NBA DFS Picks: The SuperDraft Starting Five | Kawhi Leonard

Welcome to the SuperDraft NBA DFS Starting Five! I’m here to give my favorite NBA DFS picks — two guards, two forwards, and a center — for the SuperDraft main slate for Monday, Sept. 7, starting at 6:30 p.m. EST.

NBA DFS Picks: SuperDraft Starting Five | Sept. 7

FRED VANVLEET (1.4X MULTIPLIER)

The stroke hasn’t been there for the 26-year-old Wichita State product in this series, as he’s shooting a paltry 32.9% from the field in the four games against the Celtics thus far. But there’s beautiful thing called ‘positive regression’ and I think it could be in store for him today. The usage continues to be there at 24.3%, and he’s averaging well north of 40 minutes per contest, hinting that all it will take for a spike in upside is to have his shot falling. At a 1.4x multiplier on SuperDraft tonight, he’s a must-have if tonight’s the night it does.

KEMBA WALKER (1.45X MULTIPLIER)

If it feels like I write up Walker every day, that’s because I do. Walker was underwhelming in Game 4, only attempting 9 field goal attempts in 41 minutes of action. That’s not ideal from your second-leading scorer in the series, so I expect Brad Stevens to be encouraging him to stay aggressive and fire plenty more in this one. I also love his assist rate in the past four games, which has ballooned to 28.4% despite less usage than both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Expect the Celtics to rely heavily on Walker to do some damage on the offensive end, and at the 1.45x multiplier, that could mean big things for his fantasy output.

JERAMI GRANT (1.65X MULTIPLIER)

Grant was another victim of the jump shot blues on Saturday, connecting on only 1-of-9 shots from the field. Remarkably, he salvaged a 30-point fantasy night on the defense, supplying four blocks and two steals to help carry Denver on that end of the floor. I don’t expect those numbers to come back, but I do imagine that if he’s going to play 41 minutes again there’s plenty more he can do to exceed 30-plus raw fantasy points. He’s a capable 3-point shooter, going 39% so far in these playoffs, so expect that the 0-5 in Game 2 was just a blip on the radar. Fire up Grant here at an outstanding 1.65x SuperDraft multiplier.

KAWHI LEONARD (1.1X MULTIPLIER)

The theme of the day has been buying-low on some of these poor shooting performances from Saturday, and Kawhi is surprisingly another example. Coming off maybe his worst playoff game ever (4-17 FG, 0-3 3PM, 4 TO’s), I expect Kawhi to do work early and often today. Sure, the Nuggets have multiple strong defenders in Torrey Craig and Gary Harris, but I feel Leonard is simply match-up proof. Add in his ability to contribute in every statistical category there is, and Kawhi could play himself into an upside just by getting more run by this game staying closer than the previous two. And while it may seem insignificant, the .1% extra of multiplier over the likes of Jayson Tatum helps make Kawhi my favorite forward play on SuperDraft today.

MASON PLUMLEE (1.85X MULTIPLIER)

If Nikola Jokic is ruled in, just play him instead. This is basically me wanting to make sure Plumlee is on your radar for SuperDraft, where the his projection might not pop to the top of the screen if the news breaks late enough. For his career, Plumlee averages 15 points and 11 rebounds per 36 minutes of action, and right around a fantasy point-per-minute. I’d imagine that if Joker sits, you’re looking at minimum 22 minutes of Plumlee to matchup against Ivica Zubac, with upside for much more.

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Author

Eric Lindquist

Eric Lindquist hails from Sioux Falls, South Dakota (yes, that’s the one with Mount Rushmore). A steady diet of three SportsCenters a day at an early age led to his obsession with sports, one that 30 years later is paying dividends for him as a successful DFS player and sports bettor. Despite over half a million dollars in net career earnings, he’s most passionate about helping others achieve their financial goals, an energy you can witness on the daily in his current role as a host and analyst at Stokastic. He’s a former Division I golfer at Iowa State, wishes he was a former Minnesota sports fan, and is a proud father to a 100-pound Bernese Mountain dog named Duke that wishes he could just eat people food instead of the crap he and his wife feed him on the daily.