NBA DFS action on Wednesday, March 17, locks at 7:00 p.m. EDT with a 10-game main slate on Yahoo, DraftKings and FanDuel. SuperDraft is locking one hour later at 8:oo p.m. EDT with a six-game slate. 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 Bradley Beal, Kevin Porter Jr., Rui Hachimura and more.
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NBA DFS Picks: Building Blocks, Wednesday, March 17th
Yahoo Play of the Day – Kevin Porter Jr.: Houston Rockets vs. Golden State Warriors
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 38.66 | DraftKings: 41.22
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 58.8% | FanDuel 44.9% | DraftKings 29.5%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $23 | FanDuel $6,300 | DraftKings $6,800
Back to the Rockets we go. John Wall (knee), P.J. Tucker (trade/buyout candidate) and David Nwaba (wrist) are out. Victor Oladipo (rest) is unlikely to play on consecutive nights. Then there are a host of questionable players in Ben McLemore (ankle), Danuel House (knee), Rodions Kurucs (oblique) and Christian Wood (ankle). There is a decent chance that we will see Wood return after he missed the last 17 games. Regardless of who is available, Kevin Porter Jr. is an excellent option on Yahoo at $23 against Golden State in a game with a 229.5 projected total.
In his four games with Houston, Porter is averaging 34.5 minutes and 17.5 field-goal attempts. This works out to 18.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, 8.3 assists and 2.8 combined blocks/steals. Over their last seven games, Golden State has ceded 120.4 points in regulation. It will depend on the health of the many questionable players to help us decide if we will once more turn to Jae’Sean Tate, Sterling Brown K.J. Martin Jr. and the other Rocket understudies tonight. However, once again Porter is a fine option with a salary that has not quite caught up with his increased role and responsibilities.
Bradley Beal: Washington Wizards vs. Sacramento Kings
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 48.18 | DraftKings: 50.03
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 18.6% | FanDuel 20.1% | DraftKings 19.4%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $43 | FanDuel $9,500 | DraftKings $9,300
While Bradley Beal draws the headline for his slight salary savings across the board, Russell Westbrook is absolutely in play as well. This duo ranks second (34.3%) and 11th (30.4%) in usage rate among all players with at least 1,000 minutes this season. Beal leads the league in scoring at 32.3 points per game and is averaging 1.34 Yahoo fantasy points per minute. Westbrook is second in the league with 10.1 assists and leads the league with 11 triple-doubles. In a fun twist, Westbrook is averaging 1.37 Yahoo fantasy points per minute, though he has not played as many games as Beal. Choose one or choose both, just make sure you don’t miss the boat.
Domantas Sabonis: Indiana Pacers vs. Brooklyn Nets
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 43.88 | DraftKings: 46.26
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 2.4% | FanDuel 12.7% | DraftKings 6.5%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $45 | FanDuel $9,200 | DraftKings $9,400
Tonight the Pacers are getting a cherry matchup against the Nets. This game boasts a 235.5 total with the visitors favored by a bucket. Domantas Sabonis continues to be an underrated source of fantasy production, and he would be more popular with the average DFS gamer if he were in a big market city with more exposure. This season Sabonis is posting career highs with 36.4 minutes, 14.8 field-goal attempts, 20.5 points, 6.3 assists and 1.7 combined blocks/steals. While he is 1 rebound shy of last season’s production, his 11.2 per game is eighth best in the league. Sabonis is likely to be lost in the mix tonight, which makes him an intriguing tournament option.
Good Value
Rui Hachimura: Washington Wizards vs. Sacramento Kings
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 26.24 | DraftKings: 26.78
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 0.6% | FanDuel 3.0% | DraftKings 0.3%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $19 | FanDuel $5,000 | DraftKings $5,800
It is hard to have much confidence in any Washington players outside of superstars Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook. However, Rui Hachimura has posted two of the best games of his young career in his last two outings. These came on the heels of coach Scott Brooks calling him out in a press conference and saying he needed to be more aggressive on offense and on the boards if the Wizards were going to have a chance to make the play-in tournament. It appears the message has been received.
Across his last two games, Hachimura has had twin 18-field-goal-attempt games, which were his third-highest marks in 79 career games. In these outings, he averaged 37.5 minutes, 25.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.5 combined blocks/steals. Tonight’s matchup is the perfect environment for a third straight high-production game. Hachimura is currently looking at next to no popularity among gamers, which makes him a nice contrarian move.
Risky Value
Paul George: Los Angeles Clippers at Dallas Mavericks
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 39.39 | DraftKings: 41.4
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 11.2% | FanDuel 18.5% | DraftKings 13.3%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $34 | FanDuel $7,600 | DraftKings $7,900
The Clippers seem to be in the doldrums and have lost seven of their last 12 games, including four of their last six. Half of these games have been blowouts, but they have been going in both directions. Four of the victories have been by 19 points or more, while three of the losses have been by 18 or more. Paul George has also been in a wicked shooting slum1p, going 15-for-46 from the field for just a 32.6% success rate. This has led to an amazing price for George, who has a nice matchup against the Mavericks in Dallas for the second time in three days.
Looking at the Awesemo Boom/Bust tool, we can see that there is an 11.4% chance or George being in the optimal DraftKings lineup tonight. He has a 19.8% chance of surpassing his boom score of 49.5 DraftKings points. However, he has a 42.1% chance of falling below his bust threshold of 39.5 DraftKings points. While George has posted 40 DraftKings points in four of his last 10 games, only once has he exceeded 45 fantasy points. Currently the Awesemo projections have George for right around 40 fantasy points depending on your site of choice.
Yahoo Daily Fantasy Basketball Discount Dandies
- Tomas Satoransky: CHI vs. SAS – $11
- James Wiseman: GSW at HOU – $11
- Daniel Theis: BOS at CLE – $12
SuperDraft Daily Fantasy Basketball Picks
- Kevin Porter Jr.: HOU vs. GSW – 1.40x multiplier
- Stephen Curry: GSW at HOU – 1.10x multiplier
- Dejounte Murray: SAS at CHI – 1.40x multiplier
Final Thoughts on the Wednesday, Mar. 17 NBA DFS Slate
Wednesday should be a wild one with 20 teams in action. Tonight there is a compact 2.5-hour window for tip-offs, as there are no games taking place in West Coast cities. 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.
