Welcome to the Yahoo Cup NBA DFS Picks for Round 20! There are nine games in the NBA tonight and there are some excellent spots to take advantage of. On Yahoo, the field is already gravitating toward certain players and it will make sense to play some popular options tonight. However, there is also one major pivot off the chalk in a large-field tournament like the Yahoo Cup.Â
This is a free-to-enter, multi-round, single-entry Yahoo fantasy basketball contest with 24 rounds where the top 6,950 entries overall and top 540 entries per round share $50,000, with $10,000 to first overall and $100 to first per round. Scoring will be cumulative across all rounds. Your five lowest daily fantasy basketball scores will be dropped, and you can enter at any point, but enter today to give yourself the best chance to compete for the title. Make your Yahoo NBA DFS picks today and begin the chase!
The focus will be on three players — one guard, one forward, and one center — for NBA DFS picks for the Round 20 NBA Yahoo Cup contest.
Yahoo Cup Fantasy Basketball & NBA DFS Picks | Round 20
Best NBA Fantasy Guard: Cameron Payne, Phoenix Suns — $14
The Suns are now without both starting guards in Chris Paul and Devin Booker, which will open up a lot more opportunity for Cameron Payne tonight. Among players that have played at least 40 games, Payne is seventh in frequency as the pick-and-roll ball-handler and is scoring 4.6 points per game. Phoenix is hosting the New York Knicks, and where the Knicks could get hurt is in the pick-and-roll game as a whole. They have faced the sixth-most field goal attempts to the ball-handler but they’ve also allowed the eighth-most points to the roll man. Payne is averaging 3.7 assists per game on an average of 20 minutes but he dished out eight in his first game back in action on Wednesday.Â
While Payne only played 20 minutes in this last game, he came off the floor around six minutes into the third quarter. He never came back as the Suns were winning that game by 30 points and this game should be more competitive. With a game under his belt, 25 minutes should be the expectation tonight and Payne produces 1.10 Yahoo fantasy points per minute with a 29.1% usage rate without Paul and Booker. The salary does not match the upside and regardless of popularity, he’s an extremely strong play.Â
Best NBA Fantasy Forward: Alexsej Pokusevski, Oklahoma City Thunder — $16
Another player that is projected to be a popular choice but feels too cheap to ignore, Alexsej Pokusevski continues to benefit from the Oklahoma City Thunder missing multiple players. Lu Dort, Josh Giddey, Ty Jerome and Kenrich Williams are all out, and that has led to Pokusevski getting more reliable minutes. He has played 25 and 29 minutes in the past two games and has scored over 35 Yahoo NBA DFS points, proving he can contribute across every statistical category. In those games, he’s scored nine points in each, had at least eight rebounds, and a total of eight blocks and steals. It has been a smaller sample size without all these players on the floor (116 minutes) but he’s producing 1.04 Yahoo fantasy points per minute and his ceiling has shown to be higher. The game environment is excellent on top of that as both teams are in the top 12 in pace and the total is 230.5 points.Â
Best NBA Fantasy Center: Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets — $56
This is the spot where playing popular and cheap options pays off because Nikola Jokic is looking like a major deviation from the field. Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns is projected to be a top-three player in popularity, and he should be, as he’s under $40 and the Timberwolves are missing Anthony Edwards. However, Jokic gets to face off against the Houston Rockets, who have been one of the primary targets in NBA DFS all season long.
While the game does have a 14-point spread, Jokic would be at the center of the Nuggets blowing out the Rockets with his 1.74 Yahoo fantasy points per minute. Houston is first in pace and dead last in defensive rating, not to mention being terrible in the paint. They are in the bottom three in points and rebounds allowed in the paint and Jokic scores the eighth-most points in the paint per game. He should also be able to have a big game on the glass since he’s second in rebound chances per game at 20.9. The difference in popularity between Jokic and Towns could catapult an entry toward the top of the Yahoo Cup NBA DFS tournament leaderboards tonight.Â
In addition to Jokic being a great tournament play in Yahoo fantasy basketball formats, the Awesemo NBA projections have him slated for 9.1 assists. His NBA player prop for assists is a great bet, which is sitting at over/under 8.5, and OddsShopper has an expected win rate of 56% when betting the over.
