NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks: Embiid Trying to Seal the Deal (May 11)

Thursday’s NBA slate has the 76ers looking to close out the Celtics in Philadelphia, while Phoenix needs a win in front of the Suns faithful to extend the series to Game 7. Contests lock at 7:30 p.m. ET on DraftKings and FanDuel. There are several options in the player pool worth analyzing to find the top NBA DFS building blocks and NBA DFS picks for DraftKings and FanDuel lineups, including Joel Embiid, Devin Booker, Nikola Jokic and more.

NBA DFS Picks Today: Thursday, May 11

React App

Core Play of the Day — Joel Embiid: Philadelphia 76ers-New York Knicks

Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 56.61 | FanDuel: 55.93
Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings 44.3% | FanDuel: 20.9%
DFS Salary: DraftKings: $9,600 | FanDuel: $11,400

Philadelphia has won the last two games in this series, and the 76ers can close out Boston tonight. The Celtics are not going to go quietly into the night, as they are currently 2.5-point road favorites. This all bodes well for Joel Embiid to post another MVP-worthy performance in front of the Philly faithful.

Even playing through a sore knee, the Cameroonian has tallied three consecutive games with at least 50 fantasy points. In these games he has averaged 41 minutes and nearly 23 field goal attempts. This has resulted in 32.3 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 3.4 combined blocks and steals. Embiid has the second-best median fantasy projection tonight, and he is a strong option as the core building block of the day.

The backcourt duo of James Harden and Tyrese Maxey have each played a key role in bringing Philadelphia to the brink of an Eastern Conference Finals appearance. Harden has the higher floor and more readily attainable ceiling, but that comes with a higher salary and Maxey is coming off a 30-point game that saw him splash 6 of 12 from beyond the arc, so we have a very recent example of what his ceiling looks like.

Tobias Harris continues to do a little of everything, and a lot of his effort is not rewarded with fantasy points. He has a decent floor and a falling salary, but the ceiling is not particularly high. De’Anthony Melton, P.J. Tucker and Georges Niang are viable salary savers.

Nikola Jokic: Denver Nuggets-Phoenix Suns

Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 66.48 | FanDuel: 62.39
Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings 32.5% | FanDuel: 25.7%
DFS Salary: DraftKings: $11,500 | FanDuel: $12,200

Nikola Jokic has produced 70 or more fantasy points in seven of his last eight postseason games. It will be a surprise if he does not reach that plateau against tonight as the Nuggets try to close things out on the road. The Suns are not going to make it easy, and they are favored by a bucket in front of their rabid desert denizens.

Jamal Murray has been an outstanding sidekick for Jokic, and even with his salary continuing to climb, he is still a tournament option that has a trio of 50-fantasy-point games in this postseason. Aaron Gordon, Bruce Brown Jr., Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Michael Porter Jr. all have realistic tournament potential, though the preferred order of this quartet does vary across the different DFS sites based on salaries, positional eligibility, scoring formats, etc.

Latest NBA DFS Content

Kevin Durant: Phoenix Suns-Denver Nuggets

Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 53.13 | FanDuel: 51.89
Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings: 33.7% | FanDuel: 37.4%
DFS Salary: DraftKings: $9,900 | FanDuel: $11,000

Once again, it is really a coin flip between Kevin Durant and Devin Booker — even more so for Game 6, as their respective salaries are nearly identical on both DraftKings and FanDuel. EVERYTHING the Suns accomplish tonight will be with this dynamic duo as the driving force.

Deandre Ayton is dealing with sore ribs but expected to play. Jock Landale has carved out a role in the rotation this series, and he is an excellent option on DraftKings ($3,500) and very much in play on FanDuel ($4,300), though it means going away from Jokic and Embiid, as the blue site allows only one center per roster.

Update: Deandre Ayton ruled out.

Cameron Payne is getting minutes in place of Chris Paul, but with all the usage going to Durant and Booker, he is still looking for his first 20-fantasy-point game of the postseason. T.J. Warren, Landry Shamet, Josh Okogie and Terrence Ross are the differentiation options, but good luck identifying which is the best play prior to tipoff.

Get one month of Stokastic+ Platinum FREE when you make your first deposit on PrizePicks

Jayson Tatum: Boston Celtics-Philadelphia 76ers

Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 50.72 | FanDuel: 48.53
Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings: 30.3% | FanDuel: 34.1%
DFS Salary: DraftKings: $9,800 | FanDuel: $10,800

It will be interesting to see how last year’s Eastern Conference champions handle tonight’s elimination game. Then even if the Celtics do win, that only gets them as far as Game 7, though at least it would be on their home court. Jayson Tatum has 62-plus fantasy points in four of his last six games. Though his median projection looks lowish by comparison, it is appropriate. The 25-year-old is all but a lock for 20 points and double-digit rebounds, plus the upside of seeing a couple dozen field goal attempts in this matchup is very enticing for DFS gamers.

Jaylen Brown should score at least 20 points tonight for a ninth consecutive playoff game, but the peripherals have not been there with any consistency. Brown has been playing more on defense and as the second scoring option, but it has been Derrick White, Al Horford, Robert Williams III, Marcus Smart and Malcolm Brogdon chipping in everywhere else.

In turn, that distribution of production and the declining salaries for this group have them all looking like they will be on 20% to 30% of all rosters tonight. If you have strong feelings for or against any of this group, let that be the main influence for your lineup construction decisions and go very over/underweight to the field.

Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today

Tonight’s set of matchups is simply amazing. But as a note, when you start to build your DFS lineups, be sure to let us do the heavy lifting for you by tuning into the Stokastic NBA Deeper Dive and Live Before Lock shows at 5:30 p.m. ET on YouTube, brought to you by Underdog— new customers sign up by going through this link and receive a deposit match up to $100.

Author

Eric MacPherson

Eric "EMac" MacPherson won the 2007 Fantasy Baseball grand prize (trip for two to the MLB All-Star game) in the Roto format on ESPN. He won again in 2008, this time in the H2H format. As one of the early adopters of daily fantasy sports, EMac has been providing content for baseball and basketball as well as both professional and college football since 2012 for a variety of websites including DraftKings Playbook, FanVice, RotoWorld, Daily Fantasy Bootcamp, and RotoGrinders. He is well into his third decade of fantasy sports and has a wealth of knowledge and experience. Follow him on Twitter @EMacDFS or contact EMac by emailing [email protected].