On the schedule for Friday night is a seven-game NBA slate. Especially after yesterday’s eventful trade deadline, be sure to watch the Awesemo NBA Starting Lineups page closely today for updates on each team. Below are some NBA daily fantasy basketball picks that stand out for tonight’s slate using Awesemo’s Boom/Bust Tool and NBA DFS projections.
Boom/Bust NBA Daily Fantasy Projections & Picks
Boom: Joel Embiid: $11,900 DraftKings/$11,000 FanDuel
37% DraftKings Boom/47% FanDuel Boom
With James Harden (hamstring) unavailable to make his Sixers’ debut and Seth Curry going to Brooklyn in yesterday’s trade for the superstar, Embiid is the stud we should be building around tonight. In the six occasions he has been active with Curry sidelined this season, Embiid has destroyed his opponents for 62.1 DraftKings PPG. The center already leads the NBA in usage rate this season but with Curry off the floor, Embiid’s usage grows even further to a godly 42.1%, which is a 4.3 percentage point upgrade from his average for the season. Embiid produces an incredible 1.8 DraftKings PPM in this situation and is facing a Thunder squad that does not have any prayer of stopping him. On BetMGM, Embiid’s over/under NBA prop bets are set at 33.5 points, 13.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists, which is already 55.25 DraftKings points for the center before defensive stats and site bonuses are credited.
In Awesemo’s Boom Bust Tool, no player brings a higher ceiling than Embiid tonight and he is rating as the No.1 option on the slate in terms of Boom score for both DraftKings and FanDuel.
Boom: Aleksej Pokusevski: $3,500 DraftKings/$4,900 FanDuel
22% DraftKings Boom/4% FanDuel Boom
While going against Embiid and the Sixers is never ideal, Pokusevski needs to be considered at only $3,500 on DraftKings. With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (ankle), Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (foot), Mike Muscala (ankle) and Aaron Wiggins (ankle) inactive Wednesday, Pokusevski saw a huge role of 30.3 minutes against the Raptors, lifting him to 38 DraftKings points. Given the Thunder lost this game by 19 points, most would assume Pokusevski saw most of his minutes in garbage time, but that was not the case at all. He logged 15.7 minutes in the first half, which ranked second on the team, only trailing Josh Giddey. With all four of those players listed above unavailable again Friday, Pokusevski should approach 30 minutes, even if this game gets out of hand.
He is contributing 0.9 DraftKings PPM this season and 24 DraftKings PPG in the 38 contests he has logged at least 20 minutes over the last two seasons. In Awesemo’s fantasy basketball projections, Pokusevski is rating as a top-five value on the slate for DraftKings and is expected to come with single-digit ownership.
Latest NBA DFS Content
- DraftKings Fantasy Basketball Cheat Sheet: Best Picks From NBA DFS Contest Sims | Giannis Antetokounmpo (March 28)
- FanDuel Fantasy Basketball Cheat Sheet: Best Picks From NBA DFS Contest Sims | Damian Lillard (March 28)
- Stokastic Hall of Fame: Big NBA DFS Winners This Week
- NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks: DeRozan, Siakam and Dejounte! (March 27)
- NBA DFS Contrarian Picks Today: Buy the Dip on SGA? (March 27)
- Stokastic DFS on Youtube
Boom: LaMelo Ball: $9,000 DraftKings/$8,400 FanDuel
34% DraftKings Boom/39% FanDuel Boom
For the second straight game, the Hornets will be down to the league minimum of eight players. More specifically, they will be without Gordon Hayward (ankle). In this same situation Wednesday, Ball erupted for 60.3 DraftKings points against the Bulls. The guard has now eclipsed 60 DraftKings points in three of the last five starts he has made without Hayward. With the veteran off the court, Ball leads the Hornets with a 29% usage rate and a 35.7% assist percentage, both of which are slight upgrades from his season averages.
On the menu for Friday night is a date with the hopeless Pistons. Detroit ranks 26th in defensive efficiency and 10th in pace. The Hornets sport the fifth-highest implied team total on the slate with 116.75 points and this game’s total is the third-largest on the board at 226.5 points. Relative to his huge ceiling, Ball is very underpriced on both DraftKings and FanDuel and is easily rating as the best value above $8,000 for both sites in Awesemo’s fantasy basketball projections.
Ball has been popping up all over our fantasy basketball rankings today, and Matt LaMarca’s First-Look NBA Picks Today has Ball as the cover boy. According to the Awesemo NBA lineup optimizer, Ball is one of the best cash game plays on the entire NBA DFS slate. Check out the DraftKings Fantasy Basketball Cheat Sheet and FanDuel NBA Fantasy Basketball Cheat Sheet for more free NBA DFS picks today.
Bust: Nikola Jokic: $12,400 DraftKings/$11,500 FanDuel
49% DraftKings Bust/44% FanDuel Bust
While it is never an easy task, fading Jokic is the right move tonight. After a three-game homestand, the Nuggets will be in Boston this evening, going against a Celtics defense that has been truly elite as of late. Ever since Marcus Smart returned nine games ago, Boston has led the league with an eye-popping 94.4 defensive rating. To put into perspective how impressive this number is, the Cavaliers rank second during this time, at 103.1. The Celtics have limited their opponents to the second least points in the paint during this stretch, and in this ugly spot, Denver’s implied team is the fourth-lowest of the night at 106.5 points.
Jokic has been 5.1 DraftKings PPG worse on the road this season and is extremely tough to justify tonight, especially with Embiid in a much better situation at a lower cost.
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!
[NBAPAGE]