Sunday’s NBA action concludes weekend with a five game-game featured slate locking at 6:00 p.m. ET on both DraftKings and FanDuel. There are several options in the player pool worth analyzing to find the top NBA DFS building blocks and NBA DFS picks for DraftKings and FanDuel lineups, including Anthony Edwards, who looks to be putting everything together in the absence of Karl-Anthony Towns.
NBA DFS Picks Today: Sunday, Feb. 26
Core Play of the Day — Anthony Edwards: Minnesota Timberwolves-Golden State Warriors
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 47.16 | FanDuel: 45.86
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings 26.1% | FanDuel: 42.1%
- DFS Salary: DraftKings: $9,500 | FanDuel: $9,400
Tonight Anthony Edwards is leading the Timberwolves into Golden State to face the Warriors and hopefully end Minnesota’s two-game slide. Edwards is in the midst of a breakout in his third season, as evidenced by personal bests of 25.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.6 blocks, along with converting 46.3% of his field goal attempts and 36.5% from behind the arc.
In the two games on either side of the midseason break, the first-time All-Star has averaged 31.5 points, 6.5 rebounds 4.0 assists, and 4.0 combined blocks and steals in a healthy 38.9 minutes. Defense is far from a priority for the Warriors, who are running shorthanded, with Stephen Curry (shoulder) and Andrew Wiggins (personal) listed out for tonight and Draymond Green dinged up with a lower leg issue. In 10 February games, the Warriors are allowing 117.3 points per 100 possessions while playing at a top-10 pace. In this same stretch, Minnesota has the third-fastest pace with 103.1 possessions per 48 minutes, which in turn has this game boasting a 234.0-point total. Even though they are running thin, the Warriors have been installed as 3.5-point home favorites in what should be a spirited affair.
Mike Conley, Kyle Anderson and Rudy Gobert are also players to target from Minnesota on both DraftKings and FanDuel. For the most part, the Warriors have appropriate salaries, with this being the fourth game Wiggins has missed and Curry has been out since early February, giving the algorithms time to capture the current rotations and responsibilities. It is still a terrific matchup, so there is no need to avoid the ‘Dubs; it is just tricky trying to pinpoint the “best” options.
Sacramento Kings-Oklahoma City Thunder
Sacramento is coming off an epic 176-175 double-overtime victory in Los Angeles against the Clippers on Friday. Malik Monk led the team with 45 points in 41 minutes, and De’Aaron Fox accounted for 42 in 45 minutes of action. Domantas Sabonis had yet another double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds, though he played just 31 minutes due to foul trouble and ultimately picked up his sixth and final penalty in the first overtime. This game was more of a track meet than a grueling defensive battle, and considering this was the first game after the All-Star Break, the minutes load should not be too concerning for the key members of the Kings rotation.
The Thunder have improved on defense throughout the season, though they are allowing a middle-of-the-pack 115.9 points per 100 possessions over the last 10 games while playing at the fifth-fastest pace in the league. They are also in the bottom third of the league from both a rebounding perspective and allowing production to opposing frontcourts. Sabonis leads the league in rebounds per game with 12.3 as well as in double-doubles with 47 in 57 appearances. Sabonis is a core building block on FanDuel with power forward eligibility.
Fox is having a very efficient season, and he has a career-best 51.4% field goal conversion rate and a 55.7% effective field goal rate. The first-time All-Star has been particularly effective over his last 10 games, averaging 37.0 minutes, 31.6 points. 4.1 rebounds, 6.8 assists, and 2.4 combined blocks and steals. This has culminated in eight games of at least 40 fantasy points and five with 50 or more.
Sacramento is favored by 3.5 points; however, the Thunder have been particularly pesky at home. Currently the Kings have the third-best record in the Western Conference, so they should be doing everything in their power to secure a victory tonight. The rest of the Kings rotation is looking rather robust, so it is difficult to recommend any particular player unless, of course, someone ends up with the night off.
The FanDuel salary algorithm decided to make things interesting by assigning Chimezie Metu a ridiculously low $410 cap hit. This makes things interesting, as he is playing around a dozen minutes per game and the Stokastic projections currently have him for 11.6 fantasy points. Though it will cost the center slot on the blue site, it makes things verrrrrrrry interesting.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is out with an ankle issue, which should open up major opportunities for the remaining Oklahoma City players. The Western Conference standings are bunched up in the middle, and while the Thunder are one game out of the Play-In Tournament, they are also just three games out of sixth place, albeit with seven other teams bunched tightly in a three-game grouping. It would make sense that they are finally eschewing their longtime tanking strategy, as even if they hit the brakes on every effort to win, the worst they could do would be to finish with the fifth- or sixth-best lottery odds in the upcoming draft.
Friday was somewhat disappointing, as Josh Giddey hit the bench early in the final frame, not even recording two minutes. That seemed like the correct call coming off an overtime effort on Thursday and with the Suns immediately surging to a game-high 14-point lead. While it was not fun for DFS gamers, we should plan on Giddey being back to his typical 32 to 34 minutes, and the 20-year-old is averaging a healthy 1.2 fantasy points per minute this season and should see an uptick in his efficiency from the fantasy-friendly game environment and with Gilgeous-Alexander on the sidelines.
Luguentz Dort, Isaiah Joe and Jalen Williams (the wing version) should see a direct increase in offensive opportunities tonight with Gilgeous-Alexander watching this one in street clothes. Kenrich Williams should also have additional responsibilities, and Jaylin Williams (the center version) is yet another option at the pivot position.
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Additional NBA DFS Building Blocks Pick – Sports Betting Opportunities
Rudy Gobert is an intriguing option in the betting market tonight, with his 26.5 over/under points + rebounds + assists prop. Gobert is currently third in the league in rebounds per game with 11.6, and the addition of former Jazz teammate Mike Conley replacing D’Angelo Russell has turned around his offensive production. Russell was not particularly interested in figuring out how to get his center involved in the offense, which was part of the catalyst that had him traded to the Lakers.
In the last three games with Conley at the helm, Gobert is averaging 11.0 field goal attempts, 18.3 points, 14.3 rebounds and 0.7 assists in a very reasonable 31.8 minutes of action. In the 29 games prior to Conley landing in Minnesota and without Karl-Anthony Towns, Gobert was averaging just 7.0 field goal attempts, 10.8 rebounds and 0.9 assists in 29.4 minutes per game.
NBA Bet Pro has Gobert projected for 15.88 points, 13.18 rebounds and 0.96 assists, which works out to a PRA of just over 30 and a 69% likelihood that he cruises over this milestone. BetMGM currently has this wager available at -115, giving it a steady 6% expected ROI.
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Houston Rockets-Portland Trail Blazers
The Rockets are in Portland tonight taking on the Trail Blazers, and they will be without Jalen Green (groin) and Kevin Porter Jr. (foot). Make no mistake; Houston is tanking this season, and while the youngsters on the team have kept games somewhat competitive, three of their last five road games have resulted in blowouts. Of course, that still leaves plenty of goodness for the opposition since this crew has allowed 126.1 points per game to the opposition during the recent eight-game slide.
In a “hold my beer” moment, Portland is allowing 125.7 points per 100 possessions over the last 10 games, which is the only mark worse than the 123.0 allowed by Houston. Alperen Sengun is the one player on this team with a reasonable path to 40 fantasy points; however, he has not topped 30 in his last four appearances and the team has him on a soft cap of 30 to 32 minutes. KJ Martin Jr., Tari Eason, Jabari Smith, Jae’Sean Tate and TyTy Washington Jr. will round things out as the discount dandies du jour across the various DFS sites.
Damian Lillard rivals Nikola Jokic and Edwards as the three players most likely to tally 50 fantasy points tonight. Aside from the 3-point Contest and NBA All-Star Game, Lillard has not hit the court in a dozen days due to the Portland travel troubles getting to Sacramento last Thursday. Both he and Jerami Grant sat out that game, but both are good to go on Sunday night.
Jusuf Nurkic, Anfernee Simons, Justise Winslow and recent acquisition Ryan Arcidiacono are all out with injuries. Drew Eubanks and Trendon Watford will be splitting 48 minutes at center, though that is a crowded position tonight. Fortunately, this duo is power forward eligible on FanDuel, which eases roster constraints.
Cam Reddish, Nassir Little and Matisse Thybulle are afterthoughts on the featured slate with the return of Lillard and Grant, though they have merit as lottery tickets on the two-game late slate.
Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks Building Blocks Today
Tonight is an expansive slate from a timing perspective, with the five games tipping off over a four-hour window. Be sure to get all the latest analysis and information by tuning in to the Stokastic Live Before Lock show at 5:00 p.m. ET on YouTube, including a bonus 30 minutes post-lock, courtesy of Sorare.
