NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks: Jimmy Butler in THE ZONE! (May 19)

Friday’s NBA action should be a spirited tilt after Miami upset Boston in front of the TD Garden faithful. Contests lock at 8:30 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 Jimmy Butler, Jayson Tatum and more.

NBA DFS Picks Today: Friday, May 19

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Core Play of the Day — Jimmy Butler — Miami Heat

Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 53.18 | FanDuel: 52.88
Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings 59.1% | FanDuel: 56.1%
DFS Salary: DraftKings: $9,700 | FanDuel: $17,000

After Wednesday’s comeback, Jimmy Butler has now led the Heat to nine victories in his last 10 starts, including three road wins. Even better for his DFS backers, he has 58 or more fantasy points in five of the last eight games, with the three “lesser” games all resulting in 40-plus fantasy points. We are not going to see six steals again, though Butler does have at least a pair in all but three postseason games. Momentum is with the Heat, and if they can somehow author another victory tonight, they will be in the catbird seat.

Shocker of shockers — despite getting off to a strong start, Bam Adebayo yet again ended up in the 35- to 40-fantasy-point range at the end of the night. This feels a lot like Charlie Brown, Lucy and the football — though once more the Stokastic projections have Adebayo as the sixth-best point-per-dollar fantasy option tonight.

The rest of the viable Miami DFS options all project in the 15- to 23-fantasy-point range, which makes things hard to predict in advance, but it does keep their respective salaries at a reasonable level. The closing lineup for Game 1 was Gabe Vincent, Kyle Lowry and Caleb Martin alongside Butler and Adebayo. Max Strus subbed in for Lowry at the 4:47 mark and finished up the last few minutes of the final frame. This responsibility does move this group ahead of Kevin Love. Longshots who are only likely to get double-digit minutes if there is mop-up duty are still Cody Zeller and Duncan Robinson.

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Jayson Tatum — Boston Celtics

Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 53.26 | FanDuel: 50.82
Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings 69.1% | FanDuel: 60.7%
DFS Salary: DraftKings: $10,200 | FanDuel: $11,000

Boston went into halftime with a 9-point advantage then proceeded to fall apart, allowing 46 points in the third period and 66 for the second half as the Celtics responded with a pair of 25-point quarters.

Jayson Tatum had a good but not great game, with 30 points and seven rebounds. He and Jaylen Brown had 10 combined turnovers, which is dreadful considering they are the main offensive options for the C’s. The biggest difference in this game was that Miami was 16-for-31 (51.6%) from behind the arc, while Boston was just 10-for-29 (34.5%) on their home court. Tatum and Brown are likely to push 40 minutes per outing in this series, along with 20-ish field goal attempts as long as the games remain close.

Robert Williams III continued to start and played 26 minutes, making all six field goal attempts and nabbing seven rebounds. Due to health and durability concerns, it would be a surprise to see him play more than 30 minutes, but if he stays with the starting unit, his playing time will be closer to that ceiling than the 20-minute floor when he is working off the bench.

Al Horford has been a steady presence on offense and defense, but his fantasy upside is curbed by a lack of volume. He can still make some noise with a couple blocks and steals, along with a few rebounds bouncing his way and his shot finding the bottom of the net, but even with everything lining up in his favor, he caps out around 30 fantasy points.

Marcus Smart had another excellent game, and he looks like one of the better point-per-dollar fantasy options if he can continue at this level of production. Malcolm Brogdon and Derrick White round out the main backcourt options, though Brogdon is a far superior fantasy choice. It makes sense to limit lineups to just two of this trio, particularly if White stays in his reserve role.

Grant Williams did not leave the bench, though guard Payton Pritchard did play two rotations, totaling almost 12 minutes as the backup point guard.

Additional NBA DFS Building Blocks Pick — Sports Betting Opportunities

For tonight’s action, looking to Derrick White in the wagering market seems like a savvy strategy, particularly with his 8.5 points prop. In his last three games coming off the bench, he has scored 11, 3 and 9 points. There is still a chance that he could return to the starting lineup, which makes securing this line early a smart move.

NBA Bet Pro currently has White projected for 22.4 minutes and 9.55 points, giving him a 55% expected success rate of surpassing this milestone. Though this wager is likely to go down to the wire, the -120 at BetMGM for this play projects out to a decent 2.4% expected ROI. Keep in mind that, with only one matchup per day, finding major value is unlikely, so consider using bonus bets and boosters to aid in the quest to remain profitable.

Did you know that you can get one free month of Stokastic+ Platinum for signing up and making your first bet at BetMGM? Claim here today!

Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today

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 Live Before Lock show at 7:30 p.m. ET on YouTube, brought to you by PrizePicks— new customers sign up by going through this link and receive 30 days of Stokastic+ Premium AND a first deposit matchup 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].