Thursday night’s nine-game slate features six totals above 230 points. The fantasy scores should be huge tonight, and the biggest names that carry questionable tags are Jimmy Butler (eye), Jonas Valanciunas (back) and Joel Embiid (illness). All three of these players’ absences would have a major impact on this slate, and it would also be wise to keep an eye on the Bucks. They are essentially locked into the No. 3 seed and coach Mike Budenholzer has had no issues with resting all of his main players together at times this season. We’ll absolutely need to be watching the news closely tonight and checking back to Awesemo’s NBA daily fantasy picks, basketball rankings and projections for both DraftKings and FanDuel when building NBA DFS lineups.
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NBA Daily Fantasy Picks: Awesemo Grades | May 13
C Freddie Gillespie
DraftKings Grades: C, Values: A
FanDuel Grades: C, Values: A
The Raptors will only have eight players at their disposal for tonight’s matchup against the Bulls. After leading the team with 37.5 minutes Tuesday, Chris Boucher (rest) will join Kyle Lowry (rest), Fred VanVleet (rest), O.G. Anunoby (rest), Pascal Siakam (shoulder), Paul Watson (knee), Aron Baynes (foot) and Rodney Hood (hand) on the sidelines. Even with Boucher active and handling the huge volume, Gillespie still gained 25.1 minutes off the bench Tuesday en route to 27.75 DraftKings points against the Clippers. With Nick Nurse’s tendencies to start two natural big men in his frontcourt, there is a solid chance Gillespie will replace Boucher in the Raptors’ first unit tonight. But even this isn’t the case, Gillespie should approach 30 minutes against the Bulls.
Gillespie is providing 0.9 DraftKings points per minute this season, and while this matchup is rating poorly with Chicago a top-five defense over their last 10, Gillespie should still smash value and is my top punt to attack from the depleted Raptors. A double-double is in the realm of possibilities for Gillespie tonight, and according to Awesemo’s NBA DFS projections, he is a top-three value of this nine-game slate for both DraftKings and FanDuel.
NBA DFS Ownership Projection: DraftKings 25.4%, FanDuel 30.8%
C Nikola Jokic
DraftKings Grades: A, Values: B
FanDuel Grades: A, Values: A
Via Awesemo’s NBA daily fantasy basketball projections for tonight, Jokic holds the top raw projection of the slate by over 5 fantasy points for both DraftKings and FanDuel. With only three games remaining, the Nuggets are still alive for the No. 3 seed, currently trailing the Clippers by one game, and they are competing in a huge 235-point total against the Timberwolves on Thursday.
This is a ceiling spot for Jokic, and with so many viable punts available tonight, building around Jokic is an easy task. Only the Thunder have yielded more DraftKings points to centers than Minnesota this season, and Jokic is amassing 61.9 DraftKings points per game against the Wolves across two matchups this year.
NBA DFS Ownership Projection: DraftKings 26.4%, FanDuel 27.4%
PF Domantas Sabonis
DraftKings Grades: A, Values: C
FanDuel Grades: A, Values: B
The Pacers have won three of their past four, and they need to keep winning if they want to move up to either the seventh or eighth seed in the East. That way they would only have to win once in the play-in tournament to advance to the playoffs. With so much at stake recently, Sabonis has logged over 40 minutes in four of his past six starts, and Thursday night’s matchup against the Bucks is expected to be a shootout; the Vegas oddsmakers gave this game a slate-high 243-point total.
Malcolm Brogdon (hamstring) has already been confirmed to miss his eighth in a row tonight, and with Brogdon absent, Sabonis has destroyed his opponents for 65.7 DraftKings points per game in these past seven. While he is currently starting at center with Myles Turner (toe) on the shelf, Sabonis is eligible at power forward on both DraftKings and FanDuel. This allows gamers to stack Sabonis and Jokic together in the same lineup, which is the preferred strategy for Thursday night.
NBA DFS Ownership Projection: DraftKings 13.4%, FanDuel 21.8%
PF Chimezie Metu
DraftKings Grades: B, Values: A
FanDuel Grades: B, Values: A
With Marvin Bagley (groin) and Harrison Barnes (groin) both missing from the Kings’ frontcourt Tuesday, Metu got the spot start at power forward and collected 26.25 DraftKings in 29 minutes against the Thunder. He will draw another start Thursday with neither Bagley nor Barnes available in a high-scoring affair against the Grizzlies (230-point total).
Since the start of April, Metu has provided 0.94 DraftKings points per minute and is averaging 25.6 DraftKings points in the three games where he has cracked 20 minutes. The Grizzlies can be vulnerable in the paint, and Metu is slated for right over 30 fantasy points on both DraftKings and FanDuel tonight per Awesemo’s NBA DFS projections, making him a necessity for stars-and-scrubs lineups.
NBA DFS Ownership Projection: DraftKings 40.2%, FanDuel 17.2%
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