Players to build around
Renee Miller -- Kevin Durant, SF, Golden State Warriors
On huge, star-studded slates like Friday night's, I try to zero in on all the attributes I look for in a building block: high-scoring game, abundance of talent and reasonable price. Tonight you could argue that a lot of players fit that description, but none more so than Durant for me. The Warriors will attempt to get revenge on the Lakers in a game Vegas put a total of 229.5 on; Durant is filling the stat sheet every night with a low-variance average of 50 fantasy points; and he comes in as the fifth- (DK) or sixth-most-expensive (FD) player. You'd have to build 10-15 lineups to get exposure to every star you want, but Durant is the high floor, high-ceiling place to start.
Jim McCormick -- Russell Westbrook, PG, Oklahoma City Thunder
Is he wildly expensive? Yep. But he's also amazingly productive, as Westbrook's season thus far is second to only Michael Jordan's 1988-89 season in FanDuel points per game, according to numberFire. With a ridiculous usage rate of more than 40 percent and an inviting matchup with a Denver backcourt that ranks last in defensive efficiency against point guards, we can afford to pay the premium for a player with a floor above 40 points and a ceiling into the 80s. It's a huge slate rife with value, so we can find the requisite savings at other positions while acquiring elite cost certainty with Westbrook.
Al Zeidenfeld -- Westbrook
The larger the slate the more opportunities we're going to have to find value options, which makes it much easier to stuff Westbrook's salary into our lineups. An extremely high-scoring game is expected here, and it should be close and competitive, which gives him a higher chance to reach his enormous ceiling. He's been absolutely on fire for the past nine games scoring a minimum of 54 DraftKings points and routinely getting 60-plus. I'll take Westbrook's output and let my opponents figure out where to cobble together the rest.
Players to fade
Renee Miller -- Anthony Davis, PF, New Orleans Pelicans
I'm a bit of a broken record on this one, but so far it's been an effective strategy to avoid paying up for Davis in road games. Tonight should be a real test of his minus-27-fantasy-point differential on the road because Portland is the league's worst rebounding team and best PF matchup. With multiple players such as Durant, Westbrook, LeBron James, Steph Curry, DeMarcus Cousins and James Harden having similar upside and less downside, Davis is once again the odd man out for my DFS lineups tonight.
Jim McCormick -- Jimmy Butler, SG, Chicago Bulls
I'm avoiding this roster in general given the potential for the Bulls to blow out my Sixers, as Joel Embiid is sitting out and the sizable spread and modest point total reflects this potential outcome. I'd rather take the savings with DeMar DeRozan or C.J. McCollum at shooting guard and instead pay the premium at point guard.
Al Zeidenfeld -- Hassan Whiteside, Center, Miami Heat
With the way roster construction looks tonight, there are just too many great guard and win options for me to pay up at center in cash games. The value at the position also steers me clear of wanting to spend at the position as well. There are a variety of other options at a lower price that could realistically meet or exceed value at the pivot and allow me to spend elsewhere.