NBA DFS Value & Advice: Skip Cavaliers-Knicks Low Total? (April 21)

With the Friday night Playoff NBA DFS slate approaching, daily fantasy players have three games for building lineups. Given the high stakes of the playoffs, it is imperative to stay abreast of injuries and matchups that may affect scoring potential. To empower you to make informed choices, Stokastic’s experts will share their insights on each game and spotlight players who offer optimal NBA DFS value for your roster.

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NBA DFS Value and Advice | April 21

Boston Celtics (-5.5) at Atlanta Hawks

Boston is the favorite here, and with a favorable matchup, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are the top plays for the Celtics. They are both high-priced, but with their upside, they are worth the investment. Derrick White, Marcus Smart, Robert Williams, Malcolm Brogdon and Al Horford are all secondary options who are projected to be under-owned on DraftKings, making them solid tournament plays.

On the Atlanta side, John Collins looks like the top play on DraftKings, with his price at $4,400. There is plenty of value and upside on Clint Capela, Trae Young, De’Andre Hunter and Onyeka Okongwu as well. Dejounte Murray is the only player that seems correctly priced, which makes him the most difficult to get to but also creates a spot to overpay by a little bit to be contrarian.

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Cleveland Cavaliers at New York Knicks (-2)

With the lowest total on the slate by 10.5 points, neither team is projected above 25% ownership on DraftKings. However, there are plenty of opportunities to find tournament-winning upside here. Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen are all projected to be under-owned on FanDuel, while Mitchell, Allen and Caris LeVert are projected to be under-owned on DraftKings.

Similarly, on the New York side, Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson, Immanuel Quickley and R.J. Barrett are projected to be under-owned on DraftKings, while Jalen Brunson, Quickley and Josh Hart are projected to be under-owned on FanDuel. Despite the low total, there is enough value and upside to consider players from this game in your lineups.

Denver Nuggets (-2) at Minnesota Timberwolves

With a lack of value on the slate, paying up for Nikola Jokic is relatively difficult, but he still has about a 25% chance of being optimal on DraftKings. He is only about 14% to be optimal on FanDuel. Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon are projected to be slightly under-owned on both sites, making them solid options for tournaments. Bruce Brown projects as a strong value after playing 25 and 30 minutes in Games 1 and 2.

Karl-Anthony Towns has been disappointing through the first two games of the series, with just 0.88 DraftKings points per minute, but he should bounce back soon. He has a 28% usage rate and 20% rebounding percentage in those two games and remains inexpensive, making him the top play from the Timberwolves. Taurean Prince moved into the starting lineup last game but played only 18 minutes due to foul trouble. If he starts again, expect him to play more minutes than that, and his salary fell to $3,700 on DraftKings. Anthony Edwards, Mike Conley, Rudy Gobert and Kyle Anderson are all secondary plays in tournaments.

Author

Adam Scherer

Adam "ShipMyMoney" Scherer has been playing and analyzing DFS full-time since quitting law school in 2016. He has qualified for the 2016 FanDuel MLB Playboy Championship, the 2016 DraftKings Fantasy Baseball World Championship (3x) and the 2019 DraftKings Fantasy Basketball World Championship. You can find him on Twitter at @ShipMyMoneyDFS or by emailing [email protected].