Welcome to the NBA Yahoo Cup Picks for Round 16! This is a free-to-enter, multi-round, single-entry Yahoo NBA DFS contest with 24 rounds where the top 6,950 entries overall and top 540 entries per round share $50,000, with $10,000 to first overall and $100 to first per round. Scoring will be cumulative across all rounds. Your five lowest daily fantasy basketball scores will be dropped, and you can enter at any point, but enter today to give yourself the best chance to compete for the title. Click here to begin the chase!
The focus will be on three players – one guard, one forward, and one center – to be NBA DFS players for the Round 16 NBA Yahoo Cup contest.
Yahoo Cup NBA DFS Picks | Round 16
NBA Fantasy Guard: LaMelo Ball, Charlotte Hornets — $38
The majority of the field is projected to play Devin Booker from the Phoenix Suns in this same salary range, and LaMelo Ball offers a perfect chance to pivot in the NBA Yahoo Cup. The Charlotte Hornets play the Los Angeles Lakers tonight, who just played in Philadelphia last night. The statuses of both Anthony Davis and LeBron James are in the air for the Lakers, but they are still a team that plays at the third-fastest pace in the league compared to the Hornets ranking second. These two teams are also first and second in possessions per game this year, so the game environment is something to get excited about.
Ball and the Hornets will be without Gordon Hayward tonight, and in that scenario Ball has a 28.8% usage rate and 1.27 Yahoo points per minute. Both of those numbers lead the team, and he drives to the basket 13.7 times per game this season. He is scoring 6.6 points per game from that play type, and the Lakers rank 25th in points allowed in the paint this year. Not only does Ball have more scoring upside, but the Hornets also have three of the top 12 players in points per game as a spot-up shooter. That is in part because Ball passes 40% of the time when he drives to the hoop, and the Lakers are 16th in points allowed against that play type. Ball’s potential upside matches Booker at around half of the projected popularity.
In addition to Ball looking like a great play tonight for Yahoo lineups, the Awesemo projections have him slated for 7.9 rebounds tonight. The biggest bonus is some sportsbooks have this wager as an underdog, making it a stronger return on investment. His rebounds over/under NBA player prop is a great bet, which is sitting at over/under 7.5 tonight, and OddsShopper has an expected win rate of 54% when betting the over. If Davis or James are ruled out for the Lakers (potentially both), Ball has an even better chance to hit the over.
NBA Fantasy Forward: Norman Powell, Portland Trail Blazers– $24
Just like the previous game, the Portland Trail Blazers facing the Houston Rockets is one of the best game environments of the slate, and the 231.5-point total is the highest of the night. Those two teams rank 30th and 28th in defensive rating, which is appealing for the fantasy upside, and Norman Powell is back at full speed for the Trail Blazers. He had missed over two weeks, but in this past game Powell logged 35 minutes, and Portland is still missing Damian Lillard and Nassir Little, among others. The trio of C.J. McCollum, Anfernee Simons and Powell is the offensive engine for the Trail Blazers at this point, and Powell has a 26.8% usage rate and 0.89 Yahoo points per minute. Even though the points per minute are not anything spectacular, the opponent and minutes are well worth playing Powell at this salary.
NBA Fantasy Center: Hassan Whiteside, Utah Jazz– $23
Hassan Whiteside is one player who is chalky and worth playing regardless of format tonight. Center Rudy Gobert has already been ruled out again, and Whiteside showed last game he is back to playing his usual minutes after being in the league’s health and safety protocols. Whiteside played almost 35 minutes in this last game, and when Gobert has been off the floor this season Whiteside has averaged 1.23 Yahoo points per minute despite just an 18.6% usage rate.
The matchup with the Memphis Grizzlies is tough as far as rebounding goes since they are fifth in rebounds allowed in the paint. However, Memphis is also just 15th in points allowed in the paint, and in the past two games Whiteside has averaged 10 paint touches per game and 11.5 points per game in the paint. The salary has simply not come up fast enough to match the upside Whiteside has, and the Grizzlies ranking ninth in pace should push this game slightly faster than Utah typically plays. A bonus for Whiteside in the NBA Yahoo Cup is he is averaging 1.6 combined steals and blocks this year in just 17 minutes per game. With those stats being worth 3 points on Yahoo, 9 to 12 Yahoo points could come just from steals and blocks.
