NBA DFS First Look & Optimal Lineup Picks Today

The Slate Starter is a daily first look at the day’s NBA slate to get your daily fantasy basketball lineup-building process started before lock tonight. Each day we will go through some of the best NBA DFS picks, top stacks and optimal lineup construction for DraftKings and FanDuel. Be sure to check Awesemo’s NBA Starting Lineups page, as it will be updated throughout the day as the NBA injury reports are released and breaking news surfaces. Let’s dive into some players who stand out as key options on Friday’s nine-game NBA slate.

Want to see how your lineup stacked up against yesterday’s winning NBA DFS lineups for DraftKings, FanDuel and Yahoo fantasy basketball? Check out Awesemo’s Optimal Lineup Review, which uses Fantasy Cruncher Rewind to analyze the winning plays from the night before.

Be sure to check out the Eric Lindquist and Rayen Patnaik every morning with the NBA Slate Starter Podcast, where they give you the best first-look NBA DFS analysis and daily fantasy advice to start your process.

DraftKings & FanDuel NBA DFS Lineup Advice Today

Karl-Anthony Towns, C, Minnesota Timberwolves

The biggest piece of injury news as of Thursday night involves the Timberwolves. Anthony Edwards was ruled out for Tuesday’s game against the Warriors due to left patella tendinopathy, and he’s already been ruled out for Friday’s matchup against the Thunder.

His absence is going to give the entire team a boost in value, but Towns is one of the biggest beneficiaries. He racked up 52.25 DraftKings points over 32.1 minutes in his last outing, and he would’ve played more if the game didn’t turn into a blowout. Towns has seen a team-high +5.6% usage bump with Edwards off the court this season, resulting in an average of 1.48 DraftKings points per minute.

Towns is appealing at his current salary across the industry, but his salary on FanDuel is particularly juicy. He’s been priced down to just $9,300, which represents a decrease of -$900 over the past month. Expect him to grade out nicely from a value perspective among the stud options in our NBA Projections.

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Aleksej Pokusevski, SF/PF, Oklahoma City Thunder

On the other side of that matchup, the Thunder are dealing with some injuries of their own. They’re without Luguentz Dort and Josh Giddey at the moment, as well as a bunch of key role players. Given the team’s current record, they have no incentive to bring those players back any time soon.

With that in mind, Pokusevski figures to get plenty of run down the stretch. The raw 20-year-old from Serbia is in his second professional season, and he has displayed plenty of upside from a fantasy perspective. He’s capable of contributing in every category across the board, and he’s averaged 1.07 DraftKings points per minute over the past month. He’s been even better than that recently, scoring at least 34 DraftKings points in back-to-back games.

Given all the Thunder’s absences, Pokusevski figures to be one of the highest-owned players on the slate. As long as his NBA ownership projection isn’t too crazy, he should be considered good chalk in a pace-up spot against the Timberwolves.

Malachi Flynn, PG/SG, Toronto Raptors

The Raptors are going to be another important team to monitor on Friday. They’ve been playing without two key players recently in Fred VanVleet and O.G. Anunoby, and both players were out of the lineup again on Thursday.

If VanVleet is out once again, Flynn should retain his spot in the starting lineup. He’s thrived in that role recently, scoring at least 35 DraftKings points in two straight games (Thursday’s results pending). Flynn has increased his production to 0.85 DraftKings points per minute over the past month. The Raptors are also in a great spot against Magic, who rank 24th in defensive efficiency.

Flynn would also be worth considering in the player prop market if VanVleet is ruled out. Make sure to take advantage of the Awesemo NBA Player Prop tool, which highlights the most exploitable player prop bets each day.

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