Tuesday, May 25, brings a three-game slate with a bounty of luxury options leading the way. Let’s look at the three-game main slate and discuss the top NBA DFS picks for DraftKings, FanDuel and Yahoo lineups. Don’t forget to head over to the Awesemo NBA DFS home page for more great written daily fantasy basketball content, including the FREE NBA Deep Dive — the most in-depth article in the industry.
***Get a SNEAK PEEK with our free premium data, tools and content of the day, the Awesemo Premium NBA Player Popularity Rankings.***
NBA DFS Picks: Building Blocks, Tuesday, May 25th
Yahoo Play of the Day — Devin Booker: Phoenix Suns vs. Los Angeles Lakers
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 38.58 | DraftKings: 40.72
Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 45.6% | FanDuel 37.6% | DraftKings 29.0%
DFS Salary: Yahoo $31 | FanDuel $8,200 | DraftKings $8,100
The pressure is now squarely on the Lakers, who fell to the Suns 99-90 on Sunday. They are favored by a bucket in Phoenix, but this is going to be a slugfest. Devin Booker saw heavy minutes, playing the entire first quarter and then coming in with 9:19 on the clock in the second quarter and sitting only eight seconds the rest of the way. In his team-high 45 minutes, Booker sunk half of his 26 field-goal attempts, tallying 34 points and equaling the eight assists notched by Chris Paul. Paul was dinged up, playing through a shoulder injury after colliding with Deandre Ayton, though he is expected to be a full-go tonight.
This is going to be an interesting chess match to see how the Lakers counter the Suns’ successful strategy of working Booker off of multiple screens to set him up for shots or drives. While he may not maintain the same level of marksmanship from the field, the minutes and opportunity will be there for Booker tonight.
Jayson Tatum: Boston Celtics at Brooklyn Nets
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 46.34 | DraftKings: 48.33
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 23.4% | FanDuel 27.8% | DraftKings 20.2%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $44 | FanDuel $10,000 | DraftKings $9,800
The Celtics have had 72 hours to hear about their lackluster Saturday effort from the fans and the media. Ideally they will answer the call, as that should lead to 20-plus field-goal attempts for Jayson Tatum. Tatum is an intriguing option in tournaments, as he is getting a little lost in the shuffle with all of the other big-name options on this three-game slate. He definitely took things to the next level this year, posting career highs with 35.8 minutes, 26.4 points, 7.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists. While his overall Game 1 box score was underwhelming, if a couple more shots had dropped, he would have posted mid-40s fantasy points. This is still a great matchup, and Tatum should once again be the focal point of the Boston offense.
Good Value
Kawhi Leonard: Los Angeles Clippers vs. Dallas Mavericks
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 44.65 | DraftKings: 45.48
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 42.6% | FanDuel 32.0% | DraftKings 43.6%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $37 | FanDuel $9,400 | DraftKings $8,300
The old adage “this is why they play the games” was appropriate for the inaugural game of this series. Los Angeles strategically crafted its record so it would get Dallas as an opponent, and that looked to have backfired a bit on Saturday, with the Mavericks earning a 113-103 road victory. Kawhi Leonard’s salary on both Yahoo and DraftKings is just too low. The FanDuel cap hit is more appropriate, but there is still plenty of room for attainable upside. Neither of these teams play fast, but with Leonard’s ability to contribute in all facets of the game, particularly with the hustle stats, he should be flirting with 50 fantasy points tonight. It will be interesting to see which version of Paul George shows up tonight, as he was terrible in Game 1.
Phoenix Suns vs. Los Angeles Lakers
Cameron Johnson was the only reserve who topped 13 minutes for the Suns. Cameron Payne saw 12:40, and Dario Saric had 11:17 minutes of action. Torrey Craig and E’Twaun Moore combined for just 5:08. Johnson is the only player of interest from the bench unit, as he should continue to see 20 to 22 minutes backing up forward Jae Crowder and Mikal Bridges. Saric looks to be the direct backup for Deandre Ayton and would likely need something to befall him before getting more run outside of mop up duty. Similarly, Payne would need Paul or Booker to be dinged up before he is going to see more than 12 to 15 minutes. The shortened rotation combined with the difficult matchup makes the Suns reserves risky options tonight on the main slate, so finding NBA DFS picks elsewhere might be a better option.
Yahoo Daily Fantasy Basketball Discount Dandies
- Jae Crowder: PHX vs. LAL – $11
- Cameron Johnson PHX vs. LAL – $10
- Patrick Beverley: LAC vs. DAL – $10
Final Thoughts on the Tuesday, May 25th NBA DFS Slate
Tonight there are three games with a host of top-tier options, so there will be plenty of decision points to keep tournaments interesting for sure. 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 play on DraftKings or FanDuel.
