The NBA Slate Starter: DFS Picks for DraftKings + FanDuel

In the midst of all the NFL craziness, there’s a monster opportunity in the NBA to take advantage of those who aren’t paying attention. These are the best kinds of days to find an edge, so let’s get right to it: this is your Slate Starter for the DraftKings and FanDuel single-game contests for Game 6 between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat.

Celtics Center Roulette

I don’t know what to tell you about this Brad Stevens fascination with fluctuating between Enes Kanter and Robert Williams at this point. The back-up center minutes have felt like a pure crapshoot this entire series, as they’ve been randomly interchanged in the rotation for random minutes. In Game 5 it was Kanter who got the limited minutes (10), and performed admirably with 16 DraftKings points.

The concern for me lies that even with a seemingly great score from a Kanter at only $2,200, he still didn’t find his way into the winning lineup. I suppose part of that was an outlier Daniel Theis outing that elevated him to optimal Captain play. But another part could be with the elevated minutes in the mid-range in an elimination game, it’s more viable to Captain them to reach multiple studs.

Going Back to the Busts

It’s a one-game slate so it’s not like the public is going to completely disregard the likes of Tyler Herro and Kemba Walker. But as the two major fantasy busts of Game 5 (or Kemba in every game ever), it’s likely we see some drastically-reduced ownership on them today.

Kemba is a train-wreck and it’s totally understandable for you not to follow me there. But Herro has obviously shown a ceiling evidenced by his Game 4 performance, and despite a sharp downswing in Game 5, still carried a 20.9% usage rate. I’m hoping for a game somewhere in the center of his previous two, which would put him in consideration for Captain of the day.

Final Thoughts for Your NBA Showdown Lineups

I kept it brief as I know most of you are grinding football, but some of the most profitable NBA days are when people split their attention and make mistakes. Simply by checking Awesemo ownership projections before lock, you’ll be a step ahead of those jamming in late lineups.

On FanDuel, we saw quite the construction take it home in Game 5 of this series. Marcus Smart found his way into the 1.5x All-Star slot in the Friday’s optimal, so try and identify some similar mid-range plays with upside that could pass up the likes of Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler if things break their way.

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Author

Eric Lindquist

Eric Lindquist hails from Sioux Falls, South Dakota (yes, that’s the one with Mount Rushmore). A steady diet of three SportsCenters a day at an early age led to his obsession with sports, one that 30 years later is paying dividends for him as a successful DFS player and sports bettor. Despite over half a million dollars in net career earnings, he’s most passionate about helping others achieve their financial goals, an energy you can witness on the daily in his current role as a host and analyst at Stokastic. He’s a former Division I golfer at Iowa State, wishes he was a former Minnesota sports fan, and is a proud father to a 100-pound Bernese Mountain dog named Duke that wishes he could just eat people food instead of the crap he and his wife feed him on the daily.