Yahoo Fantasy Basketball Picks Today: Free NBA DFS Rankings 3/4/22

The NBA slate for this Friday features nine games and has plenty of top-tier talent available. There’s multiple injuries to monitor, most of which will be sure to have big fantasy basketball implications. Anthony Edwards is out for Minnesota and Fred VanVleet is again highly questionable for Toronto after missing last night’s game. As a result, there’s multiple players from both the Raptors and Timberwolves featured below today. John Collins and Caris LeVert are two other names who have been ruled out, while Devin Booker (COVID – out) looks like the biggest name to miss this Yahoo Fantasy Basketball slate. See who we’re targeting on the Suns below with Booker out.

This column will use the Awesemo NBA DFS Projections, daily fantasy basketball rankings and NBA DFS tools to build lineups and help wade through the day’s data and news. Make sure to read to the end for a couple of extreme value plays for Yahoo fantasy basketball lineups today.

Yahoo Fantasy Basketball & NBA DFS Value Picks Today

Guard — Patrick Beverley $18

The Timberwolves will be without Anthony Edwards today, which has positive NBA fantasy implications for the rest of their starters. Patrick Beverley is already averaging 1.2 steals per game and is also on pace for a career-high assist rate with 4.8 per game. He’s been a solid all-round contributor for Yahoo NBA DFS purposes and his usage excels with Edwards out. He’s averaged over 25 fantasy points per game when Edwards has been out of the lineup this year and has a solid fantasy setup with Minnesota projecting with an implied team total of over 120 points. Beverley is inside the top 10 in point projections today in the Awesemo NBA Projections and with the best projection, by far, of anyone priced under $20 on Yahoo, making him an excellent source of value at Guard.

Fellow NBA DFS analyst Tyler Schmidt has focused on Beverly in his Best NBA DFS Picks Today article, using the Awesemo NBA rankings and projections. Check out who else he sees as some of the best options for DraftKings NBA and FanDuel NBA lineups.

Guard — James Harden $50

The James Harden experiment in Philadelphia has been a smashing success thus far. Harden just missed out on his second straight triple-double against the Knicks his last time out and has been an excellent facilitator for the 76ers, drawing main coverage away from Joel Embiid. There are some mid-tier options we can look at under the Shooting Guard umbrella today but paying up Harden in this spot feels like the best way to gain over the field. A lower point total may scare some people off him for fantasy purposes but the Cavaliers remain extremely banged up at both guard positions with Caris Lavert still out. Harden should have no trouble racking up the stats today and makes for a solid pay-up target once again as he tops the Shoot Guard NBA Projections on Awesemo.

James Harden was showing up well in Awesemo’s NBA DFS projections today. He is popping as one of the best Yahoo Fantasy Basketball plays on the entire DFS slate. Check out who else is one of the best NBA picks today in the Yahoo NBA DFS Cheat Sheet.

Forward — Scottie Barnes $27

The Raptors injury situation is one to monitor again today as Fred VanVleet was listed as questionable as of writing. It seems unlikely that VanVleet would play after sitting out yesterday but things change quick in the NBA. One reason why the Raptors may not rush back VanVleet is the play of Scottie Barnes, who has looked fantastic over his last couple of starts. Barnes has now posted double-doubles in three straight starts and has seen an average court time of 37-mins over his last three starts. There’s always a little blowout potential when a decent team plays Orlando but they’re also an excellent matchup ranking bottom-10 in points and rebounds allowed. Considering how much the Raptors play their starters, Barnes looks like a solid play at under $30, assuming VanVleet stays out for another game.

Forward — Buddy Hield $24

Buddy Hield has seen his Yahoo salary finally rise, but his minutes have also remained steady. He’s now averaged over 38 minutes per game over his last four starts alone and has also been a nice source of assists with the Pacers, averaging five assists per game over his last five starts. This more well-rounded version of Hield is a player we should keep targeting — even at these increased price levels — especially in a matchup with Detroit, who is dead last in opponent 3-point percentage this year. Hield shows out very strongly in the Awesemo NBA Fantasy Rankings at Small Forward, where he’s second in the overall point projections, and feels like a near must target given his recent run.

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Center — Karl-Anthony Towns $39

We can certainly target more than one Timberwolves player today with Anthony Edwards out. The Wolves have one of the biggest implied team totals on the slate and will be with a shorter rotation than usual making this a very fertile fantasy environment. Centre offers us some of the biggest names on the slate today with Nikola Jokic on the docket but the value up top comes with Karl-Anthony Towns, who is projecting in close-range of the top-two options in the Awesemo NBA Projections — but with a far better value score. Towns’ sub-$40 price aside, he’s been an absolute beast without Edwards in the lineup, as his usage has seen the biggest bump of any of the Minnesota starters. We also have to love that he’s coming off a game where he only played 32 minutes and averaged nearly 1.5 Yahoo fantasy points in the process. Towns is a the big man to build around today.

Yahoo NBA DFS Value Play — Cameron Payne $14

By all accounts, Cameron Payne will again be in the starting lineup today for the Suns, who are now without both Chris Paul and Devin Booker, who recently went into COVID Protocols. Payne may have only played 20 minutes in his last game (which he also started) but that was his first action in over a month and the game wasn’t close by any standards. The Suns-Knicks has a closer point spread of -6.5 Suns today and Payne should see his minutes continue to rise without Booker in the lineup today. He averaged well over a 1.0 Yahoo points per minute in his last outing and ranks out with the top value score and points projection of any point guard under $15 on today’s slate.

Yahoo NBA DFS Value Play — Danilo Gallinari $13

With John Collins out, do not hesitate to go back at Danilo Gallinari today either. He started cold in the game last night but also finished with zero turnovers and looked better as the game went on. He has played over 28 minutes in all but one of his last six games and has solid usage stats without Collins in the rotation.

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