NBA Fantasy Picks Today: DraftKings & FanDuel Fantasy Basketball Rankings

Tonight features a small four-game slate. With that, NBA DFS injury news will be a big part of tonight’s process. Be sure to check the Awesemo NBA Starting Lineups page to see who is in, who is out and who is starting as news breaks, and look at the NBA DFS rankings and projections before making your NBA fantasy picks today for DraftKings and FanDuel lineups.

DraftKings & FanDuel NBA Fantasy Rankings Today

*Grades are ordered DraftKings, FanDuel. Initial grade indicates a player’s strength of output, with the value grade indicating their strength as a play in relation to their salary.

SF Cameron Johnson — Grades: C, C | Values: A, A

The best value play on DraftKings is Suns forward Cameron Johnson. He is impossible to ignore in Awesemo’s Boom/Bust Tool, where he leads the slate on DraftKings with a 51.4% boom percentage. Johnson also has by far the highest projected ownership on DraftKings. The Suns are playing without Cameron Payne and Jae Crowder, which will solidify Johnson’s minutes. With Crowder out, Johnson will likely grab the start. In the six games Johnson started this season, he is averaging 17.8 points per game while shooting 55.1% from the field and 50% from behind the arc.

This matchup against the Jazz features the highest game total on the slate (222 points), with the Suns projected for a slate-high implied total of 115.5 points. They are 9-point home favorites as the Jazz continue to work through injuries. There is still risk with this value play. Nearly 65% of Johnson’s field goal attempts come from behind the arc. That percentage is lower this season than his career numbers, but still a healthy amount. He is second on the team to Devin Booker in made 3-pointers, with 2.4 per game. Johnson is a scoring-dependent player who needs to hit his shots to return value.

C Jonas Valanciunas — Grades: A, A | Values: B, A

Jonas Valanciunas is the highest-graded player on DraftKings and FanDuel tonight in Awesemo’s NBA DFS Rankings, which are free today! The Pelicans will be playing without Brandon Ingram, who leads the team in points, usage rate and assists this season. Devonte’ Graham is also listed as questionable for tonight. In eight games without Ingram in the lineup this season, Valanciunas is averaging a double-double with 20.8 points and 12.8 rebounds and is also scoring 43.7 DraftKings points per game. He has 31 double-doubles this season, which ranks fourth in the league.

The Pacers already have a mediocre defense that ranks 21st in defensive rating. However, they are still playing without both of their starting frontcourt players in Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis. Turner leads the league in blocks per game, while Sabonis ranks fourth in the league in rebounds. Valanciunas should feast in the paint against this undermanned Pacers frontcourt. Awesemo projects Valanciunas to be one of the best pay-up options, especially on FanDuel, where he has an extremely cheap price tag and has the best boom percentage on the slate.

Latest NBA DFS Content

C Goga Bitadze — Grades: A, A | Values: C, B

The Pacers center who has taken over in the absence of Turner and Sabonis is Goga Bitadze. He has started the last two games and averaged a double-double with 14.5 points and 10 rebounds per game. He played an average of 33 minutes per game in tough matchups against the Warriors and Suns. Tonight is a much easier spot for Bitadze and the Pacers, as the Pelicans rank 23rd in defensive rating and allow opponents to shoot 46.7% from the field, which is tied for the fifth worst in the league. The price tag came up, but Bitadze is still a great play tonight.

The Pacers are only 3-point road underdogs despite having multiple players out of the lineup. They did go on the road and beat the Warriors in overtime two games ago with a similar lineup. Malcolm Brogdon is still out, but they may get Caris LeVert back from injury tonight. This should be a competitive game between two below-average teams and defenses. Bitadze ranks in the top five in boom percentage on both DraftKings and FanDuel. He is also one of the best leverage options on the slate. Do not be intimidated by his salary increase on this short four-game slate.

SG DeMar DeRozan — Grades: A, A | Values: C, B

After a great start to the season, the Bulls have hit a rough patch, as they have lost six of their last seven games. A big reason is they are missing most of their backcourt. Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso are both out for the foreseeable future, while Zach LaVine was injured on Jan. 14 and has been out ever since. He is questionable to play tonight, so to monitor the Bulls starting lineup as lock approaches. Obviously no LaVine is preferred for getting to DeMar DeRozan, but he should still flourish if LaVine is in the lineup. He still leads the team in scoring and usage rate this season.

Despite the Bulls recent struggles, DeRozan has been fantastic. Over the last three games, DeRozan is averaging 35.3 points per game while shooting an extremely impressive 60.3% from the field. That is incredible for a shooting guard. During that time he has been very aggressive, as he has shot 36 free-throw attempts. DeRozan is also averaging 49.3 DraftKings points per game in those last three games. The field is also taking notice of his hot streak, as Awesemo’s ownership projections have DeRozan as the highest-owned player on FanDuel and second highest on DraftKings tonight.

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!