Sunday, March 6, closes out the weekend with a five-game slate beginning at 7 p.m. ET. Let’s look at the player pool and discuss the top NBA DFS picks today for DraftKings, FanDuel and Yahoo lineups. Do not forget to head over to the Awesemo NBA DFS & Fantasy Basketball home page for more great written daily fantasy basketball content.
NBA DFS Picks: Fantasy Basketball Building Blocks Today | Sunday, March 6
Yahoo Play of the Day — Darius Garland: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Toronto Raptors
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 38.38 | DraftKings: 42.04
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 23.6% | FanDuel 26.7% | DraftKings 19.7%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $32 | FanDuel $8,000 | DraftKings $8,600
While he has missed 8 of the last 13 games with a balky back, Darius Garland has played in the last two games and he has continued to show out. This has been a breakthrough season for Garland who flashed talent in his first two NBA seasons. In his last 20 games play, without Ricky Rubio and Collin Sexton, Garland is averaging 35.6 minutes with 18.7 field goal attempts. This has culminated in 22.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, 9.3 assists with 1.3 combined blocks and steals. This works out to just over 40 fantasy points making him an excellent option at his Sunday salary of $32 on Yahoo. Caris LeVert and Rajon Rondo are both questionable having missed the last five and four games respectively.
Reggie Jackson: Los Angeles Clippers vs. New York Knickerbockers
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 36.1 | DraftKings: 38.56
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 20.8% | FanDuel 36.0% | DraftKings 7.9%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $30 | FanDuel $7,000 | DraftKings $8,700
In DFS it is important to understand context and biases. For example, most gamers think of New York as being a tough, defensive-minded team that plays at a slow and deliberate pace. While that was true earlier this season and is typically the modus operandi of coach Tom Thibodeau, it is not what has recently transpired.
Back on January 15th, New York had won three consecutive games and worked their way over .500 with a 22-21 record. In the 20 games since then, they have only won three times. Looking at their last 15 games, they have the sixth worst defensive efficiency allowing 116.1 points per 100 possessions while actually playing at a league average pace. Derrick Rose, Kemba Walker, Nerlens Noel, Obi Toppin and Quentin Grimes are all out and even if 36-year old Taj Gibson rejoins the rotation, he is not going to be much help.
Now that we have established that this matchup is not as daunting as most will likely believe, let’s take a look at Reggie Jackson. The Clippers have won their last five games, albeit against weaker competition with three victories over the Rockets and two more against the Lakers. Over the last nine games, Jackson has been stellar averaging 33.9 minutes and 18.9 field goal attempts. This has resulted in 20.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 8.2 assists with 1.1 combined blocks and steals for a tick shy of 40 fantasy points per game.
Evan Fournier has been picking up the scoring slack left behind by Derrick Rose and Kemba Walker. Over his last 14 games he has tallied 15 or more points 11 times. Tonight his NBA player props are something we can look to get in on. The over/under on his points prop is currently sitting at 15.5. The Awesemo NBA projections have Fournier slated for 17.4 points in this matchup against the Clippers, which makes taking the over a bet that is likely to win at a 67% clip.
Nikola Jokic: Denver Nuggets vs. New Orleans Pelicans
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 53.44 | DraftKings: 56.39
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 8.0% | FanDuel 27.1% | DraftKings 9.3%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $56 | FanDuel $10,900 | DraftKings $12,600
Tonight Nikola Jokic is probable to play after sitting on Friday with a non-COVID related illness. Looking at his recent box scores, some gamers may blanch at allocating so much of their salary cap to the reigning NBA MVP. In these games, Jokic has scored in the mid 40s, which is somewhat disappointing for a player who has averaged just over 55 fantasy points per game during the last two seasons.
In this timeframe, Jokic has averaged 31.1 minutes with 16.0 points, 14.7 rebounds, 8.7 assists and 1.0 steals. Basically it is his scoring that has not been there and that can easily be rectified in a matchup against New Orleans. Ja Morant and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are the only players currently with a median fantasy projection that is inside of a dozen points from Jokic.
Memphis Grizzlies at Houston Rockets
Last night, Memphis destroyed Orlando 124-96 with Ja Morant (28) and Jarren Jackson Jr. (25) leading the team in minutes. Everyone should be good to go for tonight and this is an excellent matchup with two of the fastest paced teams in the league squaring off. While the Grizzlies favored by nearly a dozen points heading in to Houston, this game has a 237.0 projected point total. Morant, Jackson and Desmond Bane are priority targets in all formats tonight.
Houston has only one victory in their last 17 games, but they have been putting points on the board. Dennis Schroder missed the last game with an ankle issue and if he is out again tonight, Kevin Porter Jr. is a priority. Christian Wood, Jae’Sean Tate and Jalen Green are the next best options with KJ Martin Jr., Eric Gordon and Alperen Sengun viable in tournaments with just ten teams in the Sunday player pool
Final Thoughts on NBA DFS picks for the Sunday, March 6 Fantasy Basketball Slate
Four of the five games tipoff in the first hour tonight then we have a West Coast nightcap at 10:00 p.m. ET. 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.
