DraftKings daily picks: Fantasy basketball lineup – March 19

INTRO

The NBA has eight games on Sunday but three are early, leaving five games for the main DFS fantasy basketball contests. Get your team in the game with FanSided’s DraftKings daily picks.

The main DraftKings game slate starts at 6:00 PM ET, but there are three games earlier in the day. The Mavericks are at the Nets at noon, the Celtics are at the 76ers at 1:00, and the Suns are at the Pistons at 4:30. The early games have their own game slate on DraftKings, but this slate is smaller with lesser prizes, so this article will focus on the main slate.

The first three games in the main slate tip at 6:00 PM ET, with the Trail Blazers at the Heat, the Timberwolves at the Pelicans, and the Pacers at the Raptors. An hour later, the Kings are at the Spurs. Finally, in the late game, the Cavaliers are at the Lakers at 9:30.

Storylines for Sunday: will LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love play for the Cavs against a very beatable Lakers team, after sitting out on Saturday for rest? Will the Spurs play their best players against a very beatable Kings team, on the second half of a back-to-back in which they played? Will DeMarcus Cousins be healthy enough to play on Sunday, making for a match-up of the three most talented one-and-done big men that came out of the University of Kentucky? Can Paul George do his thing against a tough Raptors perimeter D? Can Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum do theirs against a tough Heat defensive unit? So many questions, and their answers will determine how Sunday plays out.

My favorite plays of the day can be found on the following slides in FanSided’s DraftKings daily picks. Each day in order to offer a variety of price points at each position, you can find two slides for each position–one for high-salary options and one for high-value options. Each pick is ranked on a scale of 1-5 stars to indicate the confidence in the pick. The final slide of this post has more detail on what each level means, but in short, more stars means more confidence in the selection on a points-per-dollar basis.

Important note, every day the goal of this post is not to give you a copy-and-paste lineup. Instead, each selection is given while highlighting the factors you need to consider when building a customized lineup for yourself. If you want to see an example lineup, you can find it on the final slide of the post, but I suggest you adjust your lineup to fit your personal taste.

To keep up with all of FanSided’s DFS NBA coverage head over to the fantasy basketball hub where each day you can find a post like this tailored for DraftKings as well as one specifically designed for usage on FanDuel.  In this post, all salary and “fantasy points” references are to DraftKings scoring system and salaries. If you have any additional questions or thoughts or are looking for updates as we approach tipoff, follow @FanSidedFantasy on Twitter or you can follow my account @ProfessorDrz or find me on my home turf of The Hoops Lab.

Let’s take a look at your best options for both studs and value players at each position.