RADIO
It's time for Game 1 of a highly-anticipated Suns-Nuggets series, starting in the high altitude of Denver at Ball Arena. Jokic, Murray, Durant, Booker, Paul, and Ayton make up a star-studded matchup. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds after neither team had a challenging time putting away their first-round opponents.
Single-game slates are a whole different animal than the ones we typically work with. The clear difference is the way you set your lineups on FanDuel and DraftKings. On FanDuel, you play five players in a lineup, and you get multiplier bonuses for MVP (2x), STAR (1.5x), and PRO (1.2x) spots. The pricing stays uniform, and positions don't come into play. On DraftKings, you play six players in a lineup, and only one of them gets a multiplier bonus, the Captain (1.5x). The major change with DraftKings is that they make you pony up 1.5x salary to select your Captain, which also plays into lineup construction. There's a strong chance that you will share lineups with other people tonight if you're just blindly using optimizers, which makes identifying the correct contrarian plays all the more important on slates like these. Let's get to it.
This article will provide you with my daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for DraftKings and FanDuel on 4/29/23, with the slate locking at 8:30 pm ET. Remember to monitor NBA injury news and our live-updating NBA injury updates tool as the slate can completely change before lineups lock. As always, feel free to follow my Twitter (@RING_DFS).
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DraftKings and FanDuel Captains/MVP - NBA DFS Lineup Picks
Nikola Jokic - ($18,600 DK Captain, $17,000 FD)
The Nuggets are currently projecting to score 115 points and win by 3.5 points at home today, and I tend to agree with the oddsmakers on this one. I recommend Jokic as the top player on a single-game slate 99 times out of 100. He has the highest ceiling, median projection, and floor among all players on this slate, and it's not particularly close. He averaged 63.3 DK points per game at home this season and an incredible 73.6 DK points per game in his two games against the Suns. The two-time MVP didn't get off to a hot start in the first round, but he finished the series with monster outputs of 71.75 and 80.25 DK points to close it out against the Wolves. The Suns rank well defending every position, but Jokic is the type of player where we don't even need to look at positional matchups. He's just that good.
Chris Paul - ($12,300 DK Captain, $15,500 FD)
If there's one weakness in Denver's defense from a positional standpoint, it's defending the point guard position. This season, they allowed the 13th-most fantasy points per game to the position, including the third-most assists per game in the split. This is The Point God's 17th NBA season, and he's still doing his thing, averaging a solid 36.9 DK points per game on 14/4/9 splits. He stepped up against the Nuggets this season, averaging 42.7 DK points per game over three regular-season matchups. Importantly, he averaged 10.3 assists per game in the season series. As long as he can continue his typical CP3 ways, he will rack up the fantasy points controlling an offense that also features knock-down shooters in Booker and Durant. His salary makes filling out the rest of your lineup easier if you select him as Captain on DraftKings.
Kevin Durant - ($15,900 DK Captain, $15,500 FD)
Durant isn't a player I'll be trying to jam into the multiplier spots as I'm making Jokic the clear priority, but you can't be too dissatisfied with this guy leading the charge in your lineup. KD is about as consistent as they come in the NBA, playing heavy minutes, shooting a high volume of shots and making them at a high rate, and contributing enough in rebounds, assists, and "stocks" to be viable on just about any slate. His usage rate and penchant for "ceiling" games seem to have taken a bit of a hit with his move to an already-loaded Suns team, but he's still a stud who we can expect to hit the 50-60+ DK point range on most occasions. Look for the Slim Reaper to make a statement by coming out hot tonight in the Suns' bid to wrestle home-court advantage away from the get-go.
Others to consider (FanDuel): Devin Booker | STAR/PRO slots only - Michael Porter Jr., Aaron Gordon, Jamal Murray, Deandre Ayton
Others to consider (DraftKings): Devin Booker, Jamal Murray, DeAndre Ayton
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DraftKings and FanDuel Utility Plays - NBA DFS Lineup Picks
Michael Porter Jr. - ($10,200 DK, $10,000 FD)
Porter Jr. is relatively cheap, playing a boatload of minutes, and should provide enough fantasy points to be useful as a utility play tonight. He averaged 33.3 DK points per game in the quick series against the Wolves, and he mixed in a few strong games with 45.25 and 40.25 DK points. He's more-or-less the distant-third option in this Nuggets' offense, and he's one of the guys the Nuggets will be forced to lean on if one (or both) of Jokic and Murray are off their game.
Aaron Gordon - ($7,200 DK, $9,000 FD) FanDuel Preferred
The conceptual reasoning to get to Porter Jr. also carries over to Gordon tonight. He's an ancillary piece of this team after Jokic and Murray, but he plays at least 30 minutes per game and averages around a fantasy point per minute when he's on the floor. That steady production is huge at his low salary on FanDuel, but he's a little less appealing on DraftKings since the "cheap" players can be priced much lower on that site. He stepped up against the Suns this season, averaging 40.6 DK points per game over the three matchups in the regular season.
I'll be interested in whoever draws the start and is projected to play more minutes tonight for the Suns. Both players have had their moments in the postseason, but I'd be more inclined to get exposure to Okogie since he's the better producer from a fantasy points-per-minute perspective. These two players will both be in the game for their defense, but they also should have some wide-open looks with the way the offense creates opportunities.
Others to consider (FanDuel): Bruce Brown, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Jeff Green
Others to consider (DraftKings): Bruce Brown, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Jeff Green
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