There were a number of Awesemo avatars sitting near the top of leaderboards on Tuesday’s two-gamer, most notably our own uhhuhbro. After writing up his own six-figure takedown from last week in one of his GPP recaps, he backed that up with a stellar third-place finish in DraftKings main GPP for another cool $50,000 score. Be sure to check out his NBA DFS articles, as there is no denying he is doing everything right at the moment. Let’s try to get our hands on some of that money ourselves by identifying some NBA DFS picks and strategy for Wednesday’s massive 10-game slate on DraftKings and FanDuel.
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NBA DFS Slate Starter: Picks & Strategy | Jan. 20
Picking Point Guard Problems
While we have a number of intriguing spend-up options amongst the 20 active teams on Wednesday, point guard is especially loaded. In fact, I can’t remember a time when I had 17 point-guard-eligible plays projected for 40 or more DraftKings points on the same slate. Obviously, that’s an early run of projections, so I’m sure some will fall just slightly into the 30s, but you get the point.
When a position is this stacked up top, ownership becomes even more crucial than normal. If value elsewhere opens up in the afternoon, I fully expect Luka Doncic and Damian Lillard to soak up a majority of the ownership at the position. Both feel like they carry unimpeded routes to usage and shot volume, hence median projections around 60 fantasy points should be in store. But keep in mind that with legitimately 15 other plays at the position with paths to 50-point plus ceilings, a balanced lineup utilizing three point guards is more than viable.
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But which ones should we be targeting? I’ll certainly be using Awesemo’s Boom/Bust tool to make the most informed decisions on where potential leverage could lie up and down the position (and you should be doing the same). But if you forced me to pick a couple right now, I’d probably land mostly on Trae Young ($9,300) and Ja Morant ($7,300), ownership notwithstanding. Let’s take a look at a few reasons why.
Young is facing his third consecutive creampuff matchup in the Pistons, and in his last two, we’ve seen some reversion to his 2019-20 form. In fact, his last outing was simply absurd, putting up 55 DraftKings points despite playing only 32 minutes and attempting just eight shots. That’s because he’s starting to get back to his double-digit assists ways as well as getting himself to the line with more frequency (25 free throw attempts in his past two). That’s automatic points when you make them at a career 85% clip as Young does. I’m officially putting him on triple-double watch on Wednesday.
For Morant, it’s all about the minutes for me. After missing three weeks with a Grade 2 ankle sprain, Morant stepped right back into 31 and 34 minutes in his first two games back. The last outing versus Phoenix was particularly impressive, reaching 41.75 fantasy points thanks in part to his first double-digit-assist performance of the young season, a feat he should be in line to replicate against the woeful defense of the Blazers backcourt. While he did say himself after their last outing that he’s not back to 100% yet, that won’t stop me from rostering him in the least.
Be sure to start your morning NBA DFS research process off with the guys on the Slate Starter Podcast on our Awesemo Podcast Network.
I’ve Got a Date with the Late Slate
I’m excited to be a part of a new show debuting on the Awesemo YouTube channel Wednesday night, as Chris Spags and I will go live for an hour starting at 9 p.m. EST/6 p.m. PST to break down the three-game late slate. I’m sure we’ll do a little sweating/swearing about the early games, but we’re particularly excited to start giving you a focused look at these late-night hammers. And with prize pools for these after-hour contests that rival those of the main slates, it’s certainly something you’ll want to be a part of if you’re not already.
In fact, some of the sharpest things offered with our NBA product at Awesemo are the late slate and showdown ownership projections. Alex Baker is out-of-this-world good at giving you accurate data for non-main slates that aren’t offered anywhere else in the industry, giving any Awesemo+ or Platinum sub an enormous edge on the competition. In fact, for only $4.95 you can try out a week of these ownership projections by going to Awesemo.com/joinNBA and signing up today. It’s one thing to say they’re great, but I’d prefer you put them to work and see for yourself.
Final Thoughts for Your NBA DFS Lineups
- The elephant in the room on this slate is the return of Kyrie Irving. His presence surely makes the Nets a better basketball team but downgrades my love for James Harden and Kevin Durant considerably. So while it wouldn’t be surprising if any of these new big three went off, I’ll pass until DraftKings and FanDuel prices adjust to their new shot-sharing roles together.
- FanDuel’s pricing on this slate appears to be as efficient as it’s been all year, so well done by them. It won’t be nearly the cakewalk it has been most of this year to build lineups over there.
- Just play Jaylen Brown.
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