The NBA Playoffs continue with three games on the schedule on Thursday. Get your DFS fantasy basketball team in the game with FanSided’s DraftKings daily picks.
The big question of the night is about point guard injuries and how their availability (or lack thereof) will affect their teammates. In the first game of the night, the Cavaliers are looking to go up 3 – 0 against a Raptors squad whose best player and point guard injured his ankle late in Game 2. If Kyle Lowry can’t play, the Raptors would have to start Cory Joseph, lean hard on DeMar DeRozan (who was terrible in Game 2), and hope for the best against a juggernaut Cavs team. That game tips at 7:00 p.m. ET.
Meanwhile, the Spurs already know that they will be without their starting point guard. Tony Parker tore a quad muscle and is done for the season, which means that either Patty Mills or Dejounte Murray will start the game for the Spurs. Even so, Mills is the more likely to inherit the majority of Parker’s responsibilities. Kawhi Leonard will also likely have more pressure to produce team offense, and even a vet like Manu Ginobili could be called on to help bridge the playmaking gap. Meanwhile, Houston will try to bounce back, at home, after losing Game 2 by 25 in San Antoinio. That game tips at 9:30 p.m. ET.
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.