NBA Fantasy Picks Today: DraftKings & FanDuel Fantasy Basketball Rankings

There are only three days left of the NBA regular season. Tonight offers a nine-game slate headlined by the Lakers – Thunder game. This is where most of the value will come from tonight, as this slate is begging to have a stars and scrubs lineup build. Players will be ruled in and out in these next few days as teams clinch playoff seeds, so make sure to stay up to date on Awesemo’s NBA Starting Lineups page to see who is in and out of the lineup tonight. These four plays below are driven by Awesemo’s Fantasy Basketball Rankings.

DraftKings & FanDuel NBA Fantasy Basketball Rankings

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

SG Talen Horton-Tucker — Grades: B, B | Values: A, A

With the Los Angeles Lakers officially eliminated from playoff contention, they are likely going to sit their veterans for the last two games of the regular season. The role players will be a great source of value tonight as this slate is begging a stars and scrubs lineup build. Talen Horton-Tucker played 37 minutes last night and had 40 points while shooting 15 for 28 from the field. He had a 37.4% usage rate and finished with 56.25 DraftKings points. Awesemo NBA projections have Horton-Tucker to be the best value on both DraftKings and FanDuel.

The Lakers host the Thunder, who have also mailed in their season with some crazy lineups. This is a nine-game slate, but this specific game will literally have all of the plays. According to Awesemo’s NBA DFS ownership projections the top eight players on DraftKings are in this game. The best on both sites is Horton-Tucker, but the Lakers have other great options as well in Malik Monk, Stanley Johnson and Wenyen Gabriel. Horton-Tucker also has the highest boom percentage on both sites in Awesemo’s Boom/Bust Tool. Get as much Lakers exposure as possible.

PF Jaylen Hoard — Grades: A, A | Values: A, A

Sticking to the same game, the best option from the Oklahoma City Thunder side is Jaylen Hoard. He is one of two players who have a perfect A Grade and A Value on both DraftKings and FanDuel in Awesemo’s Fantasy Basketball Rankings. The other is his teammate Isaiah Roby. Hoard had a disappointing game against the Jazz, as he only had five rebounds after grabbing 21 the game before. He still had 23 points and nearly 40 DraftKings points. Hoard is averaging 19.3 points and 15.3 rebounds per game in his last three starts.

Hoard has the second-highest boom percentage in Awesemo’s NBA Fantasy Boom/Bust Tool and ranks in the top three in value on both sites in Awesemo’s NBA daily fantasy projections. The Thunder have more great options besides Hoard. Zavier Simpson, Melvin Frazier and Vit Krejci are all coming in relatively popular on DraftKings. The Thunder are only 4.5-point road underdogs in this spot, which is another draw to stacking this game. Hoard has averaged 49.3 DraftKings points per game in his last three starts. He is still too cheap on both sites given his upside in this matchup.

PG Trae Young — Grades: A, A | Values: D, C

The pay-up options are difficult, even though there will be so much salary after stacking the Lakers – Thunder game. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic are in great spots, but one might sit as the other is an 18-point favorite. Instead, lean towards the idea of going to two of the other pay-up options. The first would be Hawks guard Trae Young. He will not look nearly as good in the tools because he is playing on the road against the Heat, who have the fourth-best defensive rated team and are the third slowest in the league.

The caveat to this matchup is that the Heat have already secured the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. They may play the Hawks in the first round, so they could rest some of their starters in this spot. The spread anticipates that as the Hawks have already moved to a 1-point favorite. Over the last three games, Young is averaging a double-double with 30.7 points and 12 rebounds per game. Young is under 10% on both DraftKings and FanDuel in Awesemo’s NBA DFS ownership projections, making him a fantastic contrarian pay-up option.

Latest NBA DFS Content

PG Kyrie Irving — Grades: A, A | Values: C, B

Deciding between Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant was difficult, but take the savings, especially on FanDuel with Irving. The Nets have a great chance to climb to seventh in the standings if they get a win against the Cavaliers at home tonight. They are 8-point favorites as the Cavaliers may get one of their big men back in Evan Mobley, who is listed as questionable. This matchup features the highest total on the slate at 232 points as the Nets are implied for a slate-high 120 points. Ride with the discounted Irving.

During this stretch, Irving has barely left the floor. Over the last six games, Irving has played 40 or more minutes in each. He has only shot 38.9% from the field over that time, but he still has an extremely high usage rate. Seth Curry is probable, but Goran Dragic is still out. Look for Irving to be aggressive again tonight. Durant has put up over 70 DraftKings points in three of his last five games. He is a great option as well. Prioritize Young and the Nets’ stars over Giannis and Doncic on this slate 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!