The NBA Finals are underway, and there is NBA DFS on DraftKings and FanDuel. Greg Ehrenberg looks at some NBA DFS Picks to build around for the Wednesday, Sept. 30 slate.
Check out the AwesemoOdds home page for more sports betting content, including more picks and predictions.
NBA DFS Picks: Value + Stud for Sept. 30
NBA DFS Value Pick: Dwight Howard
DraftKings $5,000, FanDuel $8,000
It is impossible for me to avoid Howard tonight. He is going to garner a ton of ownership and for good reason. Since moving into the Lakers’ starting lineup, Howard is producing very well from a fantasy perspective and neither DraftKings nor FanDuel made much of a pricing adjustment. In his two starts against the Nuggets, Dwight averaged 27 DraftKings points. To make his upside even more tantalizing, he played 35 minutes in the closeout game against Denver. As long as he avoids foul trouble, I expect Howard to play over 30 minutes again to defend Bam Adebayo. Dwight still scores over a fantasy point per minute at this point of his career.
Related NBA DFS Content
- Awesemo YouTube Channel — NBA DFS Live Before Lock
- Building Blocks: NBA DFS Picks, Values and Studs for DraftKings + FanDuel
- NBA Rankings from Alex ‘Awesemo’ Baker (PREMIUM)
- NBA DFS Projections from Alex ‘Awesemo’ Baker (PREMIUM)
- Alex ‘Awesemo’ Baker’s NBA Ownership Projections (PREMIUM)
NBA DFS Stud Pick: LeBron James
DraftKings $13,200, FanDuel $15,500
Coming down to the final games of the season, I think we go see LeBron go nuts in the Finals and secure a Finals MVP with his third different team. On paper, the Heat look outmatched in this game and the oddsmakers agree. The Lakers are the second biggest title favorite of the last 12 years. Miami cruised to the Finals and I am not sure what to make of that. There is a chance the Heat are that good of a team and continue to blow the doors off everybody as one of the more unsuspecting great teams in league history. However, I think it’s more likely that the Eastern Conference sucked this year. There is an argument that the Heat faced weak competition to get here and the Bucks got hurt at the wrong time of the season.
I expect the Lakers to win the title and for LeBron to lead them. It’s crazy how little decline there is to his game despite his age and mileage. Not only is he playing great in real life, his fantasy output is better than any other player during the postseason. James is coming off of a triple-double with 79 DraftKings points and has more games with over 60 DraftKings points in the playoffs than he has games under that mark. He’s unstoppable right now.
Editors Note:
Greg Ehrenberg is pegging LeBron James as the stud of the night for Game 1 of the NBA Finals, noting he’s coming off a 79-DraftKings-point triple-double his last time out. Greg’s expecting more of the same tonight, and could be in line to hit the over on his NBA prop bet of over 8.5 assists. The new Awesemo OddsShopper tool searches all the big betting sites and finds the best price for your bet. Click here to start shopping!
NBA DFS Contrarian Pick: Andre Iguodala
DraftKings $3,400, FanDuel $7,500
After picking Iguodala in my last article as a contrarian play, I am going back to the well. From a fantasy standpoint, Iggy sucked for most of the season. In the last three games, he’s become a usable fantasy option. This isn’t because of some magical increase of fantasy point per minute production, it’s because the Heat are playing him more minutes. When Miami traded for Iguodala, it was for a playoff push. To close out the Celtics, he played 28 minutes and I think that he will probably play a ton in this series due to his history of guarding LeBron in the finals. If he plays close to 30 minutes, it’s tough for Iggy to bust at his salary.
Follow us on all of our social channels! Check out our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for more great Awesemo content.
Looking for more NBA DFS picks content? We’ve got loads of articles, data, cheatsheets and more on the Awesemo NBA home page, just click HERE.
