NBA All-Star Game Daily Fantasy Picks: DraftKings + FanDuel

Welcome to NBA All-Star Sunday. The big day of possibly unnecessary but definitely entertaining basketball will be headlined by the uniquely formatted showdown between team LeBron and team Durant, while also featuring the skills contest and the three-point contest prior to the game, and the dunk contest at halftime. The game itself has some major NBA DFS action on it, with FanDuel and DraftKings putting up major prize pools for their single game formats.

With somewhat unpredictable action, videogame scoring and zero defense, this is always a fun slate to forecast. The projections are based on the best information we have on minutes, including past precedent. Typically we see big men get less time and opportunity in games like this, while wings and three-point shooters tend to stand out, though there are notable exceptions. For a full breakdown of the game, rosters and format, check out EMac’s excellent coverage.

Even with one game, we are always looking for players who are under-appreciated for the frequency with which they land in the optimal lineup in DraftKings and FanDuel NBA simulations, or the players who have the best probability at their necessary upside to a target score for the salary requirement. With the single game we have the unique MVP and Captain format multipliers to contend with as well, making the slate interesting and very different from site to site.

As a final note, both Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons have been scratched from tonight’s game, after their barber tested positive for COVID-19. It’s also noteworthy that Mike Conley is simply not available on the FanDuel slate. At this point it seems as though the rest of the players will be without restriction, but stay tuned. As always, this article comes out ahead of lock, and many things will change with our daily fantasy basketball picks. Be sure to follow the @AwesemoNBA Twitter handle for all the latest breaking news (via our NewsGod).

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Daily Fantasy Basketball: NBA DFS All-Star Picks

Giannis Antetokounmpo – Team LeBron

DraftKings — $14,700 — CPT / $9,800 – UTIL | FanDuel — $14,000

There’s a reason LeBron James made his former rival All-Star captain the first overall pick this year, Giannis has simply dominated throughout the season. Averaging 1.65 fantasy points per minute throughout all situations this year, Antetokounmpo is simply a force in any game he plays. With his 34.2% rebounding rate and 31.8% assist share for the season, this is a player who does not need to rely on his usual 33% usage share in order to score fantasy points for us tonight. For the year, Giannis averages 29 real life points, 11.7 rebounds and 5.9 assists, as well as 2.7 stocks, adding to the NBA DFS points padding. Narrative fans take note, with his running mate Khris Middleton snubbed by the absurd All-Star selection process, Giannis might be scoring for two tonight.

While he is a significant investment on both sites, we have plenty of salary to spend with the cheap upside available. Locking in some safe floor for minutes expectation and overall production, despite the price, makes a ton of sense. Utilizing him in the UTIL spot on DraftKings instead of as your Captain will both save salary and potentially differentiate the player usage.

Bradley Beal – Team Durant

DraftKings — $10,800 — MVP / $7,200 — UTIL | FanDuel — $12,000

The league’s leading scorer this season should be in the spotlight and could potentially bury the needle on the NBA DFS point scoring meter tonight. Beal will be fed early and often and is among Awesemo’s projected minutes leaders. Typically we see starters get more run in these All-Star games, and if Beal is on a heater there is no doubt he will be on the floor hoisting up shots. Beal averages 23.9 field-goal attempts and 6.9 3-point attempts in 35.7 minutes per game. While he typically requires 34.9% usage to get to those attempts, he won’t be expected to be nearly as discerning with his attempts in this format. Beal will need to score the ball to matter. He averages just a 16.6% rebounding share and a 24.9% assist rate that will likely drop with the amount we expect him to shoot tonight.

Rostering Beal as one of the primary expected scorers is a strong move on both sites tonight. He will be popular, but he slots in well at both the spend-up Captain spot and the UTIL position on DraftKings and has to be in consideration as a top-end MVP play on FanDuel. Beal is projected for 24 minutes along with several of the other starters on the board. Rostering him in the same lineup with a shooter like Stephen Curry from the opposing team’s starting unit could be a smart strategy, it is easy to envision the two dueling throughout the game. Damian Lillard could be a slightly lesser owned option for this same thought.

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Zion Williamson – Team Durant

DraftKings — $6,900 — CPT / $4,600 | FanDuel — $10,000

With Embiid hitting the bench due to his COVID-19 exposure, Williamson will step into the starting lineup for team Durant, and he could be in line for a relatively significant minutes share. As one of the more athletic big men on the board, Williamson does not quite fall into the limited minutes thinking. On DraftKings he is priced too cheap for the opportunity created by the role change, and he becomes a strong value play that should get quite chalky as we approach lock.

For the season Williamson is averaging 1.26 fantasy points per minute, up from his 1.21 last season. He is up to a terrific 25.6 real life points scoring average in just 33.1 minutes per game. For a star of his caliber putting up a scoring average like that, Williamson occupies a relatively minor share of his team’s usage, at just 27.5%, suggesting he will know how to put up points for NBA DFS purposes without seeing too many scoring chances of his own tonight. Williamson contributes a quality 23% rebounding rate and an 18.8% assist share, as well as 1.6 stocks per game throughout all situations this year. Getting the start for this team, he could see significant run, plenty of rebounding opportunities and even some scoring upside. Keep an eye on his ownership, but Williamson now seems like a very high-end play on DraftKings and a strong option on FanDuel.

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Chris Paul — Team LeBron

DraftKings — $5,700 — CPT / $3,800 | FanDuel — $8,500

The minutes share for Paul is a major question mark for this slate. Paul is projected for 20 minutes in Awesemo’s numbers. At 1.16 fantasy points per minute, he could have some value with his low salaries on both sites. If he sees extended run, he could become a vital part of NBA DFS lineup constructions.

Looking at the roster for team LeBron, and considering the absence of Simmons, the team is largely comprised of frontcourt players and guards who are more shoot-first oriented (apologies to the playmaking skills of both Curry and Lillard, all statements are relative in this scenario), which could thrust the always willing passer Paul into a more prominent position. If he plays alongside Curry and Lillard, acting as the main facilitator throughout the game, Paul could break slates at his price.

For the season Paul requires just 21.8% usage to get to his fantasy production. He has a quality 16.3% rebounding rate and a monster 50.9% assist share across all situations this year, while averaging 16 real life points in his 31.8 minutes per night. Paul averages 1.2 steals per game as well, and with some of the high risk passing, a sharp veteran like Paul is likely to beat that mark tonight. The play will come down to the minutes. If we see Paul on the court for an extended amount of time he is very likely to be a key part of NBA DFS scoring.

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Author

Terry McBride

Terry used to do other things, now he writes words on the internet. He hopes his more than 20 years’ experience in season-long and daily fantasy sports and his custom models for MLB, NBA, and NFL don't steer you too wrong when he writes columns and makes picks on Awesemo.com. A lifetime of experience keeping odd hours make Terry ideal to cover KBO baseball overnight until the world returns to normal. Most of those late night hours have been spent on the couch watching sports, T.V., and movies; just try to shut him up about any of the above. You can find his pop-culture ramblings and more on Sideaction.