Wednesday, Jan. 15 is rolling out a hefty 10-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 Luka Doncic, Enes Kanter and more.
NBA DFS Picks: Daily Fantasy Basketball | Jan. 15
Don’t forget to check out the NBA Strategy Show featuring Josh Engleman and Sal Vetri as they break down the NBA DFS slate and give out their thoughts on injury news and other NBA DFS analysis.
Primetime Players
Luka Doncic: Dallas Mavericks at Sacramento Kings
DraftKings $12,100, FanDuel $11,000, Yahoo $57Â
There is a very good chance that Anthony Davis will be out for another couple of games. Rajon Rondo (finger) is out, so that opens the door for LeBron James to be one of the better plays tonight and worthy of anchoring our cash-game lineups. James is in the midst of yet another phenomenal season, with a career-high and league-leading 10.7 assists per game. He has also increased his 3-point attempts to a career-high 6.1 per game with a solid 35.1% rounding into 55.6 DraftKings points per game, which is his best rate in the last 10 seasons. His FanDuel/Yahoo rate of 52.61 is his second best in the last nine seasons. Finally, in our last round of hosannas, LeBron has eight of his 90 regular season triple-doubles this year.
Doncic is leading the league with 11 triple-doubles this year. While this is a back-to-back, he only played 27.0 minutes last night as the Mavericks waxed the Warriors. He also has averaged only 31 minutes over his last three games, which has served to give his game logs a more pedestrian look.
Kristaps Porzingis should be returning tonight after receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection in his knee last week. He has missed the last eight games, and with Dallas eyeing a deep playoff run, it would be a surprise to see him above the 26-28 minute range. In 500 minutes without Porzingis on the floor, Doncic has 39.4% usage and is averaging 1.71 fantasy points per minute. Without Porzingis, those numbers are 1.53 fantasy points per minute with 35.7% usage. Sacramento is playing faster now that they have De’Aaron Fox running the show. They are also second in the league over their last five games with 104.9 possessions per 48 minutes, compared to their full-season average of 98.7, which is the fourth lowest in the league.
With 20 teams in action, we will have plenty of news that will allow us the luxury of a stars-and-scrubs build. It is very possible to put both James and Doncic in the same lineup.
Good Value
Enes Kanter: Boston Celtics vs. Detroit Pistons
DraftKings $5,700, FanDuel $5,500, Yahoo $22
This is more of a DraftKings play, but if you want a differentiation play on FanDuel, this would be it. In his last six matchups against Andre Drummond, Kanter has averaged 27.0 minutes per game with 37.5 points per game or 1.39 fantasy points per minute.
Date | Team | Opp |  Min | DKPTs |
10/21/2017 | NYK | vs. DET | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 24 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 30.5 |
12/22/2017 | NYK | @ DET | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 29 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 55.5 |
11/27/2018 | NYK | @ DET | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 36 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 42.0 |
3/23/2019 | POR | vs. DET | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 17 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 20.8 |
3/30/2019 | POR | @ DET | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 34 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 42.8 |
12/20/2019 | BOS | vs. DET | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 22 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 33.5 |
Averages | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 27 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 37.5 |
Jayson Tatum (knee) has already been ruled out, and Daniel Theis (knee) may miss a second straight game as well.
Denver Nuggets vs. Charlotte Hornets
We know that Paul Millsap (knee) is going to miss his fourth straight game. Jamal Murray (back) and Gary Harris (groin) are questionable in this first night of a back-to-back. Currently, the Nuggets are 10-point home favorites against Charlotte, and tomorrow’s road game is against the hapless Warriors. If there was a great time to give some players a break, this is it, as their next games are also part of a back-to-back set at home against the Pacers on Sunday and then in Minnesota on Monday.
Jerami Grant continues to play in place of Millsap. It would not be a surprise to see Mason Plumlee with some mop-up duty tonight or tomorrow in place of Nikola Jokic. If either or both of the questionable guards are out, we get a boost to Will Barton‘s usage, and value plays Monte Morris and Malik Beasley would surge to the forefront of the value parade.
Risky Value
Harrison Barnes: Sacramento Kings vs. Dallas Mavericks
DraftKings $4,900, FanDuel $4,800, Yahoo $13
Please let gamers look to Barnes in a revenge game because I am staying far, far away from this one. It does not take much for me to avoid Barnes, and that is even after I lucked into his flirtation with 40 fantasy points against New Orleans. In his last three games, Barnes scored 13.3 fantasy points in 36.9 minutes against Orlando, 17.8 in 36.3 minutes against Milwaukee and 6.3 in 27.5 minutes in Phoenix. He has started the last 17 games and is averaging 34.5 minutes and 22.9 fantasy points. That average of 0.67 fantasy points per minute can be topped by a dozen other players for a similar price tonight.
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