The positive thing about the utter insanity that has been the start of this NBA season is that no matter what happens we have our Underdog Fantasy NBA Battle Royale drafts to fall back on. It doesn’t matter who gets hurt, which teams are tanking, or which superstar is doing crazy stuff in the media because we have a new draft to do each day.
This article is where we will go over the most important factors for the big NBA Battle Royale slates, and the analysis is also applicable to Drafters Snake draft tournaments.
Before we dive in, don’t forget to check out our FREE Rankings for NBA Battle Royale and Snake draft tournaments every day. These rankings are where a lot of the analysis here gets derived from, and they’re based off both median and ceiling projections to put the most accurate rankings together for your chance to win these tournaments.
Let’s get it.
NBA Underdog Fantasy Battle Royale & Drafters Snake Draft Strategy for November 4th, 2022
Top Options
12 games.
That’s a lot of games.
Clearly, that means there’s a ton to sort through, but one thing is *mostly* straightforward, and that’s the fact that there is a clear top 3 here tonight. Between Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic and Kevin Durant, there is actually a bit of a significant drop off after the top 3.
KD jumps into that tier as Kyrie Irving has been suspended by the Nets, and Ben Simmons is out for at least two more games.
The next man up, for us, is Joel Embiid. The issue is that he’s questionable himself, but given the drop offer after the big 3, it is worth it to take shots on Embiid given that he’ll be playing without James Harden.
It gets extremely wide open after this, and even Embiid is iffy. The Lakers duo of Lebron James and Anthony Davis, Jayson Tatum, Paul George (without Kawhi Leonard), Pascal Siakam and Steph Curry all look great in a flat tier.
Beyond this (in my opinion) is where the slate really gets interesting. Getting the right combo of those top couple tiers will require a little good luck, but I think after that is where we can really hammer our edge given what we see in ADP on some todays.
Undervalued and Overvalued Players
Tyrese Maxey – Our poster boy is part of where that edge lies, as without James Harden he projects right after those top tiers for us, but his ADP is much lower. His usage will be sky high here, and it’s even possible he plays without Embiid where he might lead the league in usage in that scenario.
Jaylen Brown – With 12 games on the docket, the pre-loaded ADP on these sites like Underdog just miss too many changing situations (like Harden, Kyrie, etc), and you get these types of strong, consistent players often floating up way too high in ADP. It’s nothing against Jaylen, but given all the crazy situations boosting up other player’s value tonight, his ADP of 17 is multiple rounds too high.
Injuries and Situations to Monitor
The Cavs – Both Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland are questionable after playing 40+ minutes in an OT win on Wednesday. While we expect them to play here, it’s also possible they see some limited minutes (relative to their normal huge minutes) off that OT game.
Joel Embiid – If Embiid does in fact sit, it makes our *already* top pick of the day just an incredible value in Tyrese Maxey. But it would also open up some real upside for Tobias Harris, who makes sense to mix in late right now.
The Heat – Jimmy Butler is out, but Bam Adebayo is questionable. It’s frankly impossible to guess with the Heat, but all roads point to Tyler Herro in drafts right now. He’s a pretty big value for us even with assuming Bam plays, and if Bam misses Herro is a stone cold smash against a bad Pacers defense.
Brandon Ingram – BI is probable to play tonight, returning from a concussion. This is probably why we are lower than the market on everything Pelican, as it seems no one is accounting for the return of Ingram.
T’Wolves – Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert are both questionable. If they were to miss, Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell become excellent picks, and it sneakily gives a boost to the Bucks who would face a bad defensive team without Gobert.
Fred Van Vleet – FVV is questionable again, and if he were to return, it would put a dent in Scottie Barnes and slightly Pascal Siakam. However, the Raptors are a bit of a machine, and Fred has taken less of a ball handling role this year.
Gordon Hayward – Hayward is out, and Rozier is still doubtful, which makes an insanely thin Hornets team even more so. If feels gross to even type, but the likes of Dennis Smith Jr., Kelly Oubre, PJ Washington and Jalen McDaniels are good players to mix into your late round picks.
Good luck!
