Fantasy basketball ADP battle: Giannis Antetokounmpo vs. Luka Doncic

It’s fantasy basketball draft season and us folks over at DraftKings Nation have plenty of content coming out to get you ready for your draft. If you know where you’re drafting in your league, knowing who to select with your first overall pick is crucial. The less you need to think about said decision the better, especially if your league doesn’t allow a ton of time to decide who to pick. If you’re drafting at the top in the first five picks, chances are you’ll have a shot at selecting either Giannis Antetokounmpo or Luka Doncic. We’re going to help you decide which player to select.

Fantasy basketball ADP battle: Giannis vs. Doncic

Starting off, both players are being selected within the first three picks of most ESPN and Yahoo standard drafts, according to FantasyPros. Doncic is the consensus No. 1 overall selection this season with Giannis coming in at No. 3 overall. So depending on who is drafting first overall — or if that ends up being you — there’s a good chance this decision will pop up if you’re in the top 5. So who should you select? Let’s take a look.

I’m very high on Doncic this season. Both players are going to be vying for MVP but I think it’s Doncic’s award to lose, ultimately. The big thing for me is how much better an overall fantasy asset Doncic is compared to Giannis. While The Greek Freak has massive games in which he scores 30, 40, even 50+ points, I think we’ll see more of that from Doncic early on. Really, the only thing separating the two is field goal percentage and rebounds. Giannis should win both of those categories. Doncic has Giannis beat in pretty much everything else, plus I think Luka has room for improvement from beyond the arc.

The Dallas Mavericks superstar said he’s been working on his shot this offseason. If he can shoot at around a 35 percent clip, which would be a slight improvement from 31.6 percent last season, that would seemingly increase his scoring output by a decent margin. It also helps that early on in the short season, Doncic will be the guy for Dallas with Kristaps Porzingis sidelined. I also think there’s reason to believe Jrue Holiday’s presence on the Bucks could take some scoring production and rebounds away from Antetokounmpo. It may not be a lot, but every inch will count in this debate.

If I’ve got the No. 1 overall pick, I’m going with Doncic. If both players drop to say the second or third pick, still rolling with Doncic. You can’t really go wrong with either player, but the potential for Doncic to average 30-10-10 this season and win MVP is just too enticing. Don’t think too hard, Luka is the pick.