NBA DFS picks August 22: How many of the big three do we need to succeed?

NBA DFS forward plays:

Giannis is going to get his 60 and watch the rest of the festivities from the bench. That’s not a bad thing. LeBron has more upside, but a terrifying floor. Anthony Davis or Giannis should anchor most lineups with Giannis being the favorite. They are the only ones that are locks for 50 on this set of games with the possible exception of Harden. That said, Harden is much higher than these two on both sites.

Outside of Fultz, Nikola Vucevic is the only Magic player that I trust. He has had a fantastic series thus far, but he could be in for a nick to his value if Gordon returns. Not enough to keep me from using him, but enough to limit my shares.

I’ll say this right now for the cheap seats: Myles Turner isn’t going 7-8 from the floor again. Bam is still a better overall play even though he wasn’t in Game 2. If using a center from that game, make it Bam.

Once again, the middle tier of forward is littered with guys that are overpriced in their current matchups. Danilo Gallinari is one of the few that might be worth his price, but even he’s risky considering how Houston has played in this series. The only saving grace is that Eric Gordon is listed as SF on FanDuel. PF on FanDuel is awful outside of the top two if Aaron Gordon is out again.

Speaking of Gordon, I hope he sits because James Ennis is a great value play with Gordon off the court. I doubt he will be once Gordon returns. Thankfully Danuel House is about the same price and has higher upside than most at his price. He makes it tempting to fade Ennis altogether.

The good thing is that FanDuel did us a solid and put Jeff Green at PF. He’s an elite play at that position and isn’t bad on DraftKings either. In fact, I have no issues punting center on either site. Hassan Whiteside, Green, P.J. Tucker, Brook Lopez, and Steven Adams are all strong plays for under $6,000 on either site.

Out is rookie Darius Bazley. In is former super-phenom Nerlens Noel. I’ll avoid this entirely, but if you are in sore need of a value play, Noel is the place to go if you can stomach cramming a center slot on DK with him. It’s much easier on FanDuel where Noel is a PF.

If you need to dig really deep, JaKarr Sampson is a decent play. His upside is about 20 fantasy points, but that’s still upwards of 6x value on both sites.

This is a day much like Thursday. You have to choose between Giannis or A.D. and fill in the blanks after that. It is possible to get both, but it has been far more productive to pick one and stick with it than to cram both in and hope your value picks don’t fail. The build is actually easier on FanDuel because you don’t have the options that you do on DraftKings.