Saturday, Oct. 30, brings a tantalizing 10-game main slate with plenty of value options. Let’s look at the player pool and discuss the top NBA DFS picks for DraftKings, FanDuel and Yahoo lineups. Do not forget to head over to the Awesemo NBA DFS home page for more great written daily fantasy basketball content.
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NBA DFS Picks: Building Blocks, Saturday, Oct. 30
Yahoo Play of the Day — Giannis Antetokounmpo: Milwaukee Bucks vs. San Antonio Spurs
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 57.49 | DraftKings: 59.64
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 30% | FanDuel 35.1% | DraftKings 22.7%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $56 | FanDuel $11,300 | DraftKings $11,400
Tonight there are 20 teams in the player pool and enough injuries and back-to-back games, which should lead to a variety of value options. On a slate like today, Giannis Antetokounmpo really should have a $60 salary on Yahoo and be at $12,000-plus on the other DFS sites. Jrue Holiday, Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis are all out with injuries, which means Giannis will continue to do the heavy lifting along with Khris Middleton. The matchup against San Antonio is a good one with the new-look Spurs playing at a top-10 pace along with mediocre defense. Milwaukee leads the league in pace through five games and Antetokounmpo is currently averaging 1.85 Yahoo Fantasy points per minute, which is a tick below what he posted in 2019, which was the second of his back-to-back NBA MVP years.
Stephen Curry: Golden State Warriors vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 49.38 | DraftKings: 52.98
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 15% | FanDuel 16.9% | DraftKings 10.4%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $49 | FanDuel $10,500 | DraftKings $10,900
Through five games 33-year-old Stephen Curry is posting some outstanding fantasy numbers. The most impressive is the 13 3-point attempts per game, which is a career high and helping him average 50-plus fantasy points per game. Golden State and Oklahoma City both play at a top-10 pace and the Thunder have the second-worst defensive efficiency in the league. The Warriors are favored by a dozen points and, of course, there is a risk that Curry is not needed in the final frame. However, in that event he likely will already have banked close to 40 Yahoo Fantasy points, which is, by no means, going to torpedo our lineups.
Nikola Jokic: Denver Nuggets at Minnesota Timberwolves
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 52.4 | DraftKings: 55.03
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 9.4% | FanDuel 12% | DraftKings 14.5%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $52 | FanDuel $11,000 | DraftKings $10,700
Tonight is a back-to-back for the Nuggets, who easily dispatched the Mavericks in Denver last night by 31 points. It was such a convincing victory that Nikola Jokic did not have to check back in during the final 16 minutes of the game. Coming off an injury scare from earlier this week in Utah, it looks like Jokic has escaped any serious issues. Though, we may feel safer with him in tournaments where the upside still outweighs the downside risk. In his last three meetings with Karl-Anthony Towns, Jokic is averaging 22.7 points, 11 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.7 combined blocks/steals in 34 minutes per game. In an interesting twist, Minnesota is actually slight favorites at home tonight.
Yahoo Daily Fantasy Basketball Discount Dandies
Grayson Allen: Milwaukee Bucks vs. San Antonio Spurs
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 23.25 | DraftKings: 24.67
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 18.4% | FanDuel 3.6% | DraftKings 7.8%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $11 | FanDuel $4,900 | DraftKings $4,700
The Yahoo salary algorithm has been slow to react to Grayson Allen’s starting role with the Bucks. Through five games he is averaging 10.8 field-goal attempts and just over 28 minutes. With nearly 8.5 3-point attempts per game, if he is finding the bottom of the net, he just needs a couple rebounds and steals to bounce his way and we will be looking at mid-20s for his fantasy points with a strong possibility of approaching 30 if Milwaukee puts away the Spurs and are able to rest Giannis and Middleton down the stretch with a game against Utah looming on Sunday. Teammates Jordan Nwora ($11) and Pat Connaughton ($12) are also viable punt options.
Killian Hayes: Detroit Pistons vs. Orlando Magic
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 19.55 | DraftKings: 20.55
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 6.8% | FanDuel 3.6% | DraftKings 11.5%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $10 | FanDuel $4,400 | DraftKings $3,800
Yes, Killian Hayes burned all of us many times last season, however we need to let that go. In his last two games, Hayes is averaging just shy of 30 minutes while taking 11 field-goal attempts in each contest. It is good to see that he is looking for his own shot as that was an issue last season, which led to many disappointing games. While Orlando does not play particularly fast, it currently has the worst defense in the league and is on a back-to-back having lost a heartbreaker 110-109 last night in Toronto. If 28-30 minutes is going to be the new baseline for Hayes, we are getting a 25-30% discount for his services on Yahoo tonight.
Lonnie Walker IV: San Antonio Spurs at Milwaukee Bucks
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 22.74 | DraftKings: 23.74
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 8% | FanDuel 0.7% | DraftKings 2.2%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $12 | FanDuel $5,200 | DraftKings $4,900
Better discount dandies and mid-tier options will appear throughout the day. However, on Yahoo Lonnie Walker IV is a very intriguing option against Milwaukee. We know that the Bucks encourage opponents to shoot from the wing and Walker should continue to see 28-30 minutes backing up both Dejounte Murray and Derrick White in the backcourt.
Final Thoughts on NBA DFS picks for the Saturday, Oct. 30 Slate
Tonight there are a dozen teams that either played last night or will be playing tomorrow. That is leading to quite a few questionable tags, which should shake out with more definitive news closer to tipoff. 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.
