The NBA has a solid handful of Saturday night basketball games with 10 teams taking the floor. The Timberwolves and Celtics won on Friday and will look to finish their back-to-back sets with another win on Saturday night as they take on the Cavs and Hawks, respectively. With 10 teams in the player pool, there are several strong plays to consider, and a few teams stand out as top DFS stacks for this Saturday, January 18.
Make sure to watch today’s injury report for the latest news as we approach tip-off since the Celtics and Timberwolves don’t have an injury report yet for their second game in a row, plus there are still some key players like Evan Mobley and Jalen Johnson who are questionable. With the information available going into the afternoon, these are my top three DFS stacks to target.
Set your DraftKings fantasy basketball lineups here: NBA $100K Fadeaway [$20K to 1st]
Golden State Warriors vs. Washington Wizards
The Wizards have been an exceptional matchup to stack against all season. No team in the NBA has given up more fantasy points per game to opposing point guards, power forwards or shooting guards, and they have also allowed the second-most fantasy points per game to opposing centers and the most points per game overall. This all sets up wonderfully for the Warriors who come back from their recent road trip to host Jordan Poole ($7,600) and the Wizards.
Core Plays: The clear place to start this stack is with Stephen Curry ($8,800) coming off back-to-back big games and over 40 fantasy points in four straight. Andrew Wiggins ($5,800) has also been very good in his two games since returning from a personal absence, scoring 20 and 24 points and posting 28.25 and 36.75 fantasy points. With Jonathan Kuminga (ankle) still sidelined, Wiggins needs to step up as the Warriors’ secondary scorer.
Value Options: On the recent trip, Buddy Hield ($4,700) was much more involved and had at least 17 points and at least 29 fantasy points in three of his four games. Dennis Schroder ($5,300) also seems to be settling into his new role and has 12+ points in four straight. With Kyle Anderson (hamstring) and Brandin Podziemski (abdomen) still out, there should be bench minutes available for Gary Payton II ($3,100), who just returned from a calf injury, and Gui Santos ($3,000), who actually started for Golden State on Wednesday in Minnesota.
Boston Celtics vs. Atlanta Hawks
The Celtics have the highest implied team total of the night and are in a great pace-up spot against the Hawks, who rank third in the NBA in points allowed per game and third in pace. After taking a tough loss on Wednesday, Boston bounced back with a solid showing Friday night against the Magic. Whether they can make it two in a row as they face a tougher matchup against the Hawks or not, they should have a good chance to put up points.
Core Plays: Jayson Tatum ($10,200) led the way against Orlando with 30 points and 51 fantasy points on Friday. He’s averaging 52.3 fantasy points per game on the season and 49.8 fantasy points against the Hawks in two meetings. Kristaps Porzingis ($7,100) started hot on Friday and finished with 23 points in 23 minutes and 33 fantasy points. Even though he hasn’t played in back-to-backs all season, he said he thinks he can play Saturday, and if he does, he’ll be a nice core option. Jaylen Brown ($7,900) and Derrick White ($6,300) seem a little over-priced based on their recent production but both do come with very good upside.
Value Options: Even if Porzingis plays, there should be some extra minutes for Luke Kornet ($3,400) and Neemias Queta ($3,000) since it sounds unlikely that Al Horford ($4,200) plays for the second night in a row. Since his salary has dropped below $5,000, I also love the value that Jrue Holiday ($4,800) can bring as part of a Celtics stack since he has posted at least 24 fantasy points in three straight and four of his last five. He also averaged 23.3 fantasy points in his two earlier matchups with Atlanta.
Philadelphia 76ers at Indiana Pacers
The Sixers will be without Joel Embiid (knee) for a while longer and also ruled out Caleb Martin (groin) while Paul George ($8,200; groin), Guerschon Yabusele ($5,400; knee) and Andre Drummond ($5,000; toe) are all questionable for Saturday night’s road game in Indiana. If any of them miss the contest, there will be even more value and usage available for the Sixers, and they could have enough players that make sense to build a solid stack.
Core Plays: Without Embiid and possibly George, Tyrese Maxey ($9,500) will continue to have to shoulder the load in the offense. He has at least 29 points and 46 fantasy points in five straight games and has posted a pair of double-doubles during that run of success. If George does play, he’ll have the added “revenge game” narrative against the Pacers, but if he sits, it will be Kelly Oubre Jr. ($5,800) who has to pick up more usage.
Value Options: It looks like Drummond is trending in the right direction after missing six games with a sprained toe. He may be on a minutes limit if he plays, so Yabusele still will be a good option if he gets through his injury. If both are out, Adem Bona ($3,000) could have to step up at center. Another player at barely more than the minimum salary who is an even better play is Justin Edwards ($3,300), who had 25 points and 41 fantasy points on Tuesday against the Thunder and followed that up with 10 points and 20 fantasy points the next night against the Knicks. While those numbers are encouraging, another huge factor that makes him a good fantasy play is that he logged 35 minutes in each of those contests.
