NBA DFS Building Blocks for Monday, January 24 | Today, 1/24/22

Monday, Jan. 24, kicks off the week with a four-game main slate tipping off at 7 p.m. ET. Let’s look at the player pool and discuss the top NBA DFS picks for DraftKings, FanDuel and Yahoo lineups. Do not forget to head over to the Awesemo NBA DFS home page for more great written daily fantasy basketball content.

NBA DFS Picks: Building Blocks, Monday, Jan. 24

Yahoo Play of the Day — DeMar DeRozan: Chicago Bulls at Oklahoma City Thunder

  • Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 42.13 | DraftKings: 42.84
  • Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 43.6% | FanDuel 44.3% | DraftKings 38.3%
  • DFS Salary: Yahoo $38 | FanDuel $9,000 | DraftKings $9,100

Tonight’s slate is devoid of superstars, with 22 teams playing yesterday. Chicago, New York, Phoenix and Utah are all on back-to-backs, and each squad has pending injury news. The Bulls are without Alex Caruso (wrist), but there is a chance that both Zack LaVine (knee) and Javonte Green (groin) will be available. This is big news for LaVine, as he was expected to skip this road trip, but he joined the team in Oklahoma City. Green has not played at all this month, but he was a starter prior to his injury. They are both game-time decisions, which means things are somewhat in flux. Nikola Vucevic (knee) also popped up on the injury report this afternoon, creating yet another variable.

DeMar DeRozan is going to be one of the most popular options tonight, as he is one of the few players projecting for over 40 fantasy points. Last night he was dialed in, making 15 of 21 field goal attempts and going 11-for-13 from the line for 41 points in a losing cause. Chicago is currently favored by less than a bucket, which would seem to indicate that the three questionable players will all miss tonight. DeRozan contributes across the board with rebounds and assists, and the only real knock against him is that he does not make 3’s. To his credit, he does not take them either, and while he has made just one this month in 12 games, he has only attempted nine.

If Vucevic plays, he should be considered a full-go. LaVine and Green may have some sort of minutes restrictions. Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu are neutral plays if LaVine is a go, and they are players to target if he sits.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Chicago Bulls

  • Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 39.79 | DraftKings: 40.89
  • Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 34.2% | FanDuel 31.8% | DraftKings 33.8%
  • DFS Salary: Yahoo $37 | FanDuel $10,200 | DraftKings $9,000

Oklahoma City is on a five-game losing streak, and it has garnered one victory in its last 10 opportunities. Tonight is a winnable game, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander should continue to see big minutes. In his last seven games, Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 34.7 minutes and 20.6 field goal attempts. This has culminated in 27.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 6.9 assists and 2.5 combined blocks and steals. Only once in this stretch has he failed to reach 40 fantasy points, and he has 52 or more in three of the games. Chicago has several key defenders missing or dealing with injuries, and this matchup is not as daunting as it would have been last week.

New Orleans Pelicans vs. Indiana Pacers

Brandon Ingram (ankle) is out, and Devonte’ Graham(ankle) is questionable, though he did play last Thursday and had the whole weekend off for rest and rehabilitation. If he is out, then Jose Alvarado is a value option worthy of consideration. Jonas Valanciunas and Josh Hart are core options tonight in a nice matchup against a thin Pacers squad. Garrett Temple, Jaxson Hayes, Herbert Jones and Nickeil Alexander-Walker are barely neutral plays and best left for tournament differentiation as tertiary options.

Malcolm Brogdon, Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner are all out, and Caris LeVert (calf) is a game-time decision after missing the last two games. The Yahoo salary algorithm was slow in making adjustments for Goga Bitadze’s newly found starter status, and he is a core option there at only $14. DraftKings and FanDuel each assigned him a $6,200 salary, making him a neutral option but still with tournament potential as long as he stays out of foul trouble against Valanciunas. If LeVert plays, he should see his standard 34 to 35 minutes making him a fine option. Jeremy Lamb, Chris Duarte, Torrey Craig, Justin Holiday and Oshae Brissett all have varying degrees of utility across the different DFS sites. Despite all of the injuries, Indiana still has plenty of players available

The NBA player props market for Bitadze tonight is one to exploit. In the Awesemo projections he is currently carrying an 8.9-rebound projection, while his rebound prop is over/under 7.5. In his two starts Bitadze has 11 and nine rebounds, so this may be a bet worth making with an expected win rate of 67% on OddsShopper.

Final Thoughts on NBA DFS picks for the Monday, Jan. 24 Slate

Though this is a compact slate, there are injury questions for most of the teams tipping off after the contests lock. Being flexible and ready to take advantage of late-breakings news is still one of the best advantages in NBA DFS. Keep in mind that salaries and scoring formats differ across the various fantasy sites, and a slam-dunk play on Yahoo may be a below-average NBA DFS pick on DraftKings or FanDuel.

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].

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