DraftKings Daily Fantasy Basketball Picks (5/22/21): NBA DFS Lineups

The top daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for DraftKings on May 22, 2021. Mike Marteny provides NBA DFS analysis and sleeper picks for building optimal DFS rosters.

We've got matinee NBA again, just like the bubble last year. That was the best part of the entire thing. Being able to tune in and watch basketball at any time during the day. Tonight we have two Eastern Conference Series and two Western Conference series tipping off. We have the Bucks and Nets as the favorites in the East with Denver and the Clippers as favorites in the West.

What will we actually see from the Clippers? None of them are listed as out or even questionable, so for the first time in what feels like months, we might see a serious lineup from them. We know that Victor Oladipo, Jaylen Brown, Will Barton, Jamal Murray, and P.J. Dozier are out tonight. The only regular member of rotations that we are waiting on a status for is Time Lord. Nice, isn't it?

This article will supply you with my daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for the DraftKings on 5/22/21. 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

Luka Doncic - PG/SF, at Clippers ($10,500)

It's hard to fade Giannis, but he has enough players around him that can step up if he has an off game. Luka doesn't have that luxury, but it also creates a higher ceiling for the Mavs star. Luka ran wild on the Clippers all three times this year, putting up 190.25 DraftKings points in 106 minutes of court time. Considering most of the Clippers core hasn't played that many games together, I think Dallas in general and Luka in particular can have some success in this series even if they don't win it. It feels like Luka has the highest ceiling of any player in this set of the NBA playoffs.

Kyrie Irving - PG/SG, vs. Boston ($9,200)

You can say a lot of things about Kyrie last year and into this year, but the one constant is that he has dominated his former team. No matter who is in the lineup along with him, he plays like a man possessed against Boston. Irving put up 172.75 DraftKings points in 102 minutes in the three games against Boston this year. I expect to see Irving front and center this series, which will be why I'm fading James Harden for the next fortnight. The jury is still out on K.D.

Tyler Herro - PG/SG, at Milwaukee($6,000)

Does Herro have any of that playoff magic left over from last year? Herro wasn't the most consistent guy this year, which makes me a bit apprehensive about this play. However, he did perform well two of the three games against the Bucks this year. Herro put up 98.5 DraftKings points on Milwaukee despite a dreadful 12 DraftKings point performance in just 18 minutes of court time in the last weekend of the season. I'll chalk that up to poor shooting. The bad part about this is that Miami is so deep that they don't need to keep a guy whose shot isn't falling on the floor. However, I put more stock into the first two outings of the season than the last one.

Facundo Campazzo - PG/SG, vs. Portland ($5,200)

There was a lot of unrest in the Denver backcourt when Murray first went down, but Campazzo gradually stepped into the role and by the middle of May, was performing reasonably well. Don't play Campazzo expecting him to be the fill-in for Murray. They are completely different players. That's not to say that Campazzo doesn't help the team and can't help your DFS lineups. That's not the case. Just keep in mind that his ceiling isn't nearly as high as Murray's and the floor is much lower. This offense doesn't revolve around him like it does Murray. It continues almost in spite of Campazzo.

Bonus Guards: Damian Lillard ($9,400), Paul George ($7,800), Donte DiVincenzo ($5,100), Rajon Rondo ($4,400)

Want more NBA DFS tools and content? Our NBA Premium package includes our daily DFS Cheat Sheets, Research Station, Optimizer, and access to our Premium Slack Chatrooms where members can chat with our NBA analysts. Check out this recent big win from RotoBaller premium member Bsuperak on FanDuel - join in on the winning!

DraftKings DFS Forwards

Jayson Tatum - PF, at Brooklyn ($10,100)

Tatum flipped the switch to playoff Tatum in the play-in game, smoking the Wizards for 73.5 DraftKings points. The Nets are better than the Wizards up front, but Jaylen Brown is still out. Tatum is going to take over this team again. The Celtics will go how he goes. Tatum put up solid numbers against Brooklyn during the regular season, but they were without Durant and the Celtics had Brown for all of those games. We can't really gauge what Tatum is going to do. I'll just say that it's the playoffs, and Tatum is one of those guys that shows up in the playoffs.

Michael Porter Jr.  - SF/PF, vs. Portland ($8,200)

I am a little bit worried about the synchronicity of the Nuggets here. They screwed around the last two games of the season knowing that they couldn't move up or down in seeding. Porter, who had been the leading scorer in most games for the Nuggets down the stretch, played just 38 minutes in two games and didn't look all that great in either one. Porter is one of those guys that needs minutes to really get going. He'll get them here, but I do wonder if he and the rest of the team come out cold. That might affect their bottom line.

Aaron Gordon - SF/PF, vs. Portland ($5,000)

Gordon's talents have been mostly wasted in Denver, but that could change in the playoffs. Porter is enough of a hybrid to play wherever they need him. If Denver decides to run bigger against Portland, we could see Gordon start since the Nuggets aren't particularly deep at guard anyway. This is a large-field GPP play only and mostly based on a gut feeling that Denver has been waiting until the right moment to use Gordon, much like Miami did with Goran Dragic last year. This feels like a series where Gordon could be effective, but again, this is a deep field dart only. Gordon's price is just low enough for this to pay off nicely.

Blake Griffin - PF/C, vs. Boston ($4,400)

Yes, Griffin is a shadow of the player that he formerly was, but he has proven to be effective in 25 minutes off the bench against the opposing team's second string. That should be the case for Griffin in this series as well. Boston somehow survived the season again with atrocious post defense. That's not going to fly with Blake and K.D. running at you. Griffin doesn't have enough upside to break a slate, but he looks like a strong bench piece and he's priced low enough to get good value out of him.

Bonus Forwards: Giannis Antetokounmpo ($10,700), Kevin Durant ($9,700), Norman Powell ($5,700), Joe Harris ($4,700),

DraftKings DFS Centers

Nikola Jokic - C, vs. Portland ($10,600)

If you take away the 17-minute warmup that Jokic had against Portland in the regular season finale, he put up 102.5 DraftKings points in just 73 minutes against Portland this year. Murray played in one of those games. I still think that Luka has a higher ceiling, especially given the way that Michael Porter scored for the Nuggets in the last month. However, I think his floor might be the highest of the five-figure players on this slate. The offense is still going to run through Jokic no matter who is on the court with him.

Jusuf Nurkic  - C, at Denver ($7,200)

Normally I wouldn't run centers at Denver, but this is the team that Nurkic originally played for. On top of that, he racked up 45.75 DraftKings points in just 20 minutes against the Nuggets with Jokic in there for most of those minutes in the regular season finale. We wont see a truly big game out of Nurkic because Portland wont run him more than 30 minutes. Why would they with Enes Kanter around? Still, Nurkic is a guy that can put up points in a hurry when he's on the court.

Serge Ibaka - C, vs. Dallas ($4,500)

This price is a joke. The Clippers eased Ibaka back, but he put up 56 DraftKings points in just 36 minutes over the last two games of the season. True, it wasn't great competition, but Serge looked like he did back in December. He was a hell of a bargain then too. Ibaka likely wont go more than 25 minutes, but I'm not sure it matters. He put up 36 DraftKings points on the Warriors in just 23 minutes back in March 11. There is a track record for Ibaka's output even in limited minutes.

Bonus Centers:  Bam Adebayo ($8,300), Tristan Thompson ($5,000), Brook Lopez ($4,500)

NBA DFS News and Injury Alerts

More DFS Lineup Picks and Analysis