrate this very concept, look below — you can see that several books are offering this bet between-115 and -129, with the sharp book of Pinnacle hanging a -157 line, which is like a slap in the face.
NBA Bet Pro has Barnes projected for 34.7 minutes and 5.22 assists. In the seven games, the 22-year-old averaged 35.6 minutes and 5.0 assists, dishing out six or more dimes in three (42.8%) of the games. Two of those efforts have come in the last four games, since Quickley has joined the team, though in those two outings, Barnes logged 39.8 minutes and then last night he did it, but he played 40.2 minutes.
The two-for-one deal bringing in a point guard and a capable facilitator, while sending out an average assist player in Anunoby will have a measurable impact on Barnes’ assist rate but should help his scoring efficiency and improve the overall offense for Toronto.
Rooting for unders may not be as fun as rooting for overs, but that is where the line value is more often than not when it comes to player props, as the sportsbooks look to use psychology against casual bettors.
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Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today
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