NBA DFS Building Blocks for Wednesday, January 19 | Today, 1/19/22

Wednesday, Jan. 19, brings gigantic 13-game main slate tipping off at 7 p.m. ET. 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.

NBA DFS Picks: Building Blocks, Wednesday, Jan. 19

Yahoo Play of the Day — Giannis Antetokounmpo: Milwaukee Bucks vs. Memphis Grizzlies

  • Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 53.44 | DraftKings: 54.49
  • Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 4.6% | FanDuel 14.7% | DraftKings 4.6%
  • DFS Salary: Yahoo $56 | FanDuel $11,300 | DraftKings $12,000

At the top of the projections is a quartet of former MVPs in Nikola Jokic, James Harden, LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo. The center options tonight are plentiful, so that is a slight knock against Jokic. Brooklyn is without Kevin Durant for the next six weeks, but with this game being in Washington DC, Kyrie Irving will be available. The Wizards also have a much-improved defense from last year and are no longer playing at a breakneck pace, which makes them a neutral matchup from a fantasy perspective.

That leaves James and Antetokounmpo, with the latter getting the slightest edge for being the better per-minute fantasy production. Both the Bucks and Lakers are at home tonight and favored by about half a dozen points and each team will be without a key contributor in Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday. This is about as close to a coin flip as can be, though the final tiebreaker is Los Angeles starting six games in nine nights on an East Coast road trip on Friday, so if they get a chance to curb James’ minutes tonight, they will to save him for the upcoming gauntlet. Again, it is hard to go wrong with any of these four superstars, but to pick just one … it is Antetokounmpo.

The NBA player props market for Giannis tonight is also one to exploit. In the Awesemo projections, he is currently carrying a 10.6 rebound projection, while his rebounding prop is over/under 11.5. This might be a bet worth making since it has an expected win rate of 65%.

Utah Jazz vs. Houston Rockets

The Jazz will be a prominent part of the player pool tonight with Donovan Mitchell in the concussion protocol, Rudy Gay out with a heel injury and Hassan Whiteside on the COVID reserve. Jordan Clarkson, Bojan Bogdanovic, Mike Conley, Joe Ingles, and Royce O’Neal will be the players with the biggest impact and at the better salaries. Rudy Gobert is a fine play, though with so many centers in good spots tonight, he is not a priority.

Atlanta Hawks vs. Minnesota Timberwolves

Tonight is a back-to-back for the Timberwolves, who pulled out a narrow victory last night in New York against the Knicks. Clint Capela (ankle) and Bogdan Bogdanovic (knee) have both been ruled out, which opens up a lot of minutes and potential production. In the frontcourt John Collins should have a field day in the paint. Onyeka Okongwu is likely to draw the start for Capela, and he has a path to 30 minutes. Kevin Huerter and Danilo Gallinari will be the beneficiaries of the minutes vacated by Bogdanovic, and both are solid options in all formats.

Miami Heat vs. Portland Trail Blazers

Tyler Herro was placed in the health and safety protocol this afternoon, and Kyle Lowry is still away from the team attending to a personal matter. Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo should both see an uptick in field goal attempts and assist opportunities. Adebayo (thumb) returned from a six-week layoff Monday and stepped right back into the rotation with 32 minutes. Gabe Vincent and Duncan Robinson are likely the main minutes beneficiaries with the thinned-out backcourt, though their salaries vary across the DFS sites, so mileage may vary.

Sacramento Kings vs. Detroit Pistons

The Pistons are on a back-to-back, having been worked over by the Warriors in San Francisco last night. The Kings are without Tyrese Haliburton (health and safety protocol), and Richaun Holmes is working his way back into shape after a lengthy layoff. Terence Davis should stay in the starting lineup, and he laid down a monster on Sunday in his spot start with a 40-fantasy-point performance. The DFS sites did not get ahead of the salary for De’Aaron Fox, and he still has a little room for upside, particularly on Yahoo. Marvin Bagley, Buddy Hield and Harrison Barnes are all core plays on the late slate.

Final Thoughts on NBA DFS picks for the Wednesday, Jan. 19 Slate

Tonight will be a busy one with six different tipoff times, which should keep the news trickling out after the initial lock. 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.

Eric "EMac" MacPherson won the 2007 Fantasy Baseball grand prize (trip for two to the MLB All-Star game) in the Roto format on ESPN. He won again in 2008, this time in the H2H format. As one of the early adopters of daily fantasy sports, EMac has been providing content for baseball and basketball as well as both professional and college football since 2012 for a variety of websites including DraftKings Playbook, FanVice, RotoWorld, Daily Fantasy Bootcamp, and RotoGrinders. He is well into his third decade of fantasy sports and has a wealth of knowledge and experience. Follow him on Twitter @EMacDFS or contact EMac by emailing [email protected].

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