NBA DFS Picks and Fantasy Basketball Building Blocks for Today, Tuesday | 5/24

Tuesday, May 24 has the Mavericks facing potential postseason elimination at home as they are down 0-3 against Golden State in the Western Conference Finals. The fun begins at 9:00 p.m. ET on DraftKings and FanDuel. Below, we will examine the player pool and break down the best NBA DFS picks today for DraftKings and FanDuel lineups.

DraftKings & FanDuel NBA DFS Picks Today (5/24)

Luka Doncic | Dallas Mavericks

• Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 62.85 | FanDuel: 57.92
• Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings: 70% | FanDuel: 70.9%
• DFS Salary: DraftKings: $14,400 | FanDuel: $16,500

For the fourth time in five games, Luka Doncic had more than 60 fantasy points. Unfortunately, Dallas is about to see their season end one step shy of the NBA Championship. FanDuel has not adjusted Doncic’s salary in the last five games, so this must be their ceiling for the single-game format. DraftKings gave it a 6% boost, but it still does not make much sense to leave him off of rosters.

After running 50 lineups with the current Awesemo projections on FanDuel, Doncic was in the MVP slot for all 50. Using the same parameters on DraftKings, Doncic is on every roster, though 22% of the time he is in the utility slot. Draymond Green and Moses Moody receive Captain honors three times each with Stephen Curry, Andrew Wiggins, Jalen Brunson, Dorian Finney-Smith and Maximilian Kleber each taking one turn. Just play Doncic tonight.

Tonight, Doncic also looks like a strong option in the NBA player props market. He has a 9.5 over/under on his rebound prop and the Awesemo NBA player projections have him for 11.4 rebounds, which gives him a 71% probability of surpassing the over. In four of his last six games, he has corralled double-digit rebounds.

Andrew Wiggins | Golden State Warriors

• Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 32.88 | FanDuel: 32.49
• Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings: 40.8% | FanDuel: 35.4%
• DFS Salary: DraftKings: $8,200 | FanDuel: $13,000

This is not chasing points, as Wiggins may actually be setting a new baseline for fantasy expectations. The energy and defense has been admirable, but the offense has been consistent with at least 16 points in all but one game in the last two series along with five-of-nine games seeing nine or more rebounds. Klay Thompson, Curry and Green have clearly taken a step back from their respective peak performance levels, but Wiggins has helped mitigate that decline along with assistance from Kevon Looney and Jordan Poole. Clearly, coach Steve Kerr deserves credit as well.

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Jalen Brunson | Dallas Mavericks

• Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 34.6 | FanDuel: 33.23
• Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings: 46.3% | FanDuel: 40.6%
• DFS Salary: DraftKings: $9,000 | FanDuel: $13,500

While Brunson is clearly a better play on DraftKings, he rates out as a top-six option and will definitely be worthy of consideration on FanDuel. The unrestricted free agent has been outstanding, averaging a combined 8.7 rebounds and assists per postseason tilt along with 16.3 point per game. This gives Brunson a nice fantasy baseline as well as upside potential if his shots are falling. Plus, unless this is a lopsided affair, he should be on the court for 40 minutes tonight.

Jordan Poole | Golden State Warriors

• Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 29.7 | FanDuel: 28.32
• Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings: 38% | FanDuel: 33.8%
• DFS Salary: DraftKings: $7.600 | FanDuel: $11.000

The decision point here is looking to Poole or Spencer Dinwiddie of the Mavericks. Ultimately, Poole gets the nod with Otto Porter Jr. doubtful, which indirectly opens up minutes and opportunities that likely should lead to a secure 12 field goal attempts for Poole.

NBA DFS Discount Dandies

Golden State Warriors

1. Moses Moody: Though he got 16 minutes, which was one more than his total in the first two games, Moody still only produced three fantasy points. Still, this new wrinkle has potential legs since Damian Lee did not leave the bench at all.
2. Damian Lee: DraftKings only. At $1,000 he is interesting. It could easily be Lee who sees extra minutes at the expense of Moody tonight.
3. Jonathan Kuminga: The game was close enough, that Coach Kerr did not end up going to his rookie. Instead, it was Juan Toscano-Anderson who came in when Porter was hurt, though he only played five minutes before being relegated to the bench for the remainder of the game. Porter’s injury is unlikely to change the starting lineup and who knows how Kerr will handle the minutes for his reserves.

Dallas Mavericks

1. Maximilian Kleber: This has been a lost series for Kleber, who missed all five of his field-goal attempts in Game 3. For the series, he is now two-for-14 with all of his attempts coming from behind the arc. He should still get around 25 minutes as a baseline, so as uncomfortable as it is, we have to go back to the well once more.
2. Davis Bertans: DraftKings only. Bertans at least is going to get up some field goal attempts when he is on the court and could luck into a few rebounds. However, he is such a defensive liability in the playoffs, even if he is dialed in from long range, his coach will have a quick hook if the ‘Dubs are answering on the other end.
3. Frank Ntilikina: DraftKings only. Ntilikina saw the court for only four minutes at the end of the first quarter and was glued to the bench for the rest of the game.

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