FanDuel Daily Fantasy Basketball Picks

As you recall, SBNation has partnered with FanDuel this season to give our readers a chance to see what is the latest breaking trend in the fantasy basketball industry, Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS).

Even though this is a sponsored post with affiliate links, all of the opinions in this post are my own. And as an FYI, FanDuel gave me some cash to play its daily fantasy games.

The excellent thing about daily fantasy sports, and especially fantasy basketball, is that it's a new game every day. No worries about injuries, deadbeat owners in your league, etc. It's just day after day of heart pounding, game following excitement.

I am taking you guys through a season of NBA games from the daily fantasy point of view, complete with tracking my every day wins and losses. When will I bust out and lose it all? Come back and find out!

What Happened Yesterday?

Better, but not rocking it yet. Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry, Derrick Favors and our own KYLE KORVER! deeeelivered, but the rest of the cast were just alright and it was nip and tuck to the money all night long.

As a reminder, here was our post from yesterday with the lineups. While we were close in all three contests, we crossed the money line once, but it was for $3 so we broke even for the night.

We're 1-6 in the money, and down $3 overall for a bankroll of $47. Going Broke Pace: Christmas.

Thursday's Lineup:

We didn't tilt last night and stuck to the program in our spending. Since we're still at the same bankroll as yesterday, we're going the same route, except this time we're doing one tournament game and two 50/50 games. Feel the chaos, America!

Here is my lineup for tonight for the tourney and one of the 50/50s:

PG: Ricky Rubio, Timberwolves vs. Pistons ($6,800)
PG: Russell Westbrook, Thunder @ Clippers ($10,000)
SG: Dion Waiters, Cavaliers vs. Knicks ($4,800)
SG: Alec Burks, Jazz @ Mavericks ($5,100)
SF: LeBron James, Cavaliers vs. Knicks ($10,400)
SF: Chandler Parsons, Mavericks vs. Jazz ($6,500)
PF: Derrick Favors, Jazz @ Mavericks ($6,000)
PF: Amare Stoudemire, Knicks @ Cavaliers ($5,500)
C: Anderson Varejao, Cavaliers @ Knicks ($4,800)

Your dang right I'm bringing in the King! Big homecoming, big spotlight, big numbers. I feel like I am still getting value at 10.4K. If he's anything like Anthony Davis was on Opening Night, and I believe he will be, it should be fun to have LeBron tonight.

Elsewhere, Rubio is a nice buy since he's the focal point of the offensive action for Minnesota against the Pistons. Burks and Favors get a second call after being solid against the Rockets yesterday and still at good prices. Liking Varejao and Waiters to soak up some stats in LeBron's wake and Stoudemire isn't a favorite here, but his salary fit and he looked good the last 20 games last season and in the opener, even if he is a 25-30 minute guy right now.

Here's my other lineup I'm using in the other 50/50 game:

PG: Chris Paul, Clippers vs. Thunder ($9,600)
PG: Russell Westbrook, Thunder @ Clippers ($10,000)
SG: Dion Waiters, Cavaliers vs. Knicks ($4,800)
SG: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Pistons @ Timberwolves ($3,800)
SF: Tobias Harris, Magic vs. Wizards ($6,500)
SF: Chandler Parsons, Mavericks vs. Jazz ($6,500)
PF: Derrick Favors, Jazz @ Mavericks ($6,000)
PF: Serge Ibaka, Thunder @ Clippers ($7,900)
C: Anderson Varejao, Cavaliers @ Knicks ($4,800)

I wanted a lineup with Paul and Russell Westbrook, who is going to be putting big fantasy points on the board every night with Durant out. Bulldog fans can relish me starting Caldwell-Pope in the same lineup with Gator favorite Chandler Parsons. Two men enter, one man leaves! They both better score. Not having LeBron in the lineup allowed me to go with undervalued Tobias Harris and upgrade the Amare spot with Serge Ibaka, who should see a lot of action in the lane against the Clippers tonight.

As always, I am very interested in hearing from others in the comments area about what they are doing in DFS and if you have any questions, feel free to chime in!

Jason Walker is the Managing Editor for Peachtree Hoops and is an avid fantasy sports player in both seasonal and daily sports leagues. You can read other fantasy related items at his site dedicated to such things, RotoAdvice.comand hit him up on Twitter @JasonWalkerRoto.

How to Play and The Rules of Engagement:

The way that FanDuel works is as follows:

1. Head over to FanDuel today, register and check out the NBA games they have running.

For example: One of the NBA games they have for pay is a $5 entry, 100 first place tourney.

2. Once you enter, you set a lineup based on a salary cap of $60K and enter 2 PG, 2 SG, 2 SF, 2 PF and a Center (yes, Horford is considered a center).

3. Once your cap-friendly lineup is complete, click Enter and BOOM!, the fun begins!

Now, a bit of bad news. Here are specific rules. They include this: "In order to deposit money to play paid entry games you must be able to represent and warrant that you are not a resident of any of the following states: Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana or Washington."

But there are still free games on the site, in which you can take part if you are from those states, and I know most of our readers don't fall into this category, but if you do, you can still have some fun!