Saturday, April 9, the NBA marches one step closer to the playoffs with a three-game main slate starting 6 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 | Friday, April 8
Yahoo Play of the Day — Jordan Poole: Golden State Warriors at San Antonio Spurs
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 39.13 | DraftKings: 41.73
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 56.8% | FanDuel 70.7% | DraftKings 60.5%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $35 | FanDuel $7,900 | DraftKings $8,000
Tonight and Sunday will be all about finding players with semi-secure minutes as the NBA regular season is now in the chaos zone. Golden State can lock in the third best record in the Western Conference with a victories tonight in San Antonio and Sunday in New Orleans. If they lose tonight, they would need to win tomorrow and have the Mavericks lose since Dallas has the tiebreaker.
The Warriors do not want Klay Thompson to play both games of this back-to-back so he will be joining Stephen Curry on the sideline in an effort to keep him healthy for the postseason. That means Jordan Poole, Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Green will be called upon to make good on the ‘Dubs being 6.5-point road favorites against the Spurs. The Spurs are resting most of their players since they are locked into the 10th seed, though a Golden State victory is by no means a certainty.
Davion Mitchell: Sacramento Kings at Los Angeles Clippers
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 33.39 | DraftKings: 34.54
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 39.4% | FanDuel 51.4% | DraftKings 42.7%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $27 | FanDuel $7,100 | DraftKings $7,000
Tread lightly with Davion Mitchell as head coach Alvin Gentry indicated on Tuesday that he was going to reduce the rookie’s minutes over the final three games. Of course Mitchell played 40 minutes that night and he has played at least 37 minutes over the last eight games with an average just over 40 minutes in this span. Even if Mitchell starts, there is always a chance he sees his minutes curbed or outright dropped below the 24 to 26 minute range. Friday we say Isaiah Roby play just 14 minutes and various youngsters for the Magic and Pistons have seen similarly extreme in-game rest. Mitchell’s teammates Donte DiVincenzo and Damian Jones should be relatively safe for 28 to 30 minutes in this meaningless matchup tonight.
Paul George: Los Angeles Clippers at Sacramento Kings
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 44.44 | DraftKings: 45.83
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 68.2% | FanDuel 70.4% | DraftKings 55.9%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $40 | FanDuel $9,000 | DraftKings $9,300
Since returning from his long injury layoff, Paul George has played between 28 and 32 minutes across four games. Los Angeles is locked into their Play-In Tournament berth and will need to win just one of two games to advance to the first round of the postseason. It would make sense that George sees somewhere in the 26 to 28 minute range tonight and then sit out Sunday’s game. Even in these condensed minutes, he is likely to flirt with 40 fantasy points against the woeful Kings. Isaiah Hartenstein should see 23 to 25 minutes and he is intriguing with a semi-solidified role as the Clippers prepare for the Play-In Tournament.
Look to George against Sacramento tonight in the NBA player prop market. Currently, he has a 4.5 over/under on his assist prop, and the Awesemo NBA player projections have him for 5.7 assists, which gives him a 64% probability of surpassing the over. In his most recent four games he has topped this figure four times and is averaging 5.5 assists in this timeframe.
Zach Collins: San Antonio Spurs vs. Golden State Warriors
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 27.89 | DraftKings: 28.59
- Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 37.4% | FanDuel 38.3% | DraftKings 44.5%
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $14 | FanDuel $5,000 | DraftKings $4,500
The Spurs are resting Dejounte Murray, Jakob Poeltl, Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson as they are locked into the 10th seed. This means they will need to win two play-in road games in order to make the first round of the playoffs. San Antonio will have plenty of players, but Zach Collins is projecting for 26 to 30 minutes and he can produce around a fantasy point per minute as one of the featured offensive options. Tre Jones, Josh Richardson and Lonnie Walker are also likely to take advantage of increased opportunities, though it would be a surprise to see coach Gregg Popovich play anyone much more than 30 minutes on Saturday night.
Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks for the Saturday, April 9 Fantasy Basketball Slate
Be careful tonight and particularly on Sunday as concrete news may be difficult to pin down. Targeting the key players on teams looking to win will be key, but by no means a guarantee of production or even minutes.
