Sunday, April 10, marks the final day of the NBA regular season with an 11-game main slate tipping off 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 10
Yahoo Play of the Day — Nikola Jokic: Denver Nuggets vs. Los Angeles Lakers
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 62.44 | DraftKings: 65.49
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 51.4% | FanDuel 39.2% | DraftKings 41.1%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $58 | FanDuel $12,200 | DraftKings $12,400
Nothing is set in stone today, and there are a variety of pitfalls to avoid. Denver is currently tied with Utah for the fifth-best record in the league. While both teams are assured of going on the road in the first round of the playoffs, the opponents are not set in stone. This pair of teams will be squaring off against some combination of the Mavericks and Warriors, who also are also in flux. All four teams tip off at 9:30 p.m. ET tonight, so they will only have real-time glimpses of how their potential opponents are doing, which could lead to some late-game shenanigans. Nikola Jokic is locked in a battle with Joel Embiid to see who will be the NBA MVP this season as well. In the event Jokic rests, DeMarcus Cousins would be a solid option if he draws a spot start. If Jokic starts as expected, he could still crush the Los Angeles understudies and rack up 50 fantasy points in just three quarters of play. On a fun note, Jokic holds the record for the fastest triple-double in NBA history, logging one in just 14:33 on Feb. 15, 2018, against Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma City Thunder at Los Angeles Clippers
On Friday the Thunder used only six players, and Isaiah Roby played a tick over 14 minutes due to a combination of five quick fouls as well as a tweaked ankle. While it is hard to trust that Oklahoma City will give more than 20 to 25 minutes to the third-year forward even if he starts, we can look to the rest of their tightened rotation. Everyone that has even a modicum of NBA talent has been shut down for the season, so Jaylen Hoard, Vit Krejci, Melvin Frazier, Georgios Kalaitzakis and Zavier Simpson will all play heavy minutes. Better value plays are likely to reveal themselves closer to tipoff, but this quintet is fine as placeholders and all are options against the Clippers, who played yesterday and are likely to run out their backups as well.
Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Chicago Bulls
Karl-Anthony Towns has been ruled out, and it would be a surprise to see D’Angelo Russell and Anthony Edwards take the court for much more than a ceremonial start. Minnesota has wrapped up the top seed in the Play-In Tournament and is already prepping for that matchup. Naz Reid is a standout option, and other plays will be identified once the starting lineup has been announced tonight.
Chicago is also secured in their seeding, and they are resting DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic, Zach LaVine and Coby White as a result. Tonight should be the Ayo Dosunmu show, who could approach 40 minutes as the last point guard on the active roster. Troy Brown and Javonte Green will fill in the chasm left by the key players resting, which makes them neutral options in all formats Sunday.
New York Knickerbockers vs. Toronto Raptors
New York is another team that has shut down all of their top players. Obi Toppin, Immanuel Quickley and Alec Burks are the biggest beneficiaries of this approach. There is a chance that Mitchell Robinson plays, but if he is out, look to Jericho Sims as yet another discount center option on Sunday.
Toronto is locked into the fifth seed, so they are likely to rest their starters as well. We will need to see who coach Nick Nurse is running out tonight before making any decisions on this squad.
Los Angeles Lakers at Denver Nuggets
The Lakers have sidelined LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook. That means we should continue to see big minutes for Talen Horton-Tucker, Malik Monk, Stanley Johnson and Austin Reaves. Dwight Howard and Wenyen Gabriel are differentiation plays on a slate loaded with deeply discounted centers.
Look to Horton-Tucker against Denver tonight in the NBA player prop market. Currently, he has a 17.5 over/under on his point prop, and the Awesemo NBA player projections have him for 22.0 points, which gives him a 72% probability of surpassing the over. On Friday he disappointed with just 15 points, though he did have 16 field goal attempts. Thursday night he showed his potential to crush this prop by going 15 of 28 from the field and 8 of 9 from the free throw line on his way to a career-high 40 points.
Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks for the Sunday, April 10 Fantasy Basketball Slate
Be careful tonight, as concrete news may be difficult to pin down. Targeting the key players on teams looking to win will be key, but by no means a guarantee of production or even minutes.
