FanDuel daily picks: Fantasy basketball lineup – April 15

The NBA playoffs tip off with four games on Saturday for DFS fantasy basketball contests. Get your team ready for the postseason with FanSided’s FanDuel daily picks.

The NBA playoffs begin on Saturday with four huge games: the Pacers at the Cavaliers at 3:00 p.m. ET, the Bucks at the Raptors at 5:30 p.m. ET, the Grizzlies a the Spurs at 8:00 p.m. ET and finally the Jazz at the Clippers at 10:30 p.m. ET.

This is the playoffs, so storylines abound. The Pacers go to Cleveland with some semblance of confidence. Paul George has been through years of battles with LeBron James in the playoffs, and won’t back down. And his old running mate, Lance Stephenson, is back and ready to blow in LeBron’s ear again. Plus, the Cavaliers have played inexplicably poorly in recent weeks, but on the bright side should finally have all of their horses playing full minutes since there’s no longer a need to rest players for the postseason.

In Toronto, Kyle Lowry has had a couple of weeks to get back in the flow after a long injury layoff and he should be his normal self for the playoffs. Meanwhile, Giannis Antetokounmpo will get his second taste of the postseason, but his first since becoming the clear leader on his team.

In San Antonio, we’ll finally start to see what the Spurs look like when everyone is playing full minutes with no regards to resting. Even old heads like Manu Ginobili or Tony Parker could find value, though they will be playing against arguably the best defense in the league in the Grizzlies. In fact, there are value plays on both sides of this match-up, but the two defenses are so elite that the value may not be realized.

Finally, the third of the “best defense in the NBA” trio, the Jazz, will be on the road in LA. The Jazz have a dominant D, led by Rudy Gobert, but the Clippers have swept them this season and (when healthy) should have the better team.

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: 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.