Thursday features a three-game slate. While there are only six teams in action, NBA fantasy lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel will be flush with high-level talent and value plays. The Awesemo NBA Starting Lineups page will give you breaking news when starters are announced as well as a full injury report on players who might be missing in action. Below are some NBA daily fantasy options that stand out for tonight’s slate using Awesemo Boom/Bust Tool and NBA DFS projections.
NBA Fantasy Projections & Optimal Lineup Picks Tonight
Boom: Giannis Antetokounmpo: $10,300 DraftKings/$11,300 FanDuel
42.1% DraftKings Boom/23.4% FanDuel Boom
After destroying the Nets for 64.3 DraftKings points Tuesday, Giannis takes on the Heat tonight in Miami. For the Bucks, Jrue Holiday (heel), Brook Lopez (back) and Bobby Portis (hamstring) will all be inactive. Naturally, Antetokounmpo’s already massive role is going to grow even further, and he should play most of his minutes at center, with the Bucks missing lacking depth up front.
When these three were off the floor last season, Antetokounmpo produced 1.7 DraftKings points per minute thanks to an absurd 38% usage rate. Furthermore, he contributed 62.1 DraftKings points per game in the 10 full games Holiday missed, and Antetokounmpo eclipsed 60 DraftKings in four of seven matchups with Miami. He is a great target on both sites tonight, but at only $10,300 on DraftKings, Antetokounmpo is a core play. He sports the third-highest DraftKings boom rating in Awesemo’s Boom Bust Tool and has the highest raw projection on the slate.
Boom: Jordan Nwora: $3,700 DraftKings/$4,300 FanDuel
71.2% DraftKings Boom/55.6% FanDuel Boom
Nwora had an excellent preseason, averaging 30.5 DraftKings points per game, and that impressive play carried over to the season opener against the Nets. He posted 29 DraftKings points and 21.2% usage across 26.3 minutes. Last season Nwora always rose to the occasion when he was given ample playing time. In the four games in which he surpassed the 20-minute mark, Nwora averaged 41.2 DraftKings points per game, including a 63.5-point explosion against the Bulls back in May. One cannot rely on this type of output tonight, but with the Bucks down multiple key pieces, Nwora should continue to see a large enough workload for him to easily outperform his current price tags.
Albeit in a small sample of 121 minutes, Nwora generated 1.3 DraftKings points per minute when Holiday, Lopez and Portis were off the floor last season. Not only does Nwora have the highest boom rating for both DraftKings and FanDuel by a wide margin, but he is also rating as the best point-per-dollar value for both sites.
Bust: Andrew Wiggins: $5,900 DraftKings/$6,900 FanDuel
46% DraftKings Bust/69.4% FanDuel Bust
Wiggins is an easy fade tonight. He missed part of training camp and the preseason due to knee soreness, leading to Steve Kerr limiting Wiggins’ playing time in Tuesday’s season opener against the Lakers. In the win Wiggins only saw 25.4 minutes. Before that game Kerr noted that Wiggins is a “couple weeks away,” so the minutes restriction should continue Thursday against the Clippers, making him a poor value in this tough matchup.
Los Angeles ranked eighth in defensive rating last season, and Wiggins scored fewer than 30 DraftKings points in all three matchups against the team. As a result, Wiggins’ FanDuel Bust score is the highest of all the players projected for double-digit ownership this evening.
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