Underdog Fantasy has become wildly popular due to their massive Best Ball contests as well as their Pick ‘em games, but their daily snake drafts are another incredibly fun option for fantasy drafters. Their NBA drafts (or Battle Royale as they call it format) are incredibly simple, and they give you a shot at 4 or 5 figure winnings every single day.
All you have to do is draft 6 players from the games taking place that night in the NBA in a traditional snake draft against 5 other users. No positional requirements. No salary cap. Your team of 6 players competes against every other team of 6 drafted that day in that tournament for your share of the prize pool, which typically pays out approximately 20% of the field with 20-25% going to first place.
Underdog offers a variety of options each day with single entry, double entry and multi entry contests available. Their player scoring is also incredibly simple:
Below are the additional details and rules provided by Underdog for their general Battle Royale contests, as well as their Daily NBA specific contests:
Let’s dive into the strategy for today’s contests. Much of the strategy for today is driven by the incredible Daily NBA Projections from the RotoGrinders team. If you’d like to subscribe to the full set of projections for every player and team, head to RotoGrinders NBA Premium , which includes fantasy point projections and daily fantasy ownership projections for sites like DraftKings, Fanduel, and Yahoo, as well as LineupHQ Optimizer access and much, much more.
Underdog Fantasy Daily NBA Battle Royale Contest Strategy for March 9th, 2022
Top Options
The top end of slates like this are just absolutely loaded right now. We know what we have with the likes of Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmp and Luka Doncic every night, and the emergence of Dejounte Murray and Shai Gligeous-Alexander into fantasy superstardom has given us a truly loaded top tier of options to choose from. Beyond them, Karl-Anthony Towns could rise if a couple teammates cannot go, and then things open up with the likes of DeMar Derozan, Jayson Tatum, and more in a second tier.
Undervalued and Overvalued Players
Kyle Kuzma – Kuz has been underrated nearly every night for months it feels like, and tonight is no exception. Kristaps Porzingis played his first game for the Wizards in their last outing, but it did not impact Kuz as he put up another monster fantasy line with 25+% usage. And yet he’s being valued like a late round pick in drafts when he’s really a top 20 option overall.
CJ McCollum – I personally suspect Brandon Ingram returns tonight, but even if he does CJ is undervalued. He’s too cheap even if Ingram is in the lineup given the role CJ has picked up on this Pels team, and if Ingram were to miss again, well, we’ll see a monster usage player that approached 60 fantasy points in 3 quarters last night square off against a lowly Magic squad.
Jrue Holiday – Jrue is one of, if not my favorite player in the NBA, so as much as it pains me, he’s overvalued here. With Giannis, Middleton and Portis in the starting lineup, they take away so much usage from Jrue that it’s difficult for him to flash a true ceiling, which is what we need in these tournaments. They even added Jordan Nwora to the starting lineup in their last game, who is more likely to siphon off a little bit of usage and rebounding than the typical 5th starter for the Bucks.
Injuries and Situations to Monitor
Devin Booker – Booker has missed the last few games in protocols, but he is questionable tonight. DeAndre Ayton has flashed big upside while taking on some more usage without CP3 and Booker, and Cam Payne has been a fantasy monster running the show.
Lebron James – Lebron is questionable after missing last game in another Lakers loss. Even without Anthony Davis and Lebron, Russell Westbrook couldn’t flash high end upside last game, so he’s still probably best to avoid. If Lebron does miss again, Malik Monk was actually the biggest benefactor last game.
Brandon Ingram – BI missed last night’s blowout loss to Memphis, and he’s questionable tonight. The Pels are pushing for every win right now, so I lean towards Ingram playing, but if he were to miss again CJ McCollum is a truly elite fantasy asset tonight against the Magic.
Anthony Edwards / DeAngelo Russell – Both guys missed last game and are questionable tonight. If they miss again, it turns Karl-Anthony Towns from a possibly overvalued top pick to an elite top pick given how much more he’ll have the ball in his hands without the two high usage guards.
Good luck!
