Kevin Durant is averaging 50.8 FPPG over his last four games, including a pair of 56-point efforts last Thursday and Saturday.
‘Tis the season of giving, and even if your fantasy season hasn’t been merry or bright, there’s plenty of joy to be found in the 2024 NBA Christmas Day slate.
Gifts won’t just be under the tree Wednesday morning. Players will deliver something more to the doorsteps of NBA Fantasy Salary Game players.
For the highlight of Week 10, here are the top players to watch this Christmas Day:
San Antonio Spurs (15-13) vs. New York Knicks (18-10) at 12 p.m. ET
Spurs forward/center Victor Wembanyama, $16.9M
The first festivities of the day pit a pair of fantasy behemoths against each other. Karl-Anthony Towns and Wembanyama – eighth and ninth in total fantasy points (TFP), respectively – have wreaked havoc on opposing defenses all season, and they’ll be on full display in the day’s only cross-conference showdown.
But numbers are steadily trending upward for the reigning NBA Rookie of the Year. Wembanyama has improved his fantasy point output in each of his last five games, from 44.5 against the New Orleans Pelicans (5-25) to 71.9 against the Portland Trail Blazers (9-19). That latter effort featured a season-high 10 blocks, and he’s netted 25 points or more on all five of the aforementioned occasions.
Wembanyama’s 53.7 fantasy points per game (FPPG) rank as fifth-best in the league while he’s failed to crack 40 in just four of his 23 games played – one of the best bets in the salary game. And tasked with a Knicks team that sits No. 13 in defensive rating, the heat should turn up on an already-hot streak.
Minnesota Timberwolves (14-13) vs. Dallas Mavericks (18-10) at 2:30 p.m. ET
Timberwolves forward/center Julius Randle, $15.0M
Wednesday will mark one year since Luka Dončić’s holiday all-timer – an outing in which he put up 50 points for the third-highest total ever on Christmas Day. Considering that catapulted him into second place in points per game on Dec. 25 – with 36.3 across three games played – he would be the apparent fantasy player of choice here.
But the $19.0M-priced forward/guard will be coming off a heel injury if he does play, and there’s a cheaper, reliable alternative worthy of your attention. Randle, who has yet to miss a game this campaign while scoring 35 or more fantasy points 11 times over, averaged 28 points in his previous three Christmas outings.
History makes a convincing argument in his favor. Randle isn’t a game-breaker like Dončić or teammate Anthony Edwards, but he holds averages of 21.3 points, 10.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists in 25 career contests versus the Mavericks. He currently sits 40th in TFP with 922.2, and if he were to replicate that career average against Dallas, he’d have himself a fifth 40-plus fantasy point performance.
Philadelphia 76ers (9-17) vs. Boston Celtics (22-6) at 5 p.m. ET
Celtics forward/center Kristaps Porziņģis, $14.0M
“The Unicorn” is comfortably back in the swing of things after making his return to the court during Week 6. Porziņģis has played in five consecutive games – his longest stretch yet – while putting up 38 or more fantasy points on four of those occasions, now hitting his stride as a scorer-rebounder.
He’s popped up on the injury report with minor injuries more than once or twice in recent weeks but boasts a clean bill of health entering Week 10, and that will enable him to be the kind of difference-maker that reaps great fantasy rewards. The matchup is a favorable one – Porziņģis averaged 26 points and nine rebounds across two bouts with the 76ers last campaign, and Philadelphia ranks No. 14 in defensive rating this season.
We’ve yet to see a truly dominant Porziņģis performance in year two with Boston that breaks the 50-point fantasy threshold. But with a much more problematic 76ers squad than those of years past, we may very well get one this Christmas at TD Garden.
Los Angeles Lakers (16-12) vs. Golden State Warriors (15-12) at 8 p.m. ET
Warriors guard Stephen Curry, $15.9M
Titanic clashes between Curry and LeBron James may soon be treasured relics of the game. The two are soon to be ghosts of Christmases past as they near the end of their legendary careers, and it’s precisely because of this waning era that Wednesday’s matchup is all the more enticing.
James has been the better fantasy option wire-to-wire this season, ranking No. 13 in FPPG and No. 14 in TFP against Curry’s respective marks of No. 29 and No. 47. While both the Lakers and the Warriors have struggled to find consistency, the former is the beneficiary of three victories in a row entering Monday.
But look to Curry for a vintage performance on Christmas Day. He followed one of the worst games of his career – two points last Thursday on 0-for-7 shooting – with 51.6 fantasy points two days later, marking his highest output since Nov. 12. Going head-to-head with James has always brought out his best, and even at 36 years old, Curry already has 11 games to his name with 40 or more fantasy points this season.
Denver Nuggets (15-11) vs. Phoenix Suns (14-13) at 10:30 p.m. ET
Suns forward Kevin Durant, $16.0M
Nikola Jokić is a perpetual magnet for fantasy attention given that he’s both the FPPG and TFP league leader. And if the Nuggets were playing virtually any other team this holiday, he’d be the hands-down top fantasy candidate.
But Durant is playing his best basketball right now – a scalding stretch that demands you to invest in the “Slim Reaper.” The 18th-year forward is averaging 50.8 FPPG through his last four contests, bookended by a pair of 56-point showings last Thursday and Saturday. After registering one outing with 50-plus fantasy points in his first 13 games played, Durant has tallied three in his last four.
His NBA holiday legacy is already well-secured. Durant is fourth all-time in scoring on Dec. 25 with 315 points in 11 games. He trails just James, Kobe Bryant, and Oscar Robertson, and would need a Christmas Day-record 63 points Wednesday to surpass Robertson for third place. Regardless, a show-stopping performance from Durant may prove to be the perfect bow on a shiny slate.
