Thursday, Jan. 27, winds down the work week with a two-game main slate tipping off at 7:30 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: DraftKings, FanDuel & Yahoo Building Blocks Today | Thursday, Jan. 27
Yahoo Play of the Day — Joel Embiid: Philadelphia 76ers vs. Los Angeles Lakers
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 52.14 | DraftKings: 54.38
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 52.6% | FanDuel 50.7% | DraftKings 52.0%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $53 | FanDuel $11,400 | DraftKings $11,400
The one nice thing about the featured Thursday NBA games is that they typically have superstars on all four teams. On the flip side, if anything happens with regards to health or late-breaking news, the player pool gets very thin quickly.
Tonight Joel Embiid is going against a disinterested Lakers frontcourt. Anthony Davis (knee) returned to action after a 17-game layoff, but he played just 25 minutes and he is no match on defense for Embiid — of course, who really is these days. Dwight Howard likely will start, and DeAndre Jordan may even get to see his first action in nearly two weeks, though neither will be of any concern to Embiid.
Since Christmas Day Embiid has played in 15 games while averaging 31.8 minutes and 21 field goal attempts at an outstanding 55.9% success rate. He is even averaging 38.8% on 3.3 attempts from beyond the arc during this stretch, which is an accuracy level never approached, even briefly, by Russell Westbrook during his career. This has culminated in 34.7 points, 10.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.2 combined blocks and steals. Shake Milton (back) and Seth Curry (ankle) are still out, though Danny Green (hip) may return after missing the last seven games. Tobias Harris, Tyrese Maxey and even Furkan Korkmaz can be used liberally in all formats tonight.
LeBron James: Los Angeles Lakers at Philadelphia 76ers
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 46.43 | DraftKings: 47.85
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 22.2% | FanDuel 50.4% | DraftKings 32.2%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $55 | FanDuel $10,700 | DraftKings $11,100
The return of Davis, even in limited minutes, may actually help LeBron James, as it gives defenses at least someone else to account for with above-average offensive talent. It would be great to see Davis healthy for extended stretches, but it seems that ship has sailed off over the horizon.
Until Davis is at least approaching 30 minutes per game, James should continue to flirt with 50 fantasy points more often than not. Westbrook is likely to be the odd man out, and he could even fall out of the closing lineup again with coach Frank Vogel trying to keep his job on this road trip. Philadelphia is only favored by a bucket, so hopefully this will be a close game, which should boost the minutes for the key players on both sides.
Minnesota Timberwolves at Golden State Warriors
On Sunday, Jan. 16, the Timberwolves knocked off the Warriors 119-99 in Minnesota. Tonight Golden State has the homecourt advantage, and they are favored by half a dozen points. Karl-Anthony Towns has been incredibly consistent, with at least 40 fantasy points in 13 of his last 14 games. Jaylen Nowell (lower back) is questionable after picking up an injury in the last game, as is Patrick Beverley (ankle), who has missed the last two games. If Beverley remains out, Anthony Edwards and D’Angelo Russell should continue facilitate the offense, and Malik Beasley would have those duties off the bench. If Beverley returns to action, Beasley is a tournament dart throw at best. Jarred Vanderbilt is always a risky fantasy option since he barely shoots, but he also rarely misses from close range and racks up the boards, steals and assists.
Stephen Curry is always a solid play in tournaments, as he can collect 3-pointers in bunches, though with Klay Thompson returning Curry’s overall usage does take a little hit. Fortunately, that has been factored into his salary. Thompson is likely to see his minutes limit tick up slightly in the 25- to 28-minute range, though coach Steve Kerr has no desire to push him too fast. Draymond Green (back) remains out, and Andre Iguodala (hip) is as well. That will continue to mean solid run for Kevon Looney as the lone viable big man, though Nemanja Bjelica should get his turn chasing Towns out to the 3-point line. Andrew Wiggins, Otto Porter and Jordan Poole will round out the starting lineup, and all are reasonable options with varying degrees of utility across the various DFS sites. Gary Payton II, Damion Lee and Jonathan Kuminga are wild cards off the bench, and while they should all see at least 10 minutes, it depends on the whims of Kerr as well as the game flow that will determine which of this trio sees enough run to be fantasy relevant.
The NBA player props market for Curry tonight is one to exploit. In the Awesemo projections he is currently carrying a 5.7-rebound projection, while his rebound prop is over/under 4.5. Over his last four games, Curry is averaging 5.5 rebounds and has at least four in each outing. This may be a bet worth making, with an expected win rate of 68% on OddsShopper.
Final Thoughts on NBA DFS picks for the Thursday, Jan. 27 Slate
There are only two games tonight, which means all players with a viable projection will be heavily rostered. 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.
