NBA DFS Picks: DraftKings + FanDuel Expert Lineup Building Strategy

NBA DFS action on Thursday, Jan. 21, locks at 7:30 p.m. EST with a three-game main slate. Before you lock in your NBA DFS picks and favorite lineups on DraftKings, FanDuel, Yahoo and SuperDraft, make sure to check out Awesemo’s daily fantasy basketball rankings and projections. Let’s dig into some NBA DFS picks, including Giannis Antetokounmpo, Julius Randle more.

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NBA DFS Picks: Key Building Blocks | Jan. 21

Giannis Antetokounmpo: Milwaukee Bucks vs. Los Angeles Lakers

DraftKings $10,500, FanDuel $11,300, Yahoo $52
Ownership Rating (preliminary run): DraftKings 30.7%, FanDuel 37.5% Yahoo 27.0%

Things open up on Thursday night with a marquee matchup featuring the Bucks and Lakers. Currently Los Angeles is one point road favorites, and this game has a 229 projected point total, which is the highest of the night. It will have been 72 hours since his last game, so we can expect Giannis Antetokounmpo to be ready for battle. Milwaukee does not play again until Sunday, so as long as this is a remotely close game, we should see him with 34-35 minutes as a baseline, with another three or four as potential upside.

Last season the two-time reigning NBA MVP faced the Lakers twice. Both of these games occurred before the Orlando Bubble. In those outings he averaged 34.0 minutes, 20.0 field goal attempts with 33.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.5 combined blocks and steals. Making Giannis a focus of our lineups tonight seems like a savvy move.

Julius Randle: New York Knicks at Golden State Warriors

DraftKings $8,800, FanDuel $9,000, Yahoo $42
Ownership Rating (preliminary run): DraftKings 34.9%, FanDuel 37.6% Yahoo 28.6%

Having Tom Thibodeau calling the shots has dramatically increased the minutes for his key contributors. Julius Randle has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of this development. Through 15 games, the 26-year-old forward is averaging 37.1 minutes per game which is nearly five minutes more than last season’s career high. At some point he may wear down, but until then enjoy the newfound production floor.

Randle is averaging career highs across the board with 22.8 points, 11.0 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 35.5% on 4.1 3-point shots per game. The all-around game is apparent, as he has one triple-double and has missed three others by a combined four assists and one rebound. New York last played on Monday, and they have a very winnable game tonight in Golden State as they embark on the first stop of their four-in-six West Coast road trip. The Warriors crushed the Spurs by 22 points last night, so their starters topped out at 31 minutes. Still, the Warriors are playing at the third-fastest pace in the league, and playing defense is not a priority.

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NBA DFS Picks: Good Value

Immanuel Quickley: New York Knicks at Golden State Warriors

DraftKings $4,100, FanDuel $4,500, Yahoo $13
Ownership Rating (preliminary run): DraftKings 15.5%, FanDuel 15.9% Yahoo 12.6%

Though he continues to come off the bench, this has actually been working out for rookie Immanuel Quickley. He only played 15 minutes in the last game and still tallied double-digit field goal attempts for the fifth straight game. In this timeframe he has averaged 23 minutes with 12.8 field goal attempts, culminating in 14.6 points, 2.4 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.0 combined blocks/steals. This works out to 25.5 fantasy points per appearance.

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NBA DFS Picks: Risky Value

Guards and Wings: Utah Jazz vs. New Orleans Pelicans

In this same matchup on Tuesday, we saw Joe Ingles rejoin the rotation after missing three games with Achilles soreness. Some gamers may have overlooked that he was out for three games. He has also missed four of the last six. The Australian’s return has an impact on what is usually a consistent rotation run by Quin Snyder. Typically Ingles comes in midway through the first quarter and generally replaces fellow wing Bojan Bogdanovic, but he is also a capable ball handler, and at times earlier this season he supplanted Mike Conley. Of course, Utah also has Donovan Mitchell and to a lesser extent Jordan Clarkson, who can capably run the offense in short bursts.

In the second half, depending on how the game is going, we know that Snyder usually gives his starters fourth quarter run. This is especially true in home games. However, he does not have a packed house to appease, and while Conley and Mitchell are usually safe, Royce O’Neale is always at risk of playing time in the final frame with his lack of offense.

Topping it off, we saw Ingles go 5-for-6 from three in his return, and both Clarkson and Conley have been shooting well recently. All six of these players are viable tonight, but they will impact the upside of each other, and these are two of the slowest-paced teams in the league. If I am only building a couple of lineups, my preference would be to play no more than two of this group, or maybe three if at least one of them was Mitchell and/or Conley.

Yahoo Daily Fantasy Basketball Discount Dandies

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope: LAL at MIL – $10
Reggie Bullock: NYK at GSW – $10
Joe Ingles: UTA vs. NOP – $10

SuperDraft Daily Fantasy Basketball Picks

Julius Randle: NYK at GSW – 1.25x multiplier
Zion Williamson: NOP at UTA – 1.45x multiplier
Stephen Curry: GSW vs. NYK – 1.15x multiplier

Final Thoughts

There is quite a span between the first game at 7:30 p.m. EST and the next pair tipping off at 1o:oo p.m. EST. Make sure you keep an eye on any breaking news that may impact your lineups.

Be sure to into the Awesemo NBA Deeper Dive and Live Before Lock show beginning at 5:00 p.m. EST for all of your up-to-date information and analysis.

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Author

Eric MacPherson

Eric "EMac" MacPherson won the 2007 Fantasy Baseball grand prize (trip for two to the MLB All-Star game) in the Roto format on ESPN. He won again in 2008, this time in the H2H format. As one of the early adopters of daily fantasy sports, EMac has been providing content for baseball and basketball as well as both professional and college football since 2012 for a variety of websites including DraftKings Playbook, FanVice, RotoWorld, Daily Fantasy Bootcamp, and RotoGrinders. He is well into his third decade of fantasy sports and has a wealth of knowledge and experience. Follow him on Twitter @EMacDFS or contact EMac by emailing [email protected].