The NBA has eight games on Saturday, but two are early, leaving six games for tonight’s main DFS fantasy basketball contests. Get your team in the game with FanSided’s FanDuel daily picks.
The NBA has a split schedule on Saturday, with two games tipping before the main schedule. The Kings are at the Thunder at 3:00 p.m. ET and the Trail Blazers are at the Hawks at 6:00 p.m. ET. While FanDuel does have some “early” game options featuring this game, the majority of the games begin at 7:00 p.m. ET and will thus be the main focus of this article.
The “main” action tips at 7:00 p.m. ET with the Wizards at the Hornets, then 90 minutes later the Cavaliers are at the Clippers. Two games go at 9:00 p.m. ET, the Jazz at the Bulls and the Spurs at the Grizzlies. At 9:30 p.m. ET, the Rockets are at the Nuggets then an hour later the nightcap is the Bucks at the Warriors.
For storylines, we’ve got LeBron James playing at the top of his game against a Clippers team that just rested their starting big men in a loss that makes it harder to go for home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The Warriors finally seemed to find their mojo in their last game against the Magic, and will try to solidify that against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks. The Nuggets still have their starting forwards out, which leaves lots of opportunity for big points from their other players against a high-scoring/fast-paced Rockets squad. At the other end of the spectrum, the Spurs and Grizzlies are two of the best defenses in the league on paper, though the Grizz have struggled against opposing guards for the last month or so. Lots of stories, lots of DFS value opportunities, so let’s get to it.
My favorite plays of the day can be found on the following slides in FanSided’s FanDuel 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 FanDuel as well as one specifically designed for usage on DraftKings. In this post, all salary and “fantasy points” references are to FanDuel 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.