NBA Daily Fantasy Rankings & DFS Optimizer Picks Tonight

The NBA DFS Big Board is a one-stop shop for building 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. Let us dive into some of the NBA daily fantasy rankings using the Big Board and Awesemo’s NBA Projections.

NBA Daily Fantasy Rankings & Big Board Projections

LeBron James, SF/PF, Los Angeles Lakers

DraftKings Points Rating: 98 | FanDuel Points Rating: 98

Nikola Jokic remains king in Awesemo’s NBA Projections. He has been an absolute monster recently, scoring at least 61.5 DraftKings points in six straight games, and he leads all players in terms of projected points on Friday. That said, Jokic has gotten extremely pricy across the industry, so one could make a case that James is the better value on DraftKings. He is $1,600 cheaper than Jokic, and he has a better value rating on the Big Board.

The Lakers are going to be highly short-handed against the Timberwolves. Russell Westbrook leads a large group of inactive players, and James should pick up the slack. He has increased his usage, assist and rebound rates with Westbrook off the court, resulting in an average of 1.40 DraftKings points per minute. James should also benefit from an excellent matchup. The Timberwolves have played at the fifth-fastest pace this season, so this game should feature plenty of possessions.

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DeMarcus Cousins, C, Milwaukee Bucks

DraftKings Value Rating: 100 | FanDuel Value Rating: 99

Thankfully, Cousins is once again back on the DFS radar. The Bucks will be thin in the frontcourt against the Pelicans, with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bobby Portis and Brook Lopez all out of the lineup. That should allow Cousins to see a solid handful of minutes. Awesemo has him projected for 21.9 minutes, and Cousins can still do damage on a per-minute basis.

Cousins stands out as an excellent option using the Boom/Bust Tool. He has the highest boom percentage on DraftKings and FanDuel, yet he is not projected to carry substantial ownership. That is giving him a neutral mark from a leverage perspective, while most of the other top values grade out poorly in that department.

Davion Mitchell, PG/SG, Sacramento Kings

DraftKings Value Rating: 99 | FanDuel Value Rating: 93

The Kings are another team that figures to be pretty short-handed on Friday. They have already ruled out five players due to health and safety protocols, while Tyrese Haliburton is questionable. That should allow Mitchell to absorb a few additional minutes, and he has been an excellent fantasy value to begin with recently. He has scored at least 22.5 DraftKings points in four of his past five games, and that is great production for $3,600. He has also played 28.8 minutes or fewer in each of those games, and he could approach 36 minutes on Friday. That gives him much more upside than usual.

Mitchell could also be worth exploring in the player prop market. His scoring prop is listed at 14.5 points, and the Awesemo Player Prop Tool thinks there is some value in that wager. He has scored at least 13 points in three of his past five games, so asking him to get to 15 with extra playing time and usage seems very reasonable.

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