The NBA playoffs continue with three games in Monday’s DFS fantasy basketball competitions. Get your team in the game with FanSided’s FanDuel daily picks.
The NBA had back-to-back big days over the weekend with four playoff games each day, with close games, upsets and buzzer beaters all in play. The Association has to hope the momentum continues on Monday with three games scheduled. Line-ups lock at 7:00 p.m. ET with the Bucks at the Raptors, followed an hour later by the Wizards at the Hawks and finally the Warriors at the Trail Blazers at 10:30 p.m. ET. With such a short slate of games, there will be a lot of player overlap across teams. However, there is still value to be had and ways to separate your team from the competition.
The most competitive positions on Monday are point guard and shooting guard. There are five high-priced point guard options and five high-priced shooting guard options. Since a max of two of each can be on any given team, the decisions made here will shape differences between many teams. At small forward, the main question is whether Kevin Durant will play, as he was able to play through the shootaround. But Khris Middleton is also questionable with an illness, so when you factor in Andre Iguodala’s uncertainty based on Durant, the top three small forward options are in flux. Power forward has a nice array as well, with four options that have each been impact players at some point this playoffs. And then there’s center, where there are several options available but all in the moderate-price/expectations range that makes no guarantees. All told, there are decisions to be made at every position that we will help you have the information to work through.
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’s 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.