Friday night NBA action features a big 11-game slate. Point guards are dominating the headlines with Russell Westbrook and Rajon Rondo leading the way in the consensus picks tonight. Westbrook will cost you some serious coin from your budget, but we all saw what he did when Kevin Durant missed time last season.
The numbers in the parenthesis are the number of experts that picked that player to give you more context as to the gaps between players and the tiers. Here are the Industry Consensus picks for tonight…
Highly Touted
- Russell Westbrook (9) – Top stud play tonight with no Kevin Durant, it’s all Westbrook
- Rajon Rondo (8) – Coming off a triple-double, Rondo is up to his old tricks in Sacramento this season
Recommended
- Marcus Thornton (6) – Continues to play big minutes for the Rockets still a reasonable price
- Paul George (6) – Looking even better than before his injury last season
- Nemanja Bjelica (6) – Getting about 30 minutes a night and has a pretty cheap price tag
- James Harden (6) – Capable of a 40+ point night at any time
- Derrick Favors (6) – Coming off his best game of the season
- DeMarcus Cousins (5) – Looking like his dominant self again after missing some games with injury
- Ryan Anderson (5) – More minutes and usage assuming Anthony Davis is out again
- LeBron James (5) – James usually puts on a show in the Big Apple
Suggested
- Emmanuel Mudiay (4) – Does a little bit of everything and still reasonably priced
- Eric Gordon (4) – Consistent and inexpensive option
- Paul Millsap (4) – Can fill up a box score every night
- Ish Smith (4) – Averaging 17.5 points and 11 assists over last two games
- Trevor Ariza (3) – Solid option at a tough position to fill most nights
- Karl-Anthony Towns (3) – Has had 4 straight double-doubles
- Kyle Lowry (3) – Solid all-around PG if you don’t want to break the bank for Westbrook
- Dwight Howard (3) – Could put up Cousins production without the cost
- Wesley Matthews (3) – Had season-high 25 points in his last game
- Joe Johnson (3) – Has been hit and miss this season
- Alec Burks (3) – No Rodney Hood tonight should give Burks minutes and usage a bump
- Serge Ibaka (3) – Could also benefit with Durant out
- Zaza Pachulia (3) – Cheap big man averaging almost a double-double
