FanDuel NBA Daily Picks and Pivots

Welcome to the Sunday FanDuel NBA edition of Picks and Pivots, a fantasy basketball column focused on helping you find the best core lineup for tonight’s seven game slate which kicks off at 6:00PM EST!

As a reminder, the concept behind FanDuel NBA Picks and Pivots is to first identify key building blocks that can be used for any roster construction and then identify pivot points to help differentiate your lineup in hopes of a big payday!

Saturday Night’s scores remained high with the winning GPP lineup scoring 387.1 FanDuel points which for the second straight night was over the season average. Over the first 132 slates, the average winning GPP score has been 379.0 which would mean we need 6.3x value from our roster in order to win big!

Over the first 132 slates, the average winning GPP score has been 379.0 which would mean we need 6.3x value from our roster in order to win big!

Saturday Night’s Picks and Pivots fell flat, breaking our recent hot streak with only 278.7 FanDuel points. Our core of Damian Lillard (45), Devin Booker (44) Karl-Anthony Towns (40) and Andrew Wiggins (41) was solid and we hit on our Noah Vonleh value play (32.6) but we got dude from Terrence Ross (13), Skal Labissiere (11)and Alan Crabbe (11) which ultimately was too hard to overcome!

As we head down the stretch in NBA we will need to be diligent in tracking injuries and playoff positions as we are at greater risk of players resting. Sunday’s slate is split into three parts but we will focus on the Main slate for our Picks and Pivots. Do not forget to get your MLB lineups ready for Opening Day in Major League Baseball! That does not mean we will be taking the day off however and we are here to help you finish the NBA season strong!

FanDuel NBA – Top Point Guard Picks

Dennis Schroder ($7,000) The Hawks are one of the best teams to target right now in DFS as they are fighting for playoff positioning and with Paul Millsap/Thabo Sefolosha out with injury, we get increased usage for the remaining players. Today the Hawks get to face the Brooklyn Nets so we should be firing up Hawks players in all formats against the worst defense in the NBA!

We saw the upside opposing point guards can have against Brooklyn as Elfrid Payton dropped a 50 FanDuel point triple-double yesterday against the Nets. Dennis Schroder comes into this game with three 40+ FanDuel point outings over his last five games, with one of those outings being a 39 FD point performance against this same Brooklyn team. The Hawks see the largest pace boost on this slate and I am going to have heavy exposure to the Hawks PG on this slate!

Goran Dragic ($7,800) The other game that jumps out to me on this slate is Miami/Denver has the Heat are locked in a three-way tie right now with the Pacers and Bulls for the 7-8-9 seeds in the East so we know their starters will get all the run they can handle here. Miami has the fourth highest team total today and is projected to score nearly 9 points more than their season average so this is an elite spot to get exposure to.

With Dion Waiters still out with an injury, The Dragon is dominating the usage for Miami and comes into this game averaging over 38 FD points over his last three games. The Nuggets are ranked 28th in DvP to opposing PG’s and with the playoffs on the line I think Dragic has one of the safest floors of any PG on this slate with elite upside due to this match-up.

FanDuel NBA – Top Shooting Guard Picks

Devin Booker ($8,000) The Suns and Rockets square off today in what should be a high scoring, fast paced contest which puts Devin Booker squarely on my radar tonight as the Suns seem intent on riding him hard down the stretch.

Booker is playing 35+ minutes each and every night and has 44+ FanDuel points now in back to back games since his one game off due to injury. Booker has 20+ shot attempts in four of his last give games and continues to just dominate the usage for the Suns with Eric Bledsoe off the floor. With Patrick Beverley locking down Tyler Ullis, Booker gets to face James Harden and the 24th ranked DvP defense so I am rolling him out again with another 40-50 point outing firmly in play!

Bradley Beal ($7,500) The Wizards head to Golden State today in what could be an NBA Final Preview (especially with how the Cavs are playing) and I was surprised to see the spread at double-digits honestly. The Wizards and Raptors are tied for the 3 seed in the East and just 3 games out of the top spot so I expect they will go hard for this win today and with their expected pace boost, I love targeting the Wizards here.

These two teams played a month ago and Beal dropped 33 FanDuel points against the Warriors which is a reasonable floor to expect today. My interest in Beal is very similar to Booker as the sheer volume of shot attempts he is taking gives him a massive GPP ceiling as Beal has 20+ shot attempts in each of his last two games and in a high-scoring affair like this, that could mean DFS gold!

FanDuel NBA – Top Small Forward Picks

Otto Porter ($5,300) Porter is one of the best ways to get cheap exposure to this Wizards/Golden State game and the fact that he has failed to exceed 30 FanDuel points in nine straight games should keep game log watchers off him in this spot.

Porter put up 32.1 FanDuel points when these two teams met a month ago which would exceed 6x value at this depressed price point and that was with Kevin Durant‘s defense. Tonight, Porter will be defended by Patrick McCaw/Matt Barnes which is a much more appealing match-up and with low expected ownership makes for a great GPP play as part of a mini-stack in this game.

Justin Anderson ($3,600) With Robert Covington out for the year, expect Anderson to continue to start at SF and with near minimum price on FanDuel, I am going back to the well again here today! Anderson has started the last two games for Philadelphia and had perhaps his best outing last time on the floor with 31 minutes of court time against the Cavs, while dropping 28.5 FD points which would put him at 8x value!

The match-up with Toronto is not ideal but we are getting a starter who should play 30 minutes and he gives us the salary relief to pay up at a variety of other positions so I am all in on Anderson as a punt play today!

FanDuel NBA – Top Power Forward and Center Picks

Draymond Green ($7,400) With Bradley Beal/Otto Porter on the Wizards side, I want to get some Warriors correlation and Draymond is the perfect piece considering that the Wizards are ranked 21st in DvP to opposing PF’s on the year. In their earlier match-up this season, Green put up 48.6 FanDuel points against Washington and the price point is simply too cheap for that kind of upside. Lock in Draymond today as a one-off play at PF or as part of mini-stack with Beal/Porter and hope this game stays closer than Vegas thinks!

More from FanSided

Ersan Iiilyasova ($5,000) Hawks against Brooklyn. We have spent alot of time on Washington/GS but do not forget about this game! Ersan continues to log heavy minutes, playing 32+ in each of his last five games for the injured Paul Millsap and just put up 30 FD points against this same Nets team just a few games ago which would give us 6x value at this price point.

Hassan Whiteside ($8,400) Rounding out our Picks and Pivots lineup, I am going to lock in the Heat big man who takes on a Denver team he dropped 54.7 FanDuel points against in their earlier season match-up. Whiteside is a cash game lock who has double-doubles in 16 of his last 18 games and even with Nikola Jokic opposing him, I expect Whiteside to continue be a focal point for a Heat team fighting for their playoff lives and he makes a great correlation play with Goran Dragic at PG!

Next: FanDuel MLB Opening Day Picks and Pivots

Best of luck in your FanDuel NBA contests today and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR on Twitter for all the late breaking lineup news and roster updates!