NBA DFS action on Monday, April 5, locks at 7 p.m. ET with a seven-game main slate on Yahoo, DraftKings and FanDuel. Before you lock in your lineups, make sure to check out Awesemo’s daily fantasy basketball picks, rankings and projections. Let’s dig into some NBA DFS and daily fantasy basketball picks, including Karl-Anthony Towns, Pascal Siakam and more.
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NBA DFS Picks: Building Blocks, Monday, April 5th
Yahoo Play of the Day — Jordan McLaughlin: Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Sacramento Kings
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 35.09 | DraftKings: 35.16
Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 51.4% | FanDuel 37.4% | DraftKings 42.4%
DFS Salary: Yahoo $12 | FanDuel $4,600 | DraftKings $4,400
Tonight Minnesota will likely be without Malik Beasley (hamstring), Ricky Rubio (back), Jaylen Nowell (leg) and D’Angelo Russell (knee). On tap is a matchup with the Kings, who have the worst defense in the league, allowing 117.9 points per 100 possessions. Jordan McLaughlin played nearly 42 minutes on Saturday, and after Nowell suffered an injury in the first quarter he was on the court for all but three minutes.
Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards also saw heavy minutes, playing 44 and 41.3, respectively. Currently Awesemo is projecting McLaughlin for 36 to 37 minutes, and there is a good chance he will play over 40 again. While he will be wildly popular, it is for good reason. Look to differentiate your NBA DFS picks elsewhere.
Karl-Anthony Towns: Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Sacramento Kings
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 54.56 | DraftKings: 57.65
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 35.4% | FanDuel 27.4% | DraftKings 32.4%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $49 | FanDuel $11,000 | DraftKings $10,600
Towns is riding a six-game streak with 50-plus fantasy points. This is no fluke, as he has reached that milestone in nine of 13 games. As mentioned above, the Kings are horrible on defense and are also in the bottom third of the league in most rebounding metrics. Towns contributes across the board, with 24.6 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and 2.3 combined blocks/steals. He is also averaging 6.2 3-point attempts per game with a 38.4% success rate. Gamers will definitely want Towns tonight.
Pascal Siakam: Toronto Raptors vs. Washington Wizards
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 43.63 | DraftKings: 44.68
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 21.8% | FanDuel 24.8% | DraftKings 22.0%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $36 | FanDuel $8,700 | DraftKings $8,500
Toronto will be without Kyle Lowry and Rodney Hood tonight. Fred VanVleet is questionable after suffering a hip injury against the Warriors on Saturday. The Raptors won that game by 53 points, so there was no need to rush VanVleet back into action. Regardless of his status, gamers DFSers can look to Pascal Siakam in this cherry matchup with Washington. The Wizards are playing at the fastest pace in the league this season, with 104.65 possessions per 48 minutes. They are also a bottom-five team in most defensive and rebounding metrics.
Siakam sees an uptick in his fantasy points per minute when Lowry is off the court, and this is from increased assist and rebounding rates. There is a good chance that VanVleet will be out of commission for a game or two, which would have Siakam soaking up additional field-goal attempts. It is hard to envision Siakam with less than 40 fantasy points, and 50 is definitely in play. If rookie point guard Malachi Flynn ends up drawing a spot start, that would provide additional welcome salary relief.
Good Value
Detroit Pistons at Oklahoma City Thunder
This game will be featuring the understudies playing prominent roles for both teams. Detroit will be without Mason Plumlee, Wayne Ellington and Rodney McGruder. Oklahoma City has shut down Al Horford for the season, and there is a good chance Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will not appear much the rest of the year as the tanking commences. Tonight they will also be without Darius Bazley, Isaiah Roby, Luguentz Dort, Josh Hall and Mike Muscala.
Jerami Grant and Isaiah Stewart should see heavy minutes in the frontcourt. Saddiq Bey and Josh Jackson should have secure minutes on the wing, but the backcourt is a mess; gamers should be staying away from Killian Hayes, Dennis Smith Jr., Cory Joseph, Saben Lee, Frank Jackson and Sekou Doumbouya.
For the Thunder, the most appealing players are Kenrich Williams, Theo Maledon and Moses Brown. Ty Jerome should approach 30 minutes, but he is hard to trust, and Aleksej Pokusevski has an even wider range of outcomes — 14 or 40 fantasy points would not be a surprise.
Finally, there is a double “Remember Me” game with Svi Mykhailiuk and Hamidou Diallo squaring off after they were just traded for each other. While this is likely to be a sloppy game to watch, there will be fantasy goodness available on the cheap.
Risky Value
De’Aaron Fox: Sacramento Kings at Minnesota Timberwolves
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 45 | DraftKings: 46.09
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 28.4% | FanDuel 25.2% | DraftKings 16.6%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $40 | FanDuel $9,300 | DraftKings $9,200
While De’Aaron Fox is great and having a breakout season, his fantasy salary is at an all-time high. It is well deserved, but it makes things somewhat tenuous from a point-per-dollar perspective. Awesemo’s Boom/Bust tool shows there is a 13.8% chance of Fox being in the DraftKings optimal lineup tonight. There is just a 15.2% chance of him reaching his boom score probability (5x salary + 10) of 56.0 DraftKings points. Conversely, there is a 49.6% likelihood of him falling below his bust score threshold of 46.0 DraftKings points.
Fox has surpassed 56 DraftKings points in five of 49 games. Since the acquisition of Delon Wright, Fox has topped 34 minutes only twice in five games. There will be plenty of value options tonight, so affording Fox is not the issue. However, there are other top-shelf players tonight that have a better fantasy outlook.
 Yahoo Daily Fantasy Basketball Discount Dandies
- Kenrich Williams: OKC vs. DET – $10
- Deni Avdija: WAS at TOR – $10
- Isaiah Stewart: DET at OKC – $10
Final Thoughts on the Monday, April 5th NBA DFS Slate
Today is a compressed schedule with six of our seven games tipping off at 7 p.m. ET. 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.
