Saturday, March 7 (3/7/20) locks at 7:00 p.m. EST with a five-game main slate that is short on expensive options. Before you lock in your NBA DFS lineups and NBA DFS picks on DraftKings, FanDuel, Yahoo and SuperDraft, make sure to check out Awesemo’s NBA DFS rankings and projections. Let’s dig into some NBA DFS Picks, including Stephen Curry, Jonas Valanciunas, Hassan Whiteside and more.
Prime Time Players
Jonas Valanciunas: Memphis Grizzlies vs. Atlanta Hawks
DraftKings $7,300, FanDuel $5,100, Yahoo $32; Ownership Rating (preliminary run): DraftKings 35.6%, FanDuel 33.1% Yahoo 35.4%
Sadly Stephen Curry has been ruled out with an illness, so I am promoting Jonas Valanciunas from Good Value to Prime Time Player
Memphis currently has a 3.5-4.0 game lead for the final Western Conference playoff berth with Portland, Sacramento, New Orleans and San Antonio in hot pursuit. They are missing Jarren Jackson Jr and Brandon Clarke in the front court which has led to Jonas Valanciunas averaging 28.5 minutes in the last five games. We know that JoVal is a per-minute fantasy beast with 14.6 points, 17.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 0.6 blocks in this stretch for nearly 1.4 fantasy points per minute.
We saw this very same matchup on Monday when the former Raptor went for 15 points and 15 rebounds in just 24.9 minutes. The only downside is that we are using our center position and it is arguably the strongest position on Saturday. Fortunately DraftKings, Yahoo and FantasyDraft do have a utility slot we can employ if we want to pair Valanciunas with Nikola Jokic, Rudy Gobert or Hassan Whiteside.
Stephen Curry: Golden State Warriors vs. Philadelphia 76ers
DraftKings $8,000, FanDuel $8,200, Yahoo $44; Ownership Rating (preliminary run): DraftKings TBA%, FanDuel TBA%, Yahoo TBA%
At first blush, this is an interesting slate because there are very few top-shelf options. Injuries have eliminated Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, then we have Trae Young (illness) and Andre Drummond (calf) questionable. Finally Damian Lillard is on a back-to-back and a three games in four nights stretch since returning from his groin injury. This all leaves a lot of question marks and uncertainty.
So why not take a chance with Stephen Curry who is playing his second game since missing 58 game with a left-hand injury. In his first game back, Curry played six “bursts” with three in each half. These worked out to 5.8 minutes to start the game, 4.6 to start the second quarter and 3.6 wrapping up the first half. This was followed by 5.2 to open the second half, 4.2 with 40 seconds at the end of the third quarter and opening the fourth quarter and then 3.8 minutes closing out the game.
All told that was 27.2 minutes and it makes sense that he would see 28-30 tonight against a decimated Philadelphia squad. Curry quickly reminded everyone what he was capable of with 23 points, six rebounds and seven assists making all eight free throws and going 6 of 16 from the field with 3 from 12 beyond the arc.
While we would need him to be very efficient to reach 50 fantasy points in 28-30 minutes, that is right in his wheelhouse. If Curry had splashed one or two more treys and/or had a steal he would have been at 45-48 fantasy points against Toronto. This is all baked into his current price point and it will be interesting to see what The Masses do tonight.
Good Value
Hassan Whiteside: Portland Trailblazers vs. Sacramento Kings
DraftKings $8,900, FanDuel $9,600, Yahoo $44; Ownership Rating (preliminary run): DraftKings 18.0%, FanDuel 16.1% Yahoo 18.0%
With the early afternoon injury report letting us know that Stephen Curry is out with an illness tonight, Jonas Valanciunas gets the promotion to Prime Time Player and Hassan Whiteside is the next man up for “good value” in tournaments. We know that Whiteside played 40 minutes last night and that this is the third game in four nights for the Trailblazers. We also know that they are 3.5 games behind Memphis for the final seed in the Western Conference and they are in must win territory.
While I wish that Whiteside did not play hefty minutes last night, Jusuf Nurkic could be making a return soon an the sand is running out of the hourglass for the Blazers playoff hopes so with no other options to pay up for, we should turn to Whiteside if we can get an ownership discount. The only slight concern is that Richaun Holmes may be making his return for the Kings tonight, but even then with just a ten team player pool, Whiteside is still a premiere option.
On the season, Whiteside is averaging a career best 1.40 fantasy points per minute and also leading the league with 3.1 blocks per game. His career high 14.3 rebounds per game are only behind Andre Drummond’s 15.3 and his 49 double doubles are tied with Domatas Sabonis and behind only Giannis Antetokounmpo who has 52 on the season.
Yahoo Fantasy NBA DFS Discount Dandies
- Josh Jackson: Memphis Grizzlies vs. Atlanta Hawks – $11
- Mike Scott: Philadelphia 76ers at Golden State Warriors – $10
- Monte Morris: Denver Nuggets at Cleveland Cavaliers – $10
NBA DFS Picks: SuperDraft
- Stephen Curry: Golden State Warriors vs. Philadelphia 76ers – 1.45x multiplier
- Al Horford: Philadelphia 76ers at Golden State Warriors – 1.60x multiplier
- Tobias Harris: Philadelphia 76ers at Golden State Warriors – 1.45x multiplier
Our standout SuperDraft recommendations for today include Stephen Curry who was featured above and has a lofty 1.45x multiplier making him a fine tournament option. Al Horford will likely be one of if not the most popular options on SuperDraft tonight for the short-handed ‘Sixers against the ‘Dubs with a 1.60x multiplier. Finally we round things out from the same game with Tobias Harris who will rival Horford in popularity with his heavy usage and favorable multiplier in the absence of Ben Simmons, Josh Richardson and of course Joel Embiid.
Final Thoughts
Even with a five game Saturday slate, we do have many interesting choices that will need to be made.
Be sure to tune into the Deeper Dive and Live Before Lock shows beginning at 5 p.m. EST for all of your up-to-date information and analysis.
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