NBA Daily Fantasy Projections & DFS Picks for DraftKings & FanDuel 2/4

Friday delivers a large nine-game slate, with three of these totals north of 230 points. The Awesemo NBA Starting Lineups page will provide breaking news when starters are announced as well as a full injury report on players who might be missing in action. Below are some NBA daily fantasy options that stand out for tonight’s slate using Awesemo’s Boom/Bust Tool and NBA DFS projections.

Boom/Bust NBA Daily Fantasy Projections & Picks

Boom: Kevin Love: $6,900 DraftKings/$6,900 FanDuel

19.1% DraftKings Boom/11.7% FanDuel Boom

With Darius Garland (back) and Lauri Markkanen (knee) missing the last two contests, Love has been a huge beneficiary, scoring 42.75 DraftKings points per game. The veteran has logged at least 29 minutes in each of these tilts, which is a huge upgrade from the 21.6 minutes per game he is averaging for the season. Garland and Markkanen will remain sidelined Friday, along with Collin Sexton and Ricky Rubio, who are out for the season with knee injuries. In the 236 minutes Love has played with these four players off the court this season, his usage has risen 3.5 percentage points to a team-high 29.2%. His assist rate has also increased 3.4 percentage points to 19.1% and he leads the Cavs with an 18.8% rebound percentage in this situation. With these immense rates, Love is contributing 1.33 DraftKings points per minute, and he should continue to handle right around 30 minutes tonight against the Hornets, who are one of the premier matchups in fantasy basketball. Charlotte ranks 26th in defensive efficiency and second in pace. Additionally, they are yielding the second-most rebounds in the league. This tilt’s total is the sixth highest on the slate with 217 points and the Hornets are only five-point favorites.

Love is an elite GPP target that is never highly owned and brings a much higher ceiling than his current price points suggest, particularly on FanDuel tonight, where Awesemo has him slated for single-digit ownership.

Boom: Brandon Goodwin: $4,100 DraftKings/$4,500 FanDuel

30.2% DraftKings Boom/18.5% FanDuel Boom

After recording 25.75 DraftKings points off the bench Monday against the Pelicans with Garland inactive, Goodwin was promoted to the starting five Wednesday against the Rockets and tallied 29.75 DraftKings points across 32.3 minutes. Barring a surprise move, he should get another start Friday in this dream spot against the Hornets. In the 187 minutes Goodwin has played with Garland off the court this season, the guard has generated one DraftKings point per minute with a 20% usage rate. Over the last two seasons, Goodwin has been productive with 26.9 DraftKings points per game for the 10 occasions he has cracked the 20-minute mark, and playing way up in pace against the defensively challenged Hornets is obviously an extremely optimal situation.

Goodwin should effortlessly beat his price tags tonight and while he is going to be the chalk of the slate, eating the chalk and differentiating yourself in different spots of your lineup is the right move. For DraftKings tonight, Goodwin is rating as the No. 1 value on the board in Awesemo’s projections.

Latest NBA DFS Content

Boom: Nikola Jokic: $12,400 DraftKings/$11,200 FanDuel

28% DraftKings Boom/35.4% FanDuel Boom

After sitting out Wednesday with a toe injury, Jokic was not listed on the injury report for Friday’s matchup with the Pelicans. With new career highs in usage (31.4%), assist percentage (43.4%) and rebound rate (23.3%), the center is leading the NBA with a godly 1.85 DraftKings points per minute this season. After a six-game road trip, Jokic and the Nuggets will be back on their home floor tonight, which is a huge deal for the reigning MVP. This season, Jokic has scored a dramatic 6.1 more DraftKings points per game on his home floor compared to when on the road. This Pelicans’ defense Jokic is going against ranks 22nd in efficiency and this will be the third time this season he has faced the club. Jokic had a triple-double in both of their first two meetings, bringing his season average against New Orleans up to a whopping 70 DraftKings points per game.

The Nuggets carry the fifth-highest implied team total on the slate tonight with 115 points and this matchup’s total is also the fourth largest on the board with 224 points. Unsurprisingly, no player boasts a higher ceiling in Awesemo’s Boom Bust Tool than Jokic. Without question, he is the best stud to build around for Friday night.

Boom: Josh Giddey: $7,700 DraftKings/$6,000 FanDuel

13.9% DraftKings Boom/30.4% FanDuel Boom

As always, Giddey needs to be on your radar with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (ankle) unavailable. For the six starts Giddey has made without Gilgeous-Alexander, the rookie has slid over to point guard for the Thunder and amassed 37 DraftKings points per game. Take Gilgeous-Alexander off the floor this season and Giddey’s assist rate leaps 10.2 percentage points to a team-high 37.8%. His usage and rebound rates also see 1.6 and 1.2 percentage point upgrades, respectively. Giddey supplies 1.1 DraftKings points per minute sans Gilgeous-Alexander and on tap for tonight is a date with a Blazers’ defense that ranks second to last in efficiency. In this spot, Giddey’s NBA player props on BetMGM are set at 14.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.5 assists, which is already 33.25 DraftKings points before defensive stats and site bonuses.

At a laughably low $6,000 on FanDuel, Giddey is rating as a top-10 value on the slate in Awesemo’s projections and is a near must play. His $7,700 salary on DraftKings is more appropriate, but Giddey still has the potential to outproduce this price tag. His low expected ownership in Awesemo’s projections makes the versatile rookie a terrific contrarian target.

Thanks for reading to the end of this article! If you appreciate this free content and want to see more of it every day, you can help us out by sharing this article on social media!