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

Kevin Durant, SF/PF, Brooklyn Nets

DraftKings Points Rating: 98 | FanDuel Points Rating: 98

The theme of Sunday’s slate is big-name players getting the night off. That includes James Harden for the Nets, which means Durant will be asked to take on a larger scoring role.

He’s more than capable of making that happen. He already carries one of the largest minute counts in the league, logging at least 37.8 minutes in each of his past six games. However, Durant is known more for his efficiency than his volume. He’s leading the league with an average of 28.5 points per game, but he ranks just 12th in usage rate. He’s shooting 53.0% from the field and 37.3% from 3-point range, so he makes the most of his opportunities.

With Harden out of the lineup, Durant should move into elite territory from a usage perspective, as well. His usage rate jumps to 36.5% with Harden off the court, and he’s averaged 1.63 DraftKings points per minute in that situation. The combination of increased volume and lethal efficiency is very tough to pass up on Sunday’s slate, and no one is projected for more raw points in our NBA Projections.

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Jalen Brunson, PG/SG, Dallas Mavericks

DraftKings Value Rating: 100 | FanDuel Value Rating: 100

Luka Doncic will miss Sunday’s game vs. the Mavericks, which means Brunson becomes one of the top overall plays on the slate. He’s projected for massive ownership – 71.0% on DraftKings, 63.3% on FanDuel – but he still owns neutral leverage scores in our Boom/Bust Probability tool. That means he’s not grading out as over-owned despite the massive ownership projection.

Brunson has unsurprisingly seen a massive boost in value without Doncic this season. He’s increased his usage rate by +4.3% and his assist rate by +11.4%, resulting in an average of 1.02 DraftKings points per minute. He’s averaged more than 36.5 DraftKings points in four full games without Doncic, so he’s simply too cheap at his current price tag across the industry.

Brunson also stands out as a strong target in the player prop market. The Awesemo Player Prop tool gives him a 70% chance of hitting the over on his current scoring prop, resulting in an expected return on investment of +28%.

Cameron Thomas, PG/SG, Brooklyn Nets

DraftKings Value Rating: 97 | FanDuel Value Rating: 90

If you want to really load up on a stars-and-scrubs build, Thomas stands out as a solid punt play across the industry. He’s had a sizable role for the Nets recently, logging at least 25 minutes in three of his past four games, and he’s averaged a respectable 0.77 DraftKings points per minute over the past month. There’s a chance he replaces Harden in the starting lineup on Sunday, and he should see a boost in playing time even if he comes off the bench.

Ultimately, Thomas trails only Brunson in terms of points-per-dollar projection on both DraftKings and FanDuel. That makes him a strong option on a slate with tons of offensive firepower.

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