Basketball is the most consistent sport for daily fantasy purposes.
A top slugger in baseball will have his fair share of 0-for-4 days, and an elite fantasy football player is at risk of having games where his team's offense is shut down.
A high-salaried NBA stud is generally going to get his, though. With so many possessions in a game providing opportunities to produce, top fantasy basketball options will post high scores just about every night.
While this consistency puts us in an excellent position to identify top plays, it also means you can't afford to miss when you're paying up for someone. Even with strong value plays in your lineup, paying up and getting a dud will likely leave your lineup drawing pretty close to dead.
Which top players should be the focal points of your lineups today?
Giannis Antetokounmpo, PF/SF, Bucks ($11,800)
I'm not sure how long Giannis Antetokounmpo will get to play tonight, but he should dominate the minutes he's on the floor in Utah.
Despite some of the Jazz injuries, the spread is just 9.0 points, and there are reasons to believe Utah can cover that mark. If that's the case, Giannis is the no-doubt top option on this slate as he's a picture-perfect matchup for someone to destroy the Jazz.
Utah allows the fifth-most paint points and third-most second-chance points per game, which is a disastrous combo when meeting the lengthy paint bully.
Plus, Khris Middleton will rest for the Milwaukee Bucks in this one. With Middleton off the floor, Giannis averages 60.1 FanDuel points per 36 minutes on a hearty 38.5% usage rate.
It should be "The Greek Freak Show" in Salt Lake tonight for as long as the episode runs.
Damian Lillard, PG, Blazers ($10,300)
Damian Lillard is another guy who will have to do some extra heavy lifting on Friday.
The Trail Blazers will host the Chicago Bulls, but Portland hardly resembles themselves. Per the official injury report, Jerami Grant (quad) and Anfernee Simons (foot) are already ruled out, and Jusuf Nurkic (knee) is a question mark.
As you'd expect, Lillard's role becomes pretty beefy with those players off the floor -- he averages 65.9 FanDuel points per 36 minutes on an absurd 43.5% usage rate. Both of those lead the slate for a player in their current relative floor condition.
This game should be good for DFS with DeMar DeRozan (quad) also a massive question mark from the Bulls' side. A mini-stack of Lillard with Zach LaVine or Nikola Vucevic is wrapping a lot of potential points into a pair of salaries that are fairly manageable.
Kristaps Porzingis, PF/C, Wizards ($8,900)
Just about everything went wrong for Kristaps Porzingis on Wednesday.
Porzingis battled first-half foul trouble, and the Wizards trailed the opposing Nuggets by more than 20 points in the fourth quarter. All in all, K.P. was limited to 22 minutes as a popular option on FanDuel.
He's perhaps the best option on the entire slate today, and we shouldn't have too many concerns. Foul trouble can be a bit random, and the visiting San Antonio Spurs have the worst record in the Western Conference. That's quite a bit different than facing the conference-leading Nuggets.
Porzingis will still be without Bradley Beal (knee) and Kyle Kuzma (ankle) in this one, and the results have been explosive this year when he's been out there sans those two. He's averaged 54.0 FanDuel points per 36 minutes on a 35.0% usage rate in the split.
His production rate wasn't all too different on Wednesday; he just wasn't on the floor that much. With the lowly Spurs in town, Porzingis should do some damage on Friday.