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It's a relief that the NBA playoffs are here. Teams will try again. Players will play again. The teams that tried get a week off while those who messed around are relegated to play-in duty. Today we have the start of the Eastern Conference playoffs. The winner of the Boston-Washington game will get the seven seed and take on the Nets. The winner of the Pacers-Hornets will take on the loser of the first game on Thursday to see who draws Philly. This is a nice little wrinkle on the NBA playoffs that could be fun for us fans.
We know that Gordon Hayward, Myles Turner, Jeremy Lamb, Cody Martin, Deni Avdija, and Jaylen Brown will be out today. The only questionable player that really has a shot of missing this game is Malcolm Brogdon, but most are expecting him to play. The Pacers haven't given any official word yet.
In this article, I will be providing you with my daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for FanDuel on 5/18/21. I’ll be providing multiple player suggestions for players at guard, forward, and center on FanDuel, aiming to highlight one option apiece at the high, middle, and lower end of the salary scale. You can also check out DraftKings lineup picks and injury news before lineups lock. Good luck, RotoBallers.
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FanDuel DFS Guards
Caris LeVert, SG – vs. Charlotte ($9,200)
LeVert played well down the stretch with the Pacers being without the services of Brogdon for the entire month of May so far. Even if Brogdon does play, I would guess that he'll have some rust to knock off. It will take a little bit off of the ceiling of Caris, but I still trust him for this price than I do either Washington guard in five figures. For what it's worth though, Beal did a lot more against Washington this year than Westbrook did. If you would like to avoid that situation, Caris is in a nice spot.
LaMelo Ball, PG – at Indiana ($7,200)
I do like this a little more if Brogdon remains out. If Brogdon plays, I might flip over to Terry Rozier at the same price. SG has more meat tonight than PG does, so Ball is still a nice commodity here. Ball's wrist seems to be fine going forward as he has played at least 30 minutes in five of the last six games. We know that we are going to get solid production across all categories from Ball for a reasonable price. This is it for Charlotte. If they lose, they're done. Expect a strong game out of Ball and Rozier here.
Marcus Smart, SG – vs. Washington ($5,700)
Value is impossible on this slate since NBA teams have been using bench pieces for big minutes for most of the last month. That has resulted in a value tier that just doesn't exist in DFS. The playoff rotations will be much of what these teams looked like back in December and will barely resemble the hodgepodge that took the court in May. We get a tiny bit of reprieve in Smart since he hasn't played since May 11. I don't expect a huge game from Smart, especially with the emergence of Fournier in his absence. However, Smart contributes all over the court, which gives him a solid floor. With Brown still out, there should still be plenty of opportunities for Smart against a bad defense.
Also consider: Russell Westbrook ($13,000), Kemba Walker ($8,200), Terry Rozier ($7,200), Ish Smith ($4,700)
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FanDuel DFS Forwards
Domantas Sabonis, PF – vs. Charlotte ($10,300)
Sabonis carried this team on his back while Brogdon was down. Even with LeVert back in the fold, Sabonis has put up some monster stat lines. He has topped 70 FanDuel points three times in the last eight games. His days of being a triple-double threat will be in jeopardy if Brogdon is back, but he is still the premier scorer on this team and can outrebound anyone on the Charlotte team. If Sabonis plays, he's an elite play tonight.
Evan Fournier, SF – vs. Washington ($7,100)
The absence of Jaylen Brown has opened up more opportunities for Fournier. Unlike in Orlando, he is actually taking advantage of them in Boston. I will admit that the return of Marcus Smart makes me nervous. We have seen Fournier consistently take the back seat to teammates, especially when his teammates are playing well. That makes Fournier a terrific teammate, but a rough DFS play. That was the story of his Orlando tenure though. It feels different in Boston. Maybe it's just because May was a NBA disaster, but Fournier was one of the few guys you could count on. Can that carry over into the playoffs?
Jalen McDaniels, PF – at Indiana ($4,900)
Call me crazy, but I think the rookie actually earned a spot in the playoff rotations for Charlotte. McDaniels was active on the court and played pretty big minutes for the Hornets. While he rarely put up big stat lines, McDaniels was usually around 5-6x value. Those are hard to come by anywhere under $6,000 tonight on FanDuel. You kind of have to take it where you can get it.
Also consider: Jayson Tatum ($10,000), P.J. Washington ($7,200), Miles Bridges ($6,800), Daniel Gafford ($4,800)
FanDuel DFS Centers
Robert Williams – vs. Washington ($5,500)
Time Lord is the most expensive center on FanDuel tonight, so this is one of the few slates where center wont make or break you. That doesn't mean that it's not important. Honestly, it feels like Williams is underpriced. Boston rested him for most of the last two weeks of the season, so he's fresh. On top of that, the Wizards are atrocious against opposing bigs. Tatum will take most of the thunder and DFS production, but there's plenty left over for Williams, especially at this price.
Cody Zeller – at Indiana ($5,000)
Zeller is nothing special, but he did manage to wrestle the starting job back from Bismack Biyombo. Zeller gives us solid production for the price, but don't expect miracles. Even with Myles Turner still out, Zeller has little upside against Indiana. You'll get 5x value out of him, but not much more. Bismack is still going to play enough to cut into Zeller's output.
Also consider: Robin Lopez ($4,500), Goga Bitadze ($4,500), Tristan Thompson ($4,400)
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