Basketball Picks Daily Fantasy Expert Advice
FanDuel NBA Picks and DraftKings NBA Picks - Sunday, 3/1/20
Welcome to a night of Sunday DFS NBA action! It's a modest four game slate that's honestly a little bit nuts, so let's get right to it.
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Point Guard
De'Aaron Fox FD - $7200 DK - $7700
Opponent - DET
Proj Pts FD - 41.96 DK - 42.16
Fox was a late scratch on Thursday, and a late add on Friday. Concerns about his abdomen issue appear to have been overblown, as he racked up 42.3 FanDuel points in 33 minutes of action against the Grizzlies. Well, his FanDuel price is still down from his injury, and point guard is pretty rough tonight. A great match-up with what's left of the Pistons is just the icing on the cake, and it's hard to imagine Fox not being in all my FanDuel lineups tonight.
Kyle Lowry FD - $7500 DK - $8100
Opponent - DEN
Proj Pts FD - 39.66 DK - 40.93
Point guard drops off very quickly after Fox, as far as our model is concerned. That said, if Fred VanVleet were to miss this one (he's currently questionable), Lowry would go from a solid play to a great one. With FVV and Ibaka out of the lineup against Charlotte, Lowry was 67% owned in cash and delivered 47.2 fantasy points. Taking VanVleet's ball handling off the court just leaves Lowry with almost all of the non-Siakam ball handling duties, and in those cases he's easily an $8k player. Even if the Raptors are healthy here, point guard is thin enough that Lowry should deliver a reasonably high floor in what Vegas sees as a five point game.
Shooting Guard
Bradley Beal FD - $9900 DK - $10400
Opponent - GS
Proj Pts FD - 50.75 DK - 52.34
Beal is just playing angry out there right now, and while the price has gone up some it probably still isn't fully adjusted for his absurd usage and time of possession right now. In his last five games Beal has averaged 29 shots a game - a 30% increase over his season averages - and he's paid his price handily in his last four. Tonight he gets the best match-up of that stretch against the Warriors, who have allowed the fifth most fantasy points per game to opposing shooting guards. I'm pumped to play Beal anywhere.
Norman Powell FD - $4800 DK - $5100
Opponent - DEN
Proj Pts FD - 30.6 DK - 30.99
This one totally depends on Fred VanVleet's status, of course. If FVV sits, Powell could easily replicate Friday's 36 minute and 26.7 FanDuel point performance. If VanVleet plays, Powell is totally out of consideration. Keep an eye on this one as lineup lock approaches.
Other considerations:
Damion Lee could be in line for big minutes and usage if the Dubs can manage to keep a game close for once.
Svi Mykhailiuk drew the start for Bruce Brown on Friday and was more than serviceable, registering 27 fantasy points across 30 minutes of play. He can also disappear on you, though, so deploy him with caution.
Small Forward
Brandon Ingram FD - $8000 DK - $7900
Opponent - LAL
Proj Pts FD - 39.21 DK - 40.52
It's a little weird to recommend wings into the Lakers, but I think something special is going on with Ingram right now. A lot of people (myself included) were wondering how Zion's arrival in New Orleans would affect him, but if anything he's stepped his game up even further. He was getting any look he wanted in their match-up with the Lakers last week, scoring 34 points from the field (and 47 fantasy points) in 36 minutes. On a night where it might be tough to pay up for the very most expensive guys Ingram represents a nice middle-ground pay-up option.
Pascal Siakam FD - $8100 DK - $8700
Opponent - DEN
Proj Pts FD - 42.97 DK - 43.84
Picking between Ingram and Siakam was a common decision on Friday, and I don't relish the idea of having to pick between them again. With a gun to my head I'm leaning Ingram on DraftKings (where he's cheaper) and Siakam on FanDuel, though I reserve the right to change my mind. Like Lowry Siakam obviously benefits more if Ibaka and/or VanVleet are out, but like Lowry, he's got plenty of floor regardless. You're also mostly looking at a really rough position, with Siakam's teammate OG Anunoby the only other realistic option from where I am sitting.
Also considered: Anunoby, though I'd prefer to have the extra usage from FVV and Ibaka being out before I was too excited about him.
Power Forward
Nemanja Bjelica FD - $4800 DK - $6200
Opponent - DET
Proj Pts FD - 31.37 DK - 32.09
What is honestly going on with Bjelica's price on FanDuel? In normal games he plays 32 minutes and scores about a fantasy point per minute. Which makes him worth almost exactly his DraftKings price at around $6k. And on FanDuel he's... below $5k? He could be 100% owned tonight, and any ownership that goes away from him is honestly just paying the rake.
Eric Paschall FD - $4300 DK - $5200
Opponent - WAS
Proj Pts FD - 26.29 DK - 26.93
Or Draymond Green, if he winds up playing. Whichever power forward gets more run tonight should be in a great position against the Wizards' carousel of bigs, and going up against a lousy Wizards team means that a blowout will be less likely than usual for both of these bad teams.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is an auto play if Ibaka were to sit again.
Center
Let's do a good old fashioned center round up, because recommending any one play in particular is looking awfully tough tonight.
Toronto vs Denver: Toronto is unlikely to field the position for DFS purposes. Jokic is a playable option, but this is a bad match-up and I don't know that this is really where you want to spend up.
Detroit at Sacramento: Neither team fields the position for DFS.
LAL at New Orleans: None of Favors, McGee, or Howard did anything at all in the last meeting between these two teams, and none can be considered an interesting option.
Washington at Golden State: Moderately intrigued by Chriss here, though it's always tough to know what the Warriors plan to do with their rotating cast of bigs. Washington? A whole bunch of nope with them being fully healthy.
Good times! Enjoy it, and we'll see you in the chat room tonight.
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