NBA Fantasy Picks Today: DraftKings & FanDuel Fantasy Basketball Rankings

If you love playing chalky NBA slates, this is for you. Tonight’s eight-game slate is filled with value plays coming from the Trail Blazers and Warriors. This is a stars and scrubs lineup build kind of night, especially on FanDuel. These four players are driven by Awesemo’s Fantasy Basketball Rankings. There is some important news that has yet to come out, so stay up to date with our Starting Lineups page to see who is in and out of the lineup tonight.

DraftKings & FanDuel NBA Fantasy Basketball Rankings

*Grades are ordered DraftKings, FanDuel. The initial grade indicates a player’s strength of output, with the value grade indicating their strength as a play in relation to their salary.

PG Brandon Williams — Grades: B, C | Values: A, A

The Trail Blazers have gotten obliterated the last four games, losing by an average of 26.7 points per game. They are 15-point road underdogs against the Timberwolves, who they lost to by 14 points in their last game. This time, however, they will be without their star point guard Anfernee Simons, as another Trail Blazers player goes on the injury list. Brandon Williams will start at point guard and play as many minutes as he can handle. Awesemo projects Williams to be by far the best value on both DraftKings and FanDuel tonight.

They will likely get blown out, but no one on this slate provides as much value as Williams, who is priced at the minimum on FanDuel and very cheap on DraftKings. He is projected to play 32.5 minutes and has the highest boom percentage in our Boom/Bust Tool on both sites by a wide margin. Williams has scored double-digit points in each of his last four games. During that time he is averaging 14.8 points per game while shooting 52.6% from the field and 42.9% from behind the arc. He is projected to be the highest owned player on DraftKings and the second-highest on FanDuel in our ownership projections. He is a staple for cash game lineups.

Not only is Williams a great source of value, so are his teammates Drew Eubanks and Trendon Watford.

SG Jordan Poole — Grades: B, B | Values: A, A

Another team that will be a great source of value tonight is the Warriors, who are playing without Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green and Gary Payton II. The player who pops the most is certainly Jordan Poole. Even with most of those players in the lineup, Poole has had back-to-back games scoring 23 points. He has taken a major leap in his third season, averaging a career-high in points, rebounds and assists. With Curry, Thompson and Wiggins off the floor this season, Poole leads the team with a 34.5% usage rate and increases his fantasy production. He is one of many Warriors players in play tonight.

It is impossible to look at our ownership projections for DraftKings and not see multiple Warriors players popping as value. Goodwin leads the way, but then four Warriors players are right behind him all coming in at over 35%. The Warriors are eight-point road underdogs against the Nuggets, who are coming off of an overtime victory last night. Poole is by far the most talented player for the Warriors on the floor tonight and his usage rate will be sky-high. In four games without Curry this season, Poole is shooting 18.3 field goal attempts while averaging 23.5 points and 37.1 DraftKings points per game. He is another fantastic value option tonight.

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SF LeBron James — Grades: A, A | Values: B, A

Is LeBron James finally back? He is coming off of a season-high 56 points against the Warriors, where he shot 19-31 from the field and 6-11 from behind the arc. James had 77.5 DraftKings points, which was the second-highest output for him this season. Before that game, he had a very pedestrian stretch where he averaged 46.6 DraftKings points per game over a four-game stretch since the All-Star Break. James said after the game he was fueled by the desperation that the Lakers are in right now, which is very true. Before their last victory, the Lakers had previously lost seven of their last eight games. Maybe they will get hot as they have a favorable schedule coming up.

The Lakers have opened up as two-point road underdogs against the Spurs tonight. This game has the highest total at 234.5 points, as both the Lakers and Spurs rank in the top five of pace this season. Anthony Davis is still out for the Lakers, which boosts James’ ceiling. In 25 games without Davis this season, James is averaging 32.6 points per game while shooting 53.3% from the field. This slate is screaming to play a stars and scrubs lineup build with so much value on the Warriors and Trail Blazers. In our Boom/Bust Tool, James is second on FanDuel with the highest boom percentage and fifth on DraftKings. He is a great pay-up option on this slate.

SF Jimmy Butler — Grades: A, A | Values: B, A

Jimmy Butler has the exact same Grades and Values in our NBA DFS Rankings as LeBron James on both DraftKings and FanDuel. The Heat are 15-point home favorites against the Rockets, who are coming off of a big victory last night over the Grizzlies. This Rockets team plays extremely loose and free with nothing to lose, so do not be intimidated by the extremely high spread. This is a great spot for Butler, as the Rockets rank last in defensive rating and first in pace. They have allowed a league-high 117.9 points per game. The Heat have the best record in the Eastern Conference and the Rockets have the worst in the Western Conference.

Kyle Lowry, who has been out for the last four games, is listed as questionable to play tonight. Butler is a great play regardless, but if Lowry is out, Butler becomes an even better play. Monitor the Lowry news here. In 15 games without Lowry this season, Butler has increased his peripherals and is averaging 19.3 points, 7.7 assists and 7.5 rebounds per game. Butler actually has recorded a triple-double in four of those 15 games without Lowry in the lineup. Butler’s price is simply too cheap across the industry tonight. Outside of the value plays, Butler is second to James in our ownership projections for the highest owned player on both sites.

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