Yahoo Fantasy Basketball Picks Today: Free NBA DFS Rankings 3/18/22

The Friday slate has 12 NBA games to choose from for daily fantasy basketball purposes on Yahoo. There is plenty of injury news to keep track with names like Lebron James, Joel Embiid, Ja Morant, Trae Young and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander all listed as questionable. Right now, Morant looks like the most questionable of the bunch and his absence would allow players like Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. to take larger roles. As of now, the largest over/under sits with The Rockets vs. Pacers game which is projected at 239.5. Both Memphis vs. Atlanta and New Orleans vs. San Antonio have projected 236.5 totals attached to their games as well.

This column will use the Awesemo NBA player projections, fantasy basketball rankings and NBA DFS tools to build lineups and help wade through the day’s data and news. Make sure to read to the end for a couple of extreme value plays for Yahoo fantasy basketball lineups today.

Yahoo Fantasy Basketball & NBA DFS Value Picks Today

Guard — C.J. McCollum $39

The NBA projections today on Awesemo have a lot of the top point guards on the slate popping for explosive nights. There is no reason to not load up at this position, but if targeting one player, C.J. McCollum stands out as the best value option. His price has gone up but it is still under $40 on Yahoo and that makes him the cheapest of the top five point guards in the Awesemo projections. He has averaged well over 1.25 Yahoo points per minute over with Brandon Ingram out and should continue to see heavy usage today against the Spurs, who are bottom-10 in points allowed and opposing 3-point field goal percentage. McCollum is coming off a bit of a slow game too so his rostership today may not even get that high.

Guard — Desmond Bane $21

One beneficiary of Morant potentially missing today’s game for the Grizzlies would be his running mate at guard, Bane. Bane has developed into one of the best shooters in the league at a fast pace and has now managed to go over 35 Yahoo points in four of his last five games despite only playing more than 30 minutes once in that span. Bane’s usage has been limited recently by some blowout wins, but there is a close point spread today over 4.5 between Memphis and Atlanta. Bane is easily within the top 10 in NBA player point projections on Awesemo at his position today and would get a massive bump if Morant is ruled out, potentially pushing for over 30 minutes in what should be a very fast paced game with Atlanta.

Forward — Kevin Durant $52

The Nets’ Kevin Durant is coming off two lackluster NBA fantasy performances. The last one really hurt as the Nets were at home and did not have Kyrie Irving in the lineup against Dallas. The 41.2 Yahoo points Durant put up against Dallas do not jump off the page, but the 10 assists he grabbed are interesting and show how much his usage goes up with Irving off the floor. No one has benefited more from a usage perspective from Irving being out than Durant. Today there is a matchup with the Blazers, who have given up some monster fantasy performances to opponents of late and rate out as one of the worst defensive teams in the league. The only worry is the blowout potential, (Brooklyn is -14.5 favorites) but Durant has been playing huge minutes and with Irving out again, he should continue that trend today. Load up on Durant in a matchup that could produce a slate-breaking kind of day.

Durant was showing up well in Awesemo’s fantasy basketball rankings today. He is popping as one of the best Yahoo Fantasy Basketball plays on the entire DFS slate. Check out who else is one of the best NBA picks today in the Yahoo NBA DFS Cheat Sheet.

Forward — Mikal Bridges $24

The Suns are in a solid spot tonight, as they sit as 5.5-point favorites with a home matchup against the Bulls in a game that has a 231-point total. Lots of names appear to be out for the Suns, with the likes of Jae Crowder (questionable), Cameron Johnson (out) and Chris Paul (out) injured. That should mean continued good usage and minutes for Mikal Bridges, who can sometimes be a forgotten piece of this Suns team. He has played over 30 minutes in five of his last six starts and has seen his usage go up over his last two games as well. With the solid matchup on tap, he also rates out as a top-10 play at his position in the Awesemo NBA Projections today and helps fit in studs like Durant and McCollum. He is also a sneaky way to get a piece of this potentially explosive fantasy matchup between two high-scoring teams.

Latest NBA DFS Content

Center — Pascal Siakam $35

Center could be a spend-up position today. Both Embiid (questionable) and Nikola Jokic are on the slate, but the Awesemo NBA Projections also like another player in Pascal Siakam, who sits third in the overall projections and has a far better value score than either of the top-rated plays. Siakam has looked much better of late after enduring a semi-long shooting slump and has now posted 49 or more Yahoo points in four straight starts, including double-doubles in each of his last two. The Lakers are obviously the cherry on top of this very strong play, as they allow the fifth-most points per game and third-most rebounds. Siakam’s a great upper-tier value who seems likely to push for tops at his position, even despite having to deal with the two front runners at MVP.

Yahoo NBA DFS Value Play — Jalen Smith $16

Jalen Smith has now produced double-doubles in three of his last six games. The Pacers have the best matchup on the board as they get the fantasy gift of playing the Rockets. Despite Houston being one of the worst defensive teams in the league, this game only has a -3.5/+3.5 spread, so expect the Pacers players to all get their usual allotment of minutes. Smith has averaged well over 1.1 Yahoo points per minute over the last month and has landed over 30 Yahoo points in two of his last three games. There are few more reliable value options to target from this game than Smith, who rates out as the top value play over $15 at Power Forward in the Awesemo NBA Projections.

Yahoo NBA DFS Value Play — Keldon Johnson $26

The Spurs’ Keldon Johnson may be a little more expensive than the usual value targets at this range but he has been seeing really solid usage of late and deserves some attention today when building lineups. Johnson has played over 32 minutes in each of his last six games and has now also produced over 40 Yahoo points in four of his last six games as well. The Pelicans have played at a higher pace of late and are bottom 10 defensively in terms of opposing FG percentage and opposing 3-point field goal percentage allowed on the year. It is a high upside spot for Johnson, who rates out strong again today.

Thanks for reading to the end of this article! If you appreciate this free content and want to see more of it every day, you can help us out by sharing this article on social media!