DraftKings Daily Fantasy Basketball Picks (3/31/21): NBA DFS Lineups

March 31, 2021

The top daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for DraftKings on March 31, 2021. Mike Marteny provides NBA DFS analysis and sleeper picks for building optimal DFS rosters.

We have a busy night in the Association with 20 of the 30 teams in action. Only the Suns played last night, so we shouldn't have to worry about any load management issues. We do have plenty of injuries to look out for. LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are all out. Victor Oladipo didn't travel with his new team to his old city. A.D. is still out. Al Horford recently joined the ranks of the sitting out for the hell of it.

That gives us a ton of value plays, but if you've played DFS for any amount of time, many of them will turn out to be land mines. We'll try and sort through this and see who wont blow up our lineups. The Jazz and Grizzlies will play for the third time in a week and the implied total is up over 230, but Donovan Mitchell will be unavailable for this one. The Spurs-Kings is the only other game that tops 230. The Heat-Pacers is expected to be the slowest game at just 216. That's going to be the difficult one to peg. On a ten-game slate, you can get away with fading that whole game if you're not comfortable with it. 

This article will supply you with my daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for the DraftKings on 3/31/21. You can also check out today’s FanDuel lineup picks. It’s also important to monitor injury news as a result of COVID-19 as the slate can completely change before line-up lock. Without further ado, let’s dive into the picks! 

DraftKings DFS Guards

James Harden - PG, vs. Houston ($10,900)

The return of Kyrie Irving didn't slow Harden down at all against the Timberwolves and he topped 40 minutes for the fourth straight game and sixth time in seven games. Harden is still the guy you want on this Nets team, especially when he gets to go up against his former team. Houston gave Harden what he wanted when they dealt him to the Nets, but he was still upset at the franchise for the turns they took in the last year and a half or so. I think Harden is going to take out his frustrations on them. It will definitely show up on the scoreboard and in our DFS lineups.

C.J. McCollum - PG/SG, at Detroit ($8,000)

CJ has three straight games over 40 DraftKings points after his underwhelming return on March 23rd. Right now, C.J. is so much cheaper than Damian Lillard that it really makes no sense to pay the extra for Lillard when the difference in production is negligible right now. It's time to take advantage of C.J.'s 40's while the price is still right. Detroit's guard defense got a lot worse at the trade deadline. C.J. is going to take full advantage of it.

Jordan Clarkson - PG/SG, at Memphis ($5,500)

Clarkson is severely underpriced with Donovan Mitchell out. I would say that Mike Conley and Joe Ingles are as well, but Clarkson is the guy that is going to make up the bulk of the scoring for Mitchell. No one guy can take the place of Mitchell, but the combination of these three will at the very least come close. I choose Clarkson because he has the most upside, but all three of these are viable.

Hamidou Diallo - SG/SF, at Detroit ($4,600)

The Pistons finally decided to see what Diallo could do. All he did was lead the Pistons to a 14-point win over the Raptors. Detroit really has not reason not to play Diallo. He put up 43 DraftKings points in just 27 minutes is his first game as a starter for his new team. The Blazers did a pretty good job holding Diallo in his time with the Thunder, but that was earlier in the season before the Thunder played Diallo big minutes. Diallo has as much upside as anyone on the slate for the price. He will be in every lineup of mine tonight.

Bonus Guards: Luka Doncic ($10,700), Dejounte Murray ($7,000), Tyrese Haliburton ($6,100), Ty Jerome ($4,500)

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DraftKings DFS Forwards

Julius Randle - PF/C, at Minnesota ($9,700)

The way to attack Minnesota is with bigs. They don't get much bigger than Randle. He is having a larger-than-life season for the Knicks. Randle is flourishing under coach Thibodeau in no small part because he lets Randle run until he passes out. Randle put up 49 DraftKings points in 39 minutes in the first meeting with Minnesota. There's no reason that he can't do all that or more this time around.

Kristaps Porzingis. - PF/C, at Boston ($7,900)

We know that Porzingis is capable of putting up big numbers. Injuries have derailed most of his Dallas career, but Porzingis is giving us hope again. He has 159 DraftKings points over the last three games. He gets another great matchup against a Boston team that can't defend the middle and did very little to help that affliction at the deadline. Mo Wagner is not going move the needle on Boston's interior defense. Porzingis is still underpriced right now. We should take advantage while we can.

Aleksej Pokusevski - SF/PF, vs. Tampa-ronto ($5,100)

The Thunder traded away Diallo and SGA is still out, so Pokusevski is going to be leaned on once again. He has 138.5 DraftKings points over the last five games. That's well over 5x value at this price. His ceiling doesn't seem all that high. It's more a product of the Thunder having a bunch of good role players but no real star. That gives us a whole bunch of decently priced DFS options, but not many of them can help you take down a GPP tournament.

Jaden McDaniels - SF/PF, vs. New York ($4,300)

I don't make a habit of running anyone against a team like the Knicks, but McDaniels is an exception. He is way too cheap for as high as the ceiling is. The Minnesota rotations leave something to be desired as they often vary a lot on a game-to-game basis. McDaniels has played more than 30 minutes in each of the last three games and has at least 20 DraftKings points in four straight. The Timberwolves are holding open auditions for next season already and McDaniels has made a great first impression. Let him make an impression on your lineup while his price is this low.

Bonus Forwards: Pascal Siakam ($7,700), OG Anunoby ($6,300), Joe Ingles ($5,600), Torrey Craig ($3,400)

DraftKings DFS Centers

Karl-Anthony Towns - C, vs. New York ($9,800)

Towns has at least 50 DraftKings points in 8 of the last 11 games and has cleared 60 four times. One of those was against this same Knicks team. Towns racked up 61.25 DraftKings points in just 31 minutes against the Knicks the first time around. I don't want to say that he could be even better, but there is something to that. Towns only played 31 minutes because of foul trouble. What could happen if he stays on the court for 40 minutes? Let's hope we find out!

Christian Wood - C, at Brooklyn ($8,300)

Wood is listed as probable and so far there hasn't been anything mentioned about Wood being limited coming back from an illness. Keep an eye on this situation. Still, even if Wood only plays 25 minutes against the Nets, he has a real shot at 50. The upside here is among the best on the slate so long as Wood gets his normal compliment of minutes.

Richaun Holmes - PF/C, at San Antonio ($7,500)

Holmes just mauled this same Spurs team for 52 DraftKings points in 33 minutes on Tuesday night. It seems a bit crazy that Holmes is still this cheap. He's kind of a cheat code on DraftKings since we can slide him in at forward and still play two more centers. That's three straight double-doubles for Holmes and 12 times over 30 DraftKings points in his last 13 games. I'll play him until he cools off or the minutes decrease. Neither seem to be happening in the near future.

Jakob Poeltl - C, vs. Sacramento ($5,800)

Both Holmes and Poeltl had great games against each other earlier this week. I have no issues going back to the well here since we know both teams are weak on interior defense. That didn't change in two days. Poeltl is actually the better value since he is $1,700 less than Holmes. Poeltl still has some issues with inconsistency here and there and his upside isn't quite as high as Holmes. Still, if you don't think Holmes has a ceiling game, there's really no reason not to drop down to Poeltl.

Bonus Centers: Nikola Vucevic ($9,100), Bam Adebayo ($8,200), Montrezl Harrell ($7,200), Nerlens Noel ($4,900)

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