NBA DFS action on Saturday, March 13, locks at 7:00 p.m. EST with a seven-game main slate on Yahoo, DraftKings, FanDuel and SuperDraft. Before you lock in your lineups on Yahoo, DraftKings, FanDuel and SuperDraft, make sure to check out Awesemo’s daily fantasy basketball picks, rankings and projections. Let’s dig into some daily fantasy basketball picks, including Kyle Lowry, Damian Lillard and more.
Don’t forget to head over to the Awesemo NBA DFS HOME PAGE for more great written daily fantasy basketball content, including the FREE Deep Dive — the most in-depth article in the industry.
***Get a SNEAK PEEK with our free premium content of the day, the Awesemo Premium NBA Player rankings.***
NBA DFS Picks: Building Blocks, Saturday, March 13th
Yahoo Play of the Day – Kyle Lowry: Toronto Raptors at Charlotte Hornets
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 44.15 | DraftKings: 47.06
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 49.8% | FanDuel 30.7% | DraftKings 29.6%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $33 | FanDuel $8,400 | DraftKings $8,700
Once more, the Raptors will be without Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet and OG Anunoby, who are all in the health and safety protocol. This is a winnable game as Charlotte is favored by just a bucket. In his five games since returning from a thumb injury — the last three without VanVleet and Siakam — Lowry has been excellent. In this stretch, he is averaging 36.4 minutes with 19.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, 11 assists and 1.4 combined blocks/steals. Two games ago, he had a career-high 19 assists in Boston.
Over their last 10 games, the Hornets are allowing 114 points per 100 possessions, which is the seventh-worst rate in the league. They are also playing at the fourth-fastest pace with 102.8 possessions per 48 minutes. On Yahoo, we can can also look to DeAndre’ Bembry and Stanley Johnson as NBA DFS picks at the minimum $10 salary. Aron Baynes and Terence Davis are just $1 more and very much in play as well. Chris Boucher is a nice tournament play on all sites with his 40-fantasy-point upside. Norman Powell also stands out on Yahoo at just $27 tonight.
Damian Lillard: Portland Trail Blazers at Minnesota Timberwolves
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 49.92 | DraftKings: 53.44
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 18.2% | FanDuel 30.7% | DraftKings 15.2%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $49 | FanDuel $9,900 | DraftKings $10,700
Tonight, we will have a plethora of discount dandies at our disposal with 14 teams in action. Focusing on the best luxury NBA DFS picks, Damian Lillard stands out in his matchup against the Timberwolves. We are still at least a week away from the return of CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic, so rolling with Portland’s face of the franchise continues to be a savvy move. Over his last 10 games — excluding the 132-100 loss to Phoenix where Lillard played only 28.5 minutes — the veteran guard has been sublime.
During this stretch, Lillard is averaging 37.5 minutes with 24.1 field goal attempts. This has resulted in 32.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, 10 assists and 1.5 combined blocks/steals. Portland is a 4.5-point road favorite with a projected total for this game at 234 points. If you are looking for some synergy, consider adding Enes Kanter and Karl-Anthony Towns to the mix for a mini game stack.
Trae Young: Atlanta Hawks vs. Sacramento Kings
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 44.58 | DraftKings: 48.23
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 31.8% | FanDuel 25.5% | DraftKings 14.0%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $39 | FanDuel $9,000 | DraftKings $9,800
On the season, the Sacramento Kings are allowing 118.6 points per 100 possessions, which is the most in the league. That has held true over their last 10 games with a 120.6 defensive efficiency mark on the season. Trae Young is third in the league with 20.2 drives per game. While he is not the best at converting these into buckets, he is above average with assists and getting to the line on these plays.
We can see the upside of this facet over his last two outings. In these he averaged 30 drives, which helped him get to the line an astounding 27 times where he sank 23 of his opportunities. He tallied 50-plus fantasy points in both games, which is excellent tournament upside. The average line was 35.8 minutes with 21.5 field goal attempts culminating in 34.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 7 assists and 1.5 combined blocks/steals. Enjoy!
Good Value
Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Portland Trail Blazers
The Minnesota backcourt is thin with D’Angelo Russell still a couple weeks away from action while recovering from his knee injury. Malik Beasley still has eight more games on his suspension. Now Jordan McLaughlin is in the health and safety protocol and Jarrett Culver (toe) is doubtful. That means Ricky Rubio should see all the minutes he can handle in an excellent matchup with the Blazers. Additionally, we can look to rookie Jaylen Nowell who should see 24-26 minutes at nice discount. Jaden McDaniels should also see a similar minutes projection.
Though his price varies across the different DFS sites, Anthony Edwards is also worthy of our attention with five straight games over 20 field goal attempts. As long as Culver is out, the T-Wovles rotation will be nine guys with Juancho Hernangomez on the outside looking in.
Risky Value
Devin Booker: Phoenix Suns vs. Indiana Pacers
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 34.07 | DraftKings: 36.34
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 19.2% | FanDuel 19.1% | DraftKings 8.9%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $31 | FanDuel $7,700 | DraftKings $7,900
Using the Awesemo Boom/Bust tool, we can see that Devin Booker is picking up some traction as a play on FanDuel. Currently he has a 10.3% chance of being in the optimal lineup. Tonight his “boom” score of 5x salary + 10 is 48.5 FanDuel points and there is just a 10.7% chance he exceeds that milestone. On the other hand his “bust” score of 5x salary is still a lofty 38.5 FanDuel points and there is a 52.7% likelihood that he fails to reach that threshold.
Although he is coming off a 48 FanDuel-point performance, we need to realize that he has posted 48-plus fantasy points or more only three times in 32 games this season. This makes sense in the context of him having approximately a 10% chance of success according to the Boom/Bust tool. The addition of Chris Paul has curbed the upside frequency for Booker and the Pacers are a decent defensive squad. Let other gamers assume this risk.
Yahoo Daily Fantasy Basketball Discount Dandies
- Jake Layman: MIN vs. POR – $11
- Naz Reid: MIN vs. POR – $10
- Isaiah Stewart: DET at BKN – $10
SuperDraft Daily Fantasy Basketball Picks
- Trae Young: ATL vs. SAC – 1.25x multiplier
- Enes Kanter: POR at MIN – 1.55x multiplier
- De’Aaron Fox: SAC at ATL – 1.30x multiplier
Final Thoughts on the Saturday, Mar. 13 NBA DFS Slate
Five of our first seven games tipoff in the first hour, then we have a two hour gap until our twin bill nightcaps. This could lead to unexpected news that opens up some intriguing late-swap options. Keep in mind that salaries and scoring formats differ across the various fantasy sites, and a slam-dunk play on Yahoo may be a below-average NBA DFS pick on DraftKings or FanDuel.
