RADIO
There is only one NBA game tonight and it's the first time we have had only one game all postseason! That means we don't have a conventional NBA DFS slate, but we do have single-game contests on both FanDuel and DraftKings (where they cool kids call it Showdown!)
Hey, everyone, I'm "Thunder Dan" Palyo and while I have been covering the NBA Playoffs from a betting picks perspectivd the last three weeks I have also been playing showdown contests on DraftKings every day chasing another 25k crowns in their NBA postseason rewards program! So I thought I would offer some advice on tonight's contests and some overall strategy as well. Tonight's contest feature game six between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Memphis leads the series 3-2 and are slight road favorites in this one as they look to close out the last remaining round one series.
This article will provide you with my daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for DraftKings and FanDuel on 4/29/22. Remember to monitor the NBA injury report as the slate can completely change before lineup lock at 9:00 pm EST. Good luck, RotoBallers, and as always..."may the Force be with you!"
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DraftKings and FanDuel Captain/MVP - NBA DFS Lineup Picks
Ja Morant ($17,700 DraftKings, $15,500 FanDuel)
Ja is obviously a great play tonight at captain on DraftKings or MVP on FanDuel, you probably didn't need me to tell you that. But let's talk strategy for a moment. The format for these single-game contests on DK and FD are very different and therefore require a different thought process. On FanDuel, there is no dynamic pricing so you can play Morant at MVP for the same price that you would play him in any of the lineup slots. Therefore, on FanDuel you simply want to play who you think will score the most raw fantasy points in the MVP slot.
There are really only a few players who have the potential to be the high-scorers tonight and it's basically going to be Morant or KAT. I give the edge to Morant as he's been the most consistent throughout the series, while KAT has had a few games where he has battled foul trouble and been held in check. KAT makes for a great tournament pivot, however.
So in either format (cash or GPP), you are loading up on one of the studs in the MVP slots where you get to double that player's fantasy points in your score.
On DraftKings, you have to pay 1.5 times a player's salary in order to put them in your captain slot, which is a 1.5x multiplier for their total score. This creates a situation where if you play one of the highest-priced players on the slate at captain, you will leave yourself hamstrung in terms of the remaining salary cap available for the other five utility slots.
That is why Morant and KAT are GPP plays on DraftKings. You want to chase that ceiling game with the 1.5x multiplier only in GPP formats because you are going to have to roster some really cheap punts in order to fit them in there. For cash games on DraftKings, I always target a player who has a pretty reliable range of outcomes but who is priced more affordably so we can create a more balanced build with high floor players.
Desmond Bane ($12,900 DK; $8,600 FD)
Bane is probably my cash game captain on DK tonight, though I think Pat Bev and Clarke deserve consideration, too. Bane has been rock solid for Memphis in this series and has 45, 47, and 42 DK points in his last three games. That's pretty close to what we'd get from KAT or Morant but for far less salary cap. Playing Bane at captain saves us an additional 4800 bucks that we can use to upgrade our utility slots and avoid using too many punt players. He's playing big minutes for Memphis lately and getting up a ton of shots (19 per game over his last three games). He's a deadly three-point marksman and a solid defender who has been piling up steals and blocks, too.
Others to consider: Karl-Anthony Towns (GPP), Patrick Beverley (Cash), Brandon Clarke (Cash)
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DraftKings and FanDuel Utility Plays - NBA DFS Lineup Picks
Brandon Clarke ($8,000 DK; $12,000 FD)
Clarke has been simply awesome (to say the least) in this series. He was a steady contributor off the bench all season long and many of us who cover the league wondered aloud, "What would Clarke do with starters' minutes." Well, the answer is simple - he'd dominate! He played a full 36 minutes in game five and posted 21 points, 15 boards, three assists and a block. He's chipped in 32 or more FanDuel points in all but one game in this series and is one of the Memphis pieces tonight that you can rely on for a solid floor and ceiling.
Patrick Beverley ($6,800 DK; $$10,500 FD)
Pat Bev might be a volatile real-life player as you never know when he is going to get a technical foul or try to punch someone in the head, but when it comes to fantasy, he's about as reliable as they come. While his scoring varies greatly on a nightly basis (he's scored as few as six points and as many as 17 in this series), you know you're getting boards, assists, and defensive stats from Beverley - giving him a very reliable floor for his price. And with steals and blocks being worth three points each on FanDuel, he has a solid ceiling as well. We saw him go for 36.9 FD points in game three when he had a combined five steals and blocks to go with a 14-2-5 line in counting stats.
Others to consider: Dillon Brooks, Anthony Edwards, Jaren Jackson Jr.
DraftKings and FanDuel Value Plays - NBA DFS Lineup Picks
Jordan McLaughlin ($2,000 DK; $7,500 FD)
Naz Reid ($1,800 DK; $7,000 FD)
Taurean Prince ($1,400 DK; $6,000 FD)
This is an all-Wolves section apparently, but honestly, that's where the biggest value is in this game. The Wolves bench unit has some very productive players but figuring out who is going to get what minutes on a nightly basis can be tough. My favorite of these three is probably J-Mac as his minutes have been consistent now for two straight games and he was productive in those minutes in both games four and five.
Naz Reid always has major upside with his per-minute production, but I would probably play him in builds where I fade KAT as he's most likely to have a big game and pick up more minutes than usual if KAT is hurt or in foul trouble.
Prince has seen anywhere from six to 18 minutes so far in this series, so he's a pretty dicey play, though he's also the cheapest of the bunch on both sites and his 6k salary on FD in particular will allow you to jam in multiple studs into your top three multiplier slots.
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