Sunday, April 24, wraps up the weekend with a two-game featured slate beginning at 7 p.m. ET on Yahoo, DraftKings and FanDuel. Let’s look at the player pool and discuss the top NBA DFS picks today for DraftKings, FanDuel and Yahoo lineups. As always, you can head over to the Awesemo NBA DFS & Fantasy Basketball home page for all the fantasy basketball content you need for any given slate.
NBA DFS Picks: Fantasy Basketball Building Blocks Today | Sunday, April 24
Yahoo Play of the Day — Chris Paul: Phoenix Suns at New Orleans Pelicans
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 47.27 | DraftKings: 48.8
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 62.6% | FanDuel 40.9% | DraftKings 41.6%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $38 | FanDuel $10,200 | DraftKings $9,300
Chris Paul was sublime on Friday, leading the Suns to a 114-111 victory in New Orleans. In the absence of Devin Booker, the 36-year-old guard played 40 minutes and took 18 field goal attempts. Tonight he should see similar volume as Phoenix looks to fill in the scoring void left by Booker, and Paul also projects for a dozen assists and a handful of rebounds. The salary is one that is hard to overlook on Yahoo, where he is arguably the best point-per-dollar option among the top-shelf selections.
Deandre Ayton: Phoenix Suns at New Orleans Pelicans
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 38.41 | DraftKings: 39.49
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 48.0% | FanDuel 35.1% | DraftKings 34.1%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $30 | FanDuel $8,500 | DraftKings $8,100
The Phoenix Suns received one of the best playoff performances in recent memory, and it was courtesy of Deandre Ayton. The fourth-year center had 28 points, 17 rebounds, one assist, three steals and a block on his way to 60.9 fantasy points. Most encouraging was that he took 20 field goal attempts in his 35 minutes. That is double what he averaged in 22 playoff games last year and eight more than he averaged in this regular season. The big man does his best work in the paint, and with his nearly 65% success rate on field goal attempts, if he continues to see this level of opportunity, he will be in the running for the top score of the slate.
Brandon Ingram: New Orleans Pelicans vs. Phoenix Suns
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 40.01 | DraftKings: 41.51
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 54.6% | FanDuel 42.1% | DraftKings 37.9%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $33 | FanDuel $9,100 | DraftKings $8,800
So far in this series, Brandon Ingram is averaging 38 minutes and contributing across the box score. Over the last two games he has been dialed in from downtown, sinking 6 of 9 3-point attempts and averaging 35.5 points. In this stretch he also averaging nine rebounds and 5.5 assists as he and C.J. McCollum ($35) have been doing the heavy lifting for the Pelicans. Both players are core options and can be used individually or together in all formats.
Yahoo Discount Dandies
Delon Wright – Atlanta Hawks vs. Miami Heat ($10): The last two games have seen veteran Delon Wright playing significant minutes off the bench. Today he is projected to again see at least 25 minutes, and as the secondary facilitator and above-average rebounder, he can produce between 0.7 and 0.8 fantasy points per minute. Wright is a more appealing option than the next two minimum-salary recommendations.
P.J. Tucker – Miami Heat at Atlanta Hawks ($10): If P.J. Tucker (knee) is in the starting lineup, he is likely to be in line for 25 to 30 minutes. There are quite a few Heat players on the injury report, including Tucker, so this is a situation to monitor up until tipoff.
Landry Shamet – Phoenix Suns at New Orleans Pelicans ($10): In the absence of Booker, Landry Shamet slid back into the rotation and logged 29 minutes. The downside of rolling with Shamet is that he tends to defer to pretty much everyone on the court and most of his fantasy production is predicated on him knocking down his shots from behind the arc. Just know that there is not a lot of upside with this selection, and if his popularity continues to trend upwards, the savvy strategy will be to leave him out of the player pool.
Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks for the Sunday, April 24 Fantasy Basketball Slate
The Miami injury news has the possibility of shaking things up in dramatic fashion. Kyle Lowry is the most likely to be out or limited with his leg issue. Bam Adebayo has played through his bruised quad, though if for whatever reason he sits, Omer Yurtseven and Dewayne Dedmon would be phenomenal options and Jimmy Butler would be forced to shoulder more of the scoring load. The probable outcome is everyone being available, but be sure to have contingency plans in place if there is unexpected news right before tipoff.