NBA DFS Picks: FREE 1/12 Cash Building Blocks: Kawhi Leonard, Value Plays and MORE

Sunday, Jan. 12 has an intriguing five-game main slate for all the big daily fantasy sites. Before you lock in your NBA DFS lineups and NBA DFS picks on DraftKings, FanDuel, Yahoo and FantasyDraft, make sure to check out check out Awesemo’s NBA DFS rankings and projections. Let’s dig into some NBA DFS Picks, including Kawhi Leonard, Omari Spellman, and more.

Hey! Check out our Twitter account for loads of FREE giveaways.


Don’t forget to watch the NBA Live Before Lock Show at 5 p.m. EST featuring Fast Eddie Fear and Josh Engleman as they break down the NBA DFS slate and give out their thoughts on injury news and other NBA DFS analysis.


NBA DFS Picks: Prime Time Players

Kawhi Leonard: Los Angeles Clippers at Denver Nuggets

DraftKings $9,000, FanDuel $9,700, Yahoo $46 Ownership Rating (preliminary run): DraftKings TBA%, FanDuel TBA% Yahoo Fantasy TBA%

There are a ton of moving parts tonight so let’s look at some recommendations that should remain solid and are not dependent on news updates. In five of his last six games, Kawhi Leonard has topped 35 minutes. Los Angeles last played on Friday and their upcoming schedule has them in action again on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Tuesday. Paul George is out again with his hamstring strain, so we should see Leonard for 35-37 minutes.

In a fun quirk of the schedule, this is the first time that the Clippers and Nuggets have squared off this year. I really like the matchup for Nikola Jokic, but Leonard still is a better building block on FanDuel and Yahoo.

This season, Leonard has been on the court for 469 minutes without George during which time he is averaging 1.56 fantasy points per minute. By comparison, this is about a 10% boost from when this dynamic duo is sharing the court. Leonard should be flirting with the 50-fantasy-point plateau tonight and there is a decent chance he is the top fantasy producer as well.

NBA DFS Picks: Good Value

Omari Spellman: Golden State Warriors at Memphis Grizzlies

DraftKings $4,100, FanDuel $4,400, Yahoo $12 Ownership Rating (preliminary run): DraftKings TBA%, FanDuel TBA% Yahoo Fantasy TBA%

It was touch-and-go as to whether or not I put Omari Spellman in the Good or Risky value section. Ultimately, the price across the board won me over. While he did draw the start on Friday replacing Willie Cauley-Stein against the Clippers, it would not surprise me if they reverse places again with Jonas Valanciunas starting for the Grizzlies.

The risky part is that in his last four games, Spellman has 11 3-pointers and 11 combined steals/blocks. For his career, which includes 46 games last year with the Hawks and 37 this season, he has 1.9 made 3-pointers per 36 minutes with 1.3 steals and 1.1 blocks. Over their last 15 games, Memphis is playing at the third-fastest pace with the third-worst defensive efficiency allowing 113.6 points per 100 possessions.

Spellman looks like a core discount dandy today on all sites.

NBA DFS Picks: Risky Value

Toronto Raptors vs. San Antonio Spurs

Here is where we have a ton of question marks. It sounds like Norman Powell will be back after missing 11 games with a shoulder injury. We would like to think he was able to maintain decent cardio conditioning, but treadmills and bikes are not a direct replacement for on-court readiness. Fred VanVleet is still out of action with his groin injury, so the return of Powell should not have much of an adverse effect to Kyle Lowry. Both Pascal Siakam and Marc Gasol are getting close to a return and while it would be a long shot for that to happen tonight, they have not yet been ruled out and both should be back in action by next Friday at the latest.

If either of the big men does return, it will impact Serge Ibaka and Chris Boucher, so monitor the news updates.

FantasyCruncher Tip of the Day

Use promo code PRIMETIME to receive 50% off any one-week premium subscription (including FantasyCruncher options).

With the incredibly user-friendly FantasyCruncher, we can take our lineup construction to the next level.

Today, we will look at how to use the random feature and how it impacts projections. By going into Advanced Options > General Settings, we can set a global randomness that will be applied to all players. In this case we will use 15%. This means that for each individual lineup that is produced by FantasyCruncher, each player will have their baseline projection randomized within a +/- 15% range.

So if our player had a projection of 20 points, FantasyCruncher would assign a range projection of 17-23 points. Again, this will occur with each different lineup that is created and with each player.

For those of you with FC Pro, you have a second option. The Normal Dist Randomness calculation will actually follow a standard deviation bell curve approach. This keeps the variations in a more realistic set of parameters. This can also be set by each play via the data upload process.

Final Thoughts

This looks to be a fun slate with a little something for everyone. Be sure to tune in to Live Before Lock featuring Fast Eddie Fear with Josh Engleman on YouTube,  Twitch and Periscope beginning at 5 p.m. EST tonight for all of the up-to-date information.

As always, you can reach out to me in Awesemo.com Premium Slack or on Twitter @EMacDFS if you have any NBA DFS questions about DraftKings, FanDuel, Yahoo or FantasyDraft.

Good Luck NBA DFS Gamers! ~ EMac


If you haven’t signed up for Yahoo Fantasy DFS, click this link and use the promo code Awesemo when making your first deposit and you will be eligible for $30 of free play, which Yahoo will match through the first $30 of your deposit (this bonus will be received in Yahoo Sports Rewards Points, aka YSRP which can be used to enter any paid contest immediately).

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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