NBA DFS action on Saturday, Feb. 27, locks at 7:00 p.m. EST with a seven-game main slate on Yahoo, DraftKings and FanDuel. SuperDraft is locking at 8:00 p.m. EST with five games. Before you lock in your lineups on Yahoo, DraftKings, FanDuel and SuperDraft, make sure to check out Awesemo’s daily fantasy basketball picks, rankings and projections. Let’s dig into some daily fantasy basketball picks, including Karl-Anthony Towns, Russell Westbrook, Joel Embiid and more.
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NBA DFS Picks: Building Blocks, Saturday, February 27th
Yahoo Play of the Day – Karl-Anthony Towns: Minnesota Timberwolves at Washington Wizards
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 49.96 | DraftKings: 51.19
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 32.6% | FanDuel 18.2% | DraftKings 13.3%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $43 | FanDuel $9,700 | DraftKings $10,100
We will be looking towards quite a few Timberwolves tonight in their matchup against the Wizards which boasts a 237.5 projected point total. D’Angelo Russell is going to be out for another month after having arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. Malik Beasley has been suspended for a dozen games for off court conduct. That leaves Karl-Anthony Towns and a motley crew to do the heavy lifting tonight.
In his nine games since returning from a bout with Covid-19, Towns has averaged 32.7 minutes per game. He has seen an uptick in his field goal attempts with at least eighteen in four of his last five games. Focusing on those five games he is averaging 33.3 minutes with 25.2 points, 10.8 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.8 combined blocks/steals. He is a fine NBA DFS pick in all formats tonight, though he dramatically stands out on Yahoo at just $43, which is about 15% too low for his current level of production. KAT far outclasses anyone the Wizards can throw at him and he should own the glass tonight.
Russell Westbrook: Washington Wizards vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 53.07 | DraftKings: 55.82
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 40.2% | FanDuel 32.9% | DraftKings 22.5%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $42 | FanDuel $9,400 | DraftKings $9,900
Washington has found their groove winning six of their last seven games. Tonight is the first game of a back-to-back, though we have now seen Russell Westbrook participate in both games during the most recent two such situations. Westbrook has been quite the source of fantasy goodness since joining the Wizards. In 23 games this season he is averaging 34.1 minutes, 19.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, 9.7 assist with 1.2 combined blocks/steals and his seven triple-doubles lead the league.
Somehow he is managing this while playing next to Bradley Beal who tops the league in both scoring and usage rate. This is a nice spot for the Wizards to keep on rolling as the Timberwolves have lost 10 of their last 11 games and they will be led into this matchup by their new head coach.
Joel Embiid: Philadelphia 76ers vs. Cleveland Cavaliers
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 54.23 | DraftKings: 55.88
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 27.4% | FanDuel 29.5% | DraftKings 27.5%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $50 | FanDuel $10,300 | DraftKings $10,300
This slate is loaded with centers in dream matchups. It will be interesting to see how many gamers are willing to spend on two premium options at this position. Tobias Harris (knee) will be out tonight so that means Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons will be the top offensive options in a matchup with an underwhelming Cavs defense.
Over their last dozen games, Cleveland has ceded 119.2 points per outing to their opponents in regulation. In his last five meetings against Jarrett Allen, Embiid has topped 60 fantasy points three times and he is averaging just shy of 50 in the other two. Yes, those were against Allen when he was with the Nets, but has anything really changed now that he is on the Cavaliers?
Good Value
Minnesota Timberwolves at Washington Wizards
Quite a few of the Minnesota understudies will be asked to step up tonight with the team shorthanded in the backcourt. Anthony Edwards sticks out as a tremendous option in all game formats on Yahoo, though he is best left for tournaments on the other DFS sites with his elevated salary. Jarred Vanderbilt and Naz Reid are intriguing options in the frontcourt as Washington is one of the worst rebounding teams in the league.
Ricky Rubio is probably the “safest” option but he is not coming along with much of a discount as he has already been filling in for D’Angelo Russell. Jordan McLaughlin and Jaden McDaniels are somewhat known commodities and they should produce in the 20-25 fantasy point range.
Finally we get to second-year guard Jaylen Nowell who was the 43rd overall selection the 2019 NBA Draft out of the University of Washington. This month he has become a fringe rotation player and he should be in line for 20-24 minutes. While he carries the most uncertainty, he is also the cheapest Minnesota option. Last year in 26 G-League games he averaged 32.7 minutes with 21.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists while shooting 49.0% from the field and 44.1% from 3-point range. In college, he was a starter for both of his seasons with the Huskies and was known for his scoring and marksmanship.
Risky Value
Derrick Rose: New York Knicks vs. Indiana Pacers
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 27.71 | DraftKings: 27.98
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 20.8% | FanDuel 9.9% | DraftKings 23.9%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $19 | FanDuel $5,700 | DraftKings $5,300
On DraftKings and Yahoo, Derrick Rose is garnering a lot of projected interest. Elfrid Payton (hamstring) is again doubtful and we could see Rose collect a second straight start. Since joining the Knicks and reuniting with coach Tom Thibodeau, Rose has helped lead the team to five wins in their last seven games. That is a nice story, but it does not help us from a fantasy perspective. Even though he started the last game, Rose still just saw 27.6 minutes and while he had a good game, we need to remember that it came against the pathetic defense of the Sacramento Kings.
Looking at the Awesemo Boom/Bust tool we can see that Rose projects to be in the optimal lineup 10.5% of the time. He is projected to reach his “boom” score of 5x his salary + 10 or 36.5 DraftKings points 14.3% of the time. On the flipside, he projects to finish at or below his “bust” score of 5x his salary or 26.5 DraftKings points 42.6% of the time. Even without Payton, New York still has plenty of other guard options with Alec Burks, rookie Immanuel Quickley, the enigmatic Frank Ntilikina and journeyman Austin Rivers. This is a spot where we should let other gamers assume the risk of a poor performance and stay away from this NBA DFS pick.
Yahoo Daily Fantasy Basketball Discount Dandies
- Jordan McLaughlin and Jaylen Nowell: MIN at WAS – $10
- Shake Milton: PHI vs. CLE – $10
- Theo Maledon: OKC vs. DEN -$10
SuperDraft Daily Fantasy Basketball Picks
- Nikola Jokic: DEN at OKC – 1.20x multiplier
- Dejounte Murray: SAS vs. NOP – 1.35x multiplier
- Jamal Murray: DEN at OKC – 1.35x multiplier
Final Thoughts on the Saturday, Feb. 27 NBA DFS Slate
Tonight we have a very compressed slate with all of the games tipping off within a 90 minute window. There is a one hour gap between the first two games and the rest of the slate, so do watch out for news. 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.
