Tuesday, Jan. 7 keeps our week rolling with a six-game main slate for all the big daily fantasy sites. Before you lock in your NBA DFS lineups and NBA DFS picks on DraftKings, FanDuel, Yahoo and FantasyDraft, make sure to check out check out Awesemo’s NBA DFS rankings and projections. Let’s dig into some NBA DFS Picks, including Kyle Lowry, Derrick Rose and more.
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Don’t forget to check out the NBA Strategy Show featuring Josh Engleman and Dave “Loughy” Loughran as they break down the NBA DFS slate and give out their thoughts on Julius Randle in a tough matchup, Toronto rotations accounting for the absence of Fred VanVleet, grape jelly on grilled cheese sandwiches plus other injury news and analysis.
Also, be sure to read Chris Spags’ Switch and Hedge for more NBA DFS picks and analysis.
NBA DFS Picks: Prime Time Players
Kyle Lowry: Toronto Raptors vs. Portland Trailblazers
DraftKings $8,700, FanDuel $8,400, Yahoo $39 Ownership Rating (preliminary run): DraftKings 24.1%, FanDuel 34.1% Yahoo Fantasy 26.0%
Fred VanVleet is going to be out with a hamstring injury, so this thins out the Raptors roster even more. There is a decent chance that we see Norman Powell returning later this week but he is all but ruled out for a 10th straight game. This means that Kyle Lowry should be in line for close to 40 minutes as a baseline tonight. When VanVleet is off of the court, Lowry sees a tick up in his rebounding, assist and scoring rates—though it amounts to about a tenth of a fantasy point per minute. The benefit of VanVleet being out is the security of the usage and necessity for Lowry to be the focal point for darn near everything while he is on the court tonight. That makes for a very nice cash game building block.
NBA DFS Picks: Good Value
Derrick Rose: Detroit Pistons at Cleveland Cavaliers
DraftKings $6,400, FanDuel $6,100, Yahoo $22 Ownership Rating (preliminary run): DraftKings 21.4%, FanDuel 22.8% Yahoo Fantasy 28.0%
While he as only started once this season, Derrick Rose is seeing a steady 26-ish minutes and having tremendous fantasy efficiency season. We know that Blake Griffin will be out and potentially is in line for season-ending surgery. He has been out enough that this should not change much for Rose, but we could see him inch closer to 28 minute in close/winnable games. Please note that he has not played over 29 minutes this season by design but he has played 28.2 and 28.9 minutes in the last two games.
Over their last 10 games, Cleveland is a bottom-10 team allowing 113.7 points per 100 possessions with a middle-of-the-pack pace. A reasonable fantasy projection would be something in the low to mid 30s with 5-10 fantasy points of upside.
NBA DFS Picks: Risky Value
Steven Adams: Oklahoma City Thunder at Brooklyn Nets
DraftKings $6,600, FanDuel $6,500, Yahoo $24 Ownership Rating (preliminary run): DraftKings 33.9%, FanDuel 26.2% Yahoo Fantasy 40.4%
Last night, Steven Adams had a phenomenal game against Joel Embiid with 24 points and 15 rebounds on his way to 49 fantasy points. The points were a season high and the rebounds were his third-best effort of the season. He also posted a season high with 35.1 minutes. Adams is averaging 28.1 minutes per game and in his four back-to-backs, he is averaging 28.3 minutes with essentially equal fantasy production to his full season rates.
The concern here is that Adams may see closer to his 28 minutes or even a few below that. Brooklyn is playing at the fifth-fastest pace over their last 10 games with 102.4 possessions per 48 minutes but they also have the fifth-best defensive rating, allowing 104.2 points per 100 possessions.
Could the New Zealander top 40 fantasy points for a third straight game? Of course. Just note that he averaged 27.3 fantasy points in the three prior games on 27.9 minutes per game. Even with only six games tonight, there are plenty of other ways we can build our lineups and let others roll the dice with this risky chalk option.
Yahoo Discount Dandies
Sekou Doumbouya at CLE – $11
Cedi Osman vs. DET – $10
Darious Garland vs. DET – $11
Kyle Kuzma vs. NYK – $11
FantasyCruncher Tip of the Day
Use promo code PRIMETIME to receive 50% off any one-week premium subscription (including FantasyCruncher options).
With the incredibly user-friendly and flexible rules creation feature on FantasyCruncher, we can take our lineup construction to the next level.
Today we are going to talk about the FantasyCruncher roster display settings. By clicking on the gear icon after you have run your initial crunch, you can access a variety of display settings.
When you choose the gear, you will see the following menu appear.
Final Thoughts
This looks like a fun slate where we should have some decisions to make. However, with a dozen teams in the player pool, there is likely to be an illness or unexpected injury that turns things sideways leading up to lock.
Tune in to the Deeper Dive/Live Before Lock shows on YouTube beginning at 5 p.m. EST tonight for all of the up-to-date information.
As always, you can reach out to me in Awesemo.com Premium Slack or on Twitter @EMacDFS if you have any NBA DFS questions about DraftKings, FanDuel, Yahoo or FantasyDraft.
Good Luck NBA DFS Gamers! ~ EMac
If you haven’t signed up for Yahoo Fantasy DFS, click this link and use the promo code Awesemo when making your first deposit and you will be eligible for $30 of free play, which Yahoo will match through the first $30 of your deposit (this bonus will be received in Yahoo Sports Rewards Points, aka YSRP, which can be used to enter any paid contest immediately).
