NBA DFS Picks and Fantasy Basketball Building Blocks for Today, Saturday | 3/26/22

Saturday, March 26, gets the weekend rolling with a solid seven-game main slate beginning 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 | Saturday, March 26

Yahoo Play of the Day — Kevin Love: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Chicago Bulls

  • Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 32.35 | DraftKings: 35.26
  • Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 36% | FanDuel 27.9% | DraftKings 20.1%
  • DFS Salary: Yahoo $17 | FanDuel $5,500 | DraftKings $6,500

On Thursday, Kevin Love moved into the starting lineup as Cleveland is looking for additional offense with Jarrett Allen (finger) unlikely to return until the middle of next week. Love responded with his best fantasy-point (34) performance of the month with a double-double in 33 minutes of action. This is a key game tonight for both teams as the Bulls are one game ahead of the Cavaliers in the standings and both are scrambling to stay above the Play-In Tournament cut-line. Coach J.B. Bickerstaff is looking to play his core guys big minutes, so even if Love is coming off the bench, he still should be in line for a 30-minute floor tonight.

Nikola Jokic: Denver Nuggets vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

  • Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 57.39 | DraftKings: 60.26
  • Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 24% | FanDuel 26.9% | DraftKings 23.7%
  • DFS Salary: Yahoo $56 | FanDuel $11,600 | DraftKings $12,000

Denver has now lost three of its last four games and they are only one-half of a game ahead of Minnesota as it works to stay out of the Play-In Tournament. Michael Porter Jr. could return for the final week or two of the season, but things are now looking dicey for Jamal Murray’s return. The Nuggets do not have any remaining back-to-back games and they are going to need everything Nikola Jokic can bring down the stretch to maintain their No. 6 seed. The reigning NBA MVP continues to be one of the best fantasy sources in the league. Over his last 11 games, Jokic is averaging 1.81 fantasy points per minute and even in an abbreviated outing tonight he could still add to his league leading 18 triple-doubles.

Look to Jokic in this matchup against the Thunder in the NBA player prop market. Currently he has a 23.5 over/under on his points prop, and the Awesemo NBA player projections have him for 27, which gives him a 66% probability of surpassing the over. Jokic is averaging 26.2 points per game and he has scored at least 24 points in 44 of his 67 games (65%) this season

Davion Mitchell: Sacramento Kings at Orlando Magic

  • Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 30.65 | DraftKings: 31.73
  • Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 38.8% | FanDuel 30.3% | DraftKings 30.9%
  • DFS Salary: Yahoo $17 | FanDuel $5,900 | DraftKings $6,000

We may have seen the last of De’Aaron Fox (hand) and Domantas Sabonis (knee) since the Kings are all but eliminated from the playoffs. That means big minutes for rookie Davion Mitchell, who has proven that he can be a solid offensive contributor when granted the opportunities. In his last four games, he is averaging 37.3 minutes, 21 points, 2 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 1 steal and 0.3 blocks. Orlando has been a league-average defense this month while playing at a top-10 pace. Do not let the rising salary dissuade you from rolling with Mitchell tonight in all formats.

Portland Trail Blazers vs. Houston Rockets

Tonight is a rematch from Friday as the Rockets handed out a 125-106 drubbing to the Trail Blazers. The variable tonight in this late-night hammer game is the availability of Josh Hart and Justise Winslow, who have been sitting out games as Portland has embraced a tanking strategy. If they are upgraded back to their typical starting role tonight, then they are two of the best options in the player pool. In the event one, or both, are out again, the flotsam and jetsam that makes up the Blazers roster would be viable options in all formats. There is a good chance that news is not available when the slate locks, however, with a little planning and forethought, savvy NBA DFS players can be ready to take advantage of either situation.

Last night, Christian Wood was the only starter to step on the court in the fourth quarter and he only played a grand total of 26.6 minutes. That is the risk with Houston tonight as this is the rare matchup where they are road favorites. Veteran Eric Gordon will likely be out for rest on the back-to-back, though, unless other Rockets are ruled out with various maladies, it is hard to focus on any specific player with confidence. Target the starters as they are likely to approach 30 minutes, however, bench players such as Alperen Sengun, Kenyon Martin Jr. and Dennis Schroder are interesting if they are going to see 22-24 minutes like they did last night. This would make the understudies a solid source of discounted differentiation in tournaments, particularly on the late slate.

Final Thoughts on NBA DFS picks for the Saturday, March 26 Fantasy Basketball Slate

Similar to Friday, we have an expanded window of action tonight with five different start times between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET. Teams have really begun taking down the tents with an eye towards the upcoming draft, and for the lucky ones, the postseason. Be ready to scramble on any late-breaking news as that very well could be a difference maker tonight.

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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