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The top daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for DraftKings and FanDuel on April 1, 2022. Thunder Dan Palyo's NBA DFS analysis and sleeper picks for building optimal DFS rosters.
With only about a week of regular-season games remaining, things are getting crazy in the NBA right now. Playing NBA DFS has been difficult and trying to navigate the tanking teams, resting players, and injury situations can certainly be a challenge.
But you've come this far...and you're reading this article. So I know you're not about to stop now. Especially when you're only a few more days away from all those DraftKings Iron Man crowns, right? Whatever the reason you're still playing, hang in there because pretty soon we have some beautiful playoff slates. I've been covering the NBA every day all season and you probably know me from the betting side of things, but I can assure you I play NBA DFS every day and I've got your back tonight on this 10-game slate.
This article will provide you with my daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for DraftKings and FanDuel on 4/1/22. Remember to monitor the NBA injury report as the slate can completely change before lineups lock. Good luck, RotoBallers.
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DraftKings and FanDuel Guards - NBA DFS Lineup Picks
I haven't posted these to Twitter in a while, but I do game value ratings for each game to see which games have a better chance of producing more fantasy points than others. Tonight the model loves the MIN-DEN game the most and the DAL-WAS and TOR-ORL games the least. That doesn't mean you can't play players from those games, just that the overall game environment there is less conducive to players scoring more than their usual fantasy points.
Jalen Green - PG/SG, HOU vs. SAC ($6,800 DK; $6,500 FD)
Green officially has the "green light" (sorry, if you hate bad puns it's just something I do to see if anyone actually reads the write-ups or if you are all just scanning the picks) in Houston as the Rockets have shut down Eric Gordon, Dennis Schroder, and Christian Wood for the season.
He's taken 24 and 25 shots the last two games and has 30+ points in each. He was my favorite prop bet the other night and I'll probably be on the over here again tonight wherever that number ends up. It might feel lazy to plug in a successful play two slates in a row, but there's no reason to think he won't fare well against Sacto once again tonight after his big outing on Wednesday. The Kings are bad, the Rockets are bad, their defenses are really bad and this total is super high for a reason. His price barely budged on FanDuel where he should be cash game chalk, while DK bumped him up by 800 bucks and they're at least forcing us to consider it. I'd lock and load him in all formats - even if his backcourt mate Kevin Porter Jr. was the one who had the bigger outing on Wednesday.
De'Anthony Melton - PG/SG, MEM vs. PHX ($5,200 DK; $5,600 FD)
One of the biggest sources of value on this slate comes from Memphis. They've been without Ja Morant now for a few weeks and have listed Jaren Jackson Jr., Tyus Jones, Desmond Bane, and Steven Adams (all four starters) as doubtful for tonight. They're basically conceding this game to the first place Suns and resting their core for the final week. It's a bummer because I wanted to see if they could take down the Suns with how well they've been playing lately even without Morant, but I suppose we may have to wait for the Western Conference playoffs to see that.
Anyway, Melton and the remaining healthy Grizzlies are all going to project well today. I like Melton a lot for DFS because he's a really strong per-minute producer who usually shines when he gets more than just his usual 25-28 minutes. He can score, rebound, pass, and rack up steals which is why he's around a 1.1 FPPM guy. If he gets 30+ minutes today, he should return great value and we can certainly boost his usage rate projection based on all the shots that are being vacated with Bane and JJJ out of the lineup. It never hurts that he's dual-eligible at both guard positions on both sites, too.
Devin Vassell - SG/SF, SAS vs. POR ($5,300 DK; $5,300 FD)
I'd usually be all over my guy Dejounte Murray here, but this game could definitely get out of hand early based on the team that Portland has been rolling out the last few weeks. It's not been pretty for the Blazers and the results have been quite a few blowouts. In fact, the Spurs just beat them 133-96 a little over a week ago and none of the San Antonio starters played more than 30 minutes as a result.
So I'd rather play some cheaper Spurs pieces like Vassell than spend up on DJM. I love Vassell as a player and he's been a solid DFS commodity, too. He dropped 34.5 DK points in only 24 minutes in that first matchup and his SF eligibility on DK is going to help you fit the combos you want. You can play any Spurs guys you want to today in reality, but I'm going to try to focus on the cheaper guys for sure.
ALSO CONSIDER: Dejounte Murray, Cade Cunningham, Dillon Brooks
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DraftKings and FanDuel Forwards - NBA DFS Lineup Picks
Brandon Clarke - PF/C, MEM vs. PHX ($4,000 DK, $4,400 FD)
There's no shortage of value at the forward position today, and I'm going to feature a few of these really cheap plays that I think you should be using to build some "stars and scrubs" type rosters. Clarke has an elite projection today (I have him around 8x value right now) based on a big bump in minutes. He should start at center or PF for Memphis and like Melton, he's been an elite per-minute producer this season despite his role with the second unit. His price is baffling on both sites considering even if he was only playing around 20 minutes tonight like he usually does, he'd still be projecting for 5x or better value. Lock and load him in all formats, he's a skilled offensive player and a good rebounder. And we know Deandre Ayton is not a big man we should fear defensively.
Kelly Olynyk - PF/C, DET @ OKC ($3,700 DK; $4,100 FD)
Olynyk, like Clarke, has been a reserve most of the season but is a guy we end up playing any time we can project more minutes than usual. Well, that's the case here down the stretch for Detroit as they've shelved Jerami Grant for the season and are rolling with Stewart, Bagley, and Olynyk as their big men. Bagley left last night's game against the Sixers early with an injury and could miss tonight, opening up a ton of minutes in the frontcourt.
Kelly doesn't need many minutes to produce, he's around 1.1 FPPM on the season and averages 21 DK points per game despite playing less than 20 minutes. Like Clarke, he would have already been a good play before the playing time boost, but if we now project him for 25-30 minutes he's an amazing play that you simply can't afford at his price. Consider that OKC has allowed some of the most boards and blocks to big men of any team in the league and this play just continues to get better. The dual PF/C eligibility is something we should exploit here as we can get both of these guys into lineups with at least 1 to 2 other big men on DK (and one more BIG center on FD).
Trey Lyles - PF/C, SAC at HOU ($6,000 DK; $5,400 FD)
I was big on Lyles on Wednesday and he didn't disappoint. He crushed his props for me and produced 43.3 DK points in 37 minutes against the Rockets. As I mentioned with Jalen Green, there's really nothing wrong with going back to this game or using the same players who crushed in it on Monday. They are all still too cheap with the exception of maybe KPJ or Davion Mitchell. Big men against Houston have been crushing and I'm not going to overthink this one, especially on FanDuel where we are getting a really good price. I'll be playing Lyles and another Sacto big man in lineups tonight with confidence.
ALSO CONSIDER: Pascal Siakam, Kyle Anderson, K.J. Martin/Bruno Fernando (if Sengun is out)
DraftKings and FanDuel Centers - NBA DFS Lineup Picks
Nikola Jokic - DEN vs. MIN ($12,500 DK; $11,600 FD)
All this value and which stud should we choose to feature tonight? Yep, it's the Joker. Fade him at your own peril! He's coming off 70+ DK point outings in three straight games and is playing in the game with the highest total on the board. In three games against Minnesota this season, he's averaging over 60 points. You're paying for the floor and the raw points tonight, but we also know he has a ceiling up around 80-90 points, too. I simply wouldn't really risk fading him in any format. He was around 40% owned the other night and I'd guess he's closer to 50% owned in GPPs tonight. I'd rather be over the field than under on him, the matchup is too good and I think we see another big outing from him.
Damian Jones, SAC at HOU ($5,500 DK; $5,300 FD)
I hinted at it earlier in the Lyles blurb, but yeah, I am going back to the well on Damian Jones. I knew he'd play well against Houston, but I didn't anticipate a massive 52.3 DK point outing. Needless to say, his price didn't get adjusted nearly enough and he should be popular as a result. He's probably not to replicate that performance, but even 70% of that production will play just fine at this price. He should definitely be used in cash game formats and loading him up with the Joker in double center lineups on DK sounds like a pretty good formula for success to me.
ALSO CONSIDER: Isaiah Stewart, Isaiah Roby
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