The NBA DFS Big Board is a one-stop shop for building your lineups. It gives each player on the slate a Points Rating, Value Rating and Leverage Rating on a scale from 1 to 100, which allows you to easily decipher some of the top options on the slate. The NBA season is nearly a week old, but this is our first taste of a moderately sized slate. Every other day this season has featured either three games or fewer or 10 games or more, so this slate features a bit of a different dynamic. Let’s dive into some of the midrange options that are popping in the NBA DFS projections and on the Big Board daily fantasy rankings tonight.
NBA Daily Fantasy Rankings & DFS Projections Today
Giannis Antetokounmpo, F/C, Milwaukee Bucks
DraftKings Points Rating: 98 | FanDuel Points Rating: 98
When it comes to raw points, no one in basketball can hang with Giannis. He averaged 1.66 DraftKings points per minute last season, and he’s upped that figure to 1.92 through the first two games this year. His fantasy production was kept in check in their last game, but that was because it turned into a blowout. Antetokounmpo finished with just 22.8 minutes, but that doesn’t figure to be an issue vs. the Spurs. Overall, Giannis owns the top mark in the Awesomo NBA Projections.
That said, whether or not you should pay up for him in GPPs is a legit question. He doesn’t stand out as a particularly great value at his current price across the industry, and he’s also expected to be one of the highest-owned players on the slate. Our Boom/Bust Probability Tool gives him just a 19.8% chance of being in the optimal lineup on DraftKings, which is below his projected ownership.
Jonas Valanciunas, C, New Orleans Pelicans
DraftKings Value Rating: 100 | FanDuel Value Rating: 100
Valanciunas has produced similarly in his first two games this year, but he has done it in wildly different ways. He commanded a 30.8% usage rate in his first game this season, but he was ultimately plagued by a 3-for-19 shooting performance. His efficiency was much better in his second game — he shot 72.7% from the field — but his usage rate was cut nearly in half. That has kept Valanciunas from hitting his ceiling so for this year.
He’s going to put the efficiency and volume together at some point, and when he does, he’s going to destroy his current price tag. He earns a perfect 100 Value Rating on both DraftKings and FanDuel on Saturday, making him one of the best plays of the day. He shows up in the optimal lineup nearly 52% of the time on DraftKings and 59% of the time on FanDuel in the Boom/Bust Tool.
The over on Valanciunas’ scoring prop is also grading out extremely favorably in the Awesomo Player Prop Tool.
Dejounte Murray, PG, San Antonio Spurs
DraftKings Leverage Rating: 53 | FanDuel Leverage Rating: 67
Murray is expected to be moderately owned on this slate, but he still stands out as one of the top leverage plays. He’s checking in with a far greater optimal lineup percentage than ownership percentage in the Boom/Bust Tool, so he’s not getting quite as much attention as he deserves.
Murray is poised for a career year for the rebuilding Spurs. They have plenty of usage available after losing DeMar DeRozan, LaMarcus Aldridge and Rudy Gay since the start of last year, and Murray’s mark of 28.1% through two games puts him on pace to shatter his previous career-high. His 29.1% assist rate through two games would also represent a new career-high.
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