Thursday, April 28, rolls out a trio of Game 6 elimination opportunities tipping off at 7 p.m. ET on Yahoo, DraftKings and FanDuel. Let’s look at the player pool and discuss the top NBA DFS picks today for DraftKings, FanDuel and Yahoo lineups. As always, you can head over to the Awesemo NBA DFS & Fantasy Basketball home page for all the fantasy basketball content you need for any given slate.
NBA DFS Picks: Fantasy Basketball Building Blocks Today | Thursday, April 28
Yahoo Play of the Day — Chris Paul: Phoenix Suns at New Orleans Pelicans
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 47.56 | DraftKings: 49.12
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 30.0% | FanDuel 20.5% | DraftKings 20.9%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $39 | FanDuel $10,200 | DraftKings $9,300
On Tuesday Chris Paul rebounded from his poor Game 4 effort to produce yet another 50-fantasy-point game. The double-digit assists have been there the entire series, and aside from his outlier performance, the field goal attempts have been as well, with 16, 16, 18, eight and 18. Tonight the expectation is that he will again score 20 or more points with around a dozen assists. While there are whispers that Devin Booker is nearing a return from his hamstring injury, there is no need for the Suns to push him unless this series somehow ends up in a Game 7 situation that puts their season on the brink.
Luka Doncic: Dallas Mavericks at Utah Jazz
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 59.91 | DraftKings: 61.91
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 50.6% | FanDuel 62.5% | DraftKings 47.2%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $57 | FanDuel $11,500 | DraftKings $11,600
Dallas has the momentum heading back to Salt Lake City, having won three of the last four games. Tonight is essentially a pick-’em, which should make for a very spirited battle. Luka Doncic has returned from his leg injury and averaged 33.5 minutes and 52.1 fantasy points per game. That is a reasonable expectation tonight against a Jazz squad that has seemingly been gobsmacked at every turn for the last week.
Centers of Attention
Joel Embiid continues to play through torn ligaments in his right hand. This could, anecdotally, be impacting his fantasy performances — back-to-back 30- and 35-point outings — but he is still getting nearly 40 minutes on the court and averaging 15.5 field goal attempts. The other contributing factor to these substandard performances is coach Doc Rivers not making any major adjustments against the different looks coach Nick Nurse has his Raptors giving the 76ers. Embiid has more than 41 fantasy points only once in this series.
Pascal Siakam is likely to play at least 44 minutes tonight in the potential elimination game. Toronto will likely be without Fred VanVleet, who went down with a hip injury in Game 3. In the two most recent games without his running mate, Siakam has averaged 18 field goal attempts, 28.5 points, nine rebounds, six assists and 1.5 combined blocks and steals.
Deandre Ayton ticked back to 13 field goal attempts and he failed to get double-digit rebounds for a fourth time this series. The salary is still favorable, and we have seen that when he sees mid-teens or higher in field goal attempts, Ayton has access to a 50-fantasy-point performance.
Precious Achiuwa should get 25 to 30 minutes off the bench as long as he is able to contribute on offense. If this is the case, he can easily tally upwards of 25 fantasy points. However, if he is having a poor game … well, we got to see the single-fantasy-point outcome as recently as Game 4. Thaddeus Young would be the perfect pivot or leverage option at a similar salary to Achiuwa.
Yahoo Discount Dandies
Danny Green – Philadelphia 76ers at Toronto Raptors ($10): This is another game where Matisse Thybulle will be unable to plays, as he does not meet the Canadian health and safety pandemic requirements. Danny Green should see more than 30 minutes tonight, along with double-digit field goal attempts. This should have him in the mix for at least 20 fantasy points, which is a steal at his minimum salary on Yahoo.
Dwight Powell – Dallas Mavericks at Utah Jazz ($11): Tonight Dwight Powell will continue to start, and the Mavericks need his presence in the paint against Rudy Gobert. It is difficult to get too excited with Powell since there are so many center options available tonight, but he is worth mentioning as a salary-relief option.
Jae Crowder – Phoenix Suns vs. New Orleans Pelicans ($14): Essentially it is a coinflip between Jae Crowder and teammate Cameron Johnson ($15). The former produces in more statistical categories, the latter is a larger part of the Phoenix offense.
Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks for the Thursday, April 28 Fantasy Basketball Slate
Things should be exciting tonight with the potential for three different series to come to a final conclusion. Last night we saw the key Milwaukee players, including most of its starters, play only 30 minutes, with the Bucks having an average lead of 16.2 points throughout the game. Of course, it is impossible to know which teams, if any, will crush the opposition tonight — but it would be a slight downside risk to consider as a tiebreaker for a few players.