This article aims to highlight some of the best NBA DFS Plays at every position for your cash game lineups. Keep in mind that the following player write-ups were constructed earlier in the day, and sometimes injury/rest situations can alter the fantasy landscape. Monitoring our NBA News & Headlines Feed throughout the day will keep you in the loop while giving you the subsequent DFS consequences of each information piece.
We’ll take a look at Friday’s one-game slate starting at 8:30 ET.
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NOTES
Atlanta stole Game 1 in Milwaukee, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the Bucks bounced back and won tonight. Vegas has Bucks minus-7.5 points again tonight, with an over/under of 225.5 points. Trae Young was the difference maker, exploding for 48 real points but credit Jrue Holiday for stepping up big time to keep his team in range. I’ll reiterate that on showdown slates, you’ll want to differentiate your multiplier slots as any one of 4-5 players might be the top scorer from this game.
TOP PLAYS
Giannis Antetokounmpo – F – MIL
He continues to crank out the 60-70 fantasy point games and remains the highest priced player across the three sites tonight. The gap between he and Trae Young is especially pronounced on Yahoo ($11 more for Giannis). That makes it tempting to fade the Greek Freak, but I wouldn’t fall for it in the majority of lineups. If you’re willing to go without Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton, you can fit Antetokounmpo and Trae Young (and Clint Capela) in, which is the position I want to be in.
Trae Young – G – ATL
As noted, Young is the motor driving this team onward in the playoffs. His turnovers were almost costly in Game 1 (he had six, a game high in a relatively clean game), but he more than makes up for it with the rest of his line. Definitely capable of a triple-double, Young is desperately trying to create for his teammates. He really needs another guard to step up and start making some shots to boost his assist totals. Bogdan Bogdanovic, Kevin Huerter, Danilo Gallinari and Lou Williams went 11-for-32 from the field Wednesday night, combining for only three made threes. Still, the floor on Young, who realizes when he needs to enter takeover mode, makes him a must-play along with Antetokounmpo on these showndown slates.
Clint Capela – C – ATL
Capela has been a key to building the lineups I want tonight. He’s coming off his best game of the playoffs, with 19 rebounds and 12 points to go along with a block, a steal, and two assists. If he can keep this up, I feel good about the Hawks advancing to the finals. He and John Collins proved too athletic for Brook Lopez to handle in Game 1, and we saw Lopez play only 20 minutes as a result (more below). Capela is cheap everywhere, and though I do expect his roster percentage to soar on the heels of his ‘breakout’, I like what using him, even in the DraftKings Captain slot, gets me.
NOTABLE BARGAINS
Bobby Portis – C – MIL was the primary beneficiary of Lopez’ limited outing in Game 1. Portis hasn’t played much in the first two rounds and Lopez has been Mr. Reliable until Wednesday. It is something of a risk to assume that Milwaukee thinks Portis is the better mismatch for Capela in Game 2, but given that he put up 11 points and 8 rebounds in only 15 minutes (for around 22 fantasy points) it’s not a totally stupid assumption. His salary is the kicker here; $3000 on DK, $10 on Yahoo, and $7000 on FD means you’re actually risking quite little to find out if Portis can repeat or exceed his Game 1 performance.
Lou Williams – SG – ATL is a cheap option that I think could be the answer to the shooting guard situation in Atlanta. Williams is experienced, and if he started in place of Bogdanovic, who is clearly not 100 percent and in fact hindering his team out there in the past couple games, Williams could find a rhythm and score the basketball. It’s what he does, but it’s almost impossible to make an impact in only 12 minutes. He’s not perfect, but when he plays at least 20 minutes, he usually does good things. Here’s hoping he gets that chance. He’s amazing value on DraftKings ($2200) and Yahoo ($10), and still workable on FanDuel ($8000).
OTHER NOTES
John Collins – F – ATL extended his double-digit rebound streak to five Wednesday night, and had his best scoring night since early in Round 2 (23 points). Given that he’s significantly cheaper than Holiday and Middleton, Collins is the easiest third or fourth ‘star’ to fit into lineups on DraftKings and Yahoo. On FanDuel, where you can only play five guys, he’s not making the cut over my Top 3 above.
Khris Middleton – F – MIL is worth a mention because his salary really dropped on FanDuel ($12,500). After providing the explosive finish to the Brooklyn series, Middleton had a lackluster Game 1 vs. the Hawks. He still produced a balanced stat line, just on a smaller scale (15 points, two steals, five rebounds, four assists) and I think his floor is what he did Wednesday night. We are a reactive bunch, DFS players, so I fully expect the high roster percentage to flip from Middleton to Holiday, which could give you a nice edge if you stick with Middleton tonight.
Jrue Holiday – G – MIL gave the offensive performance his team has been needing in Game 1, and unfortunately for them it came up short against the machine that is Trae Young. Still, his 33 points and 10 assists led to what was by far his best fantasy line of the playoffs. As noted, he’s still cheaper than Middleton on two of the three main sites and coming off the 60-plus fantasy point effort, he should be in a much higher proportion of lineups than he has been so far. Still, he isn’t the focus of the Hawks’ defensive attention most of the time, which opens the door for a repeat performance for sure.