Adam Strangis 
Welcome back to NBA DFS Picks and Pivots! After months of being on pause, the league is back and so is DraftKings with big prizes pools to take down so let’s get started with our top NBA DFS picks for today’s slate!
My name is Adam Strangis and I’ll be subbing in for Brian on Wednesday. Tuesday was an alright day with Ghost having a great call on Kelly-O but the Houston/Portland game wasn’t exactly the boom we thought. Playing Luka Doncic in an overtime game for over 80 DK points was essential to do anything in GPP.
For those of you new to Picks and Pivots, the goal of this NBA DFS article each and every day is to provide you a “First Look” overview of the slate where we use DraftKings pricing as a baseline to help us get started. Rather than simply write out the “top plays,” this article will focus on slate strategy and roster construction with a GPP mindset to help you get started on your initial builds. Without further ado, let’s dive into today’s slate!
NBA DFS Picks and Pivots: Slate Breakdown
We’ve been seeing a lot of the games we want to target come later in the day for the past few days but today might be a little different. Both Memphis and Washington are the first two games on the slate and Washington especially has been a gold mine for production. The Memphis/Utah game and the Washington/Philadelphia game are both over 224 for the Toal and will be my focal points today.
Let me get this out of the way – I am NOT worried about the spread in the Philly/Washington tilt. First, predicting blowouts is a fool’s errand. Ask the Bucks yesterday. Secondly, the Sixers have lost to the Pacers and barely beat the Spurs. For a team that has thoughts about coming out of the East, they need this game. With a 230 O/U, we want some of this game since it’s the highest by about 7-10 points.
A lot of my builds today are starting with Joel Embiid, Donovan Mitchell and Brandon Clarke. This is straight out of DFSGhost’s playbook and he talked about this on the livestream. Mitchell has two games over 41 DK so far with his added offensive responsibility and Memphis won’t be the one to slow him down.
Embiid couldn’t be in a better spot with Washington’s struggles against centers and the pace of the game. Clarke is the chalk of the day (and good chalk) with Jaren Jackson Jr. suffering a torn meniscus.When we plug those three in, we have $5,500 left per person and my initial thoughts are to stay in the Philly game to start plugging in more players.
Ish Smith continues to be a value at under $5,000. I wonder if he might be a little less popular tonight since he only put up 20.5 DK in his last game. He only played 22 minutes as opposed to his 28 or so the first couple games. Especially if he moves back to the bench, I’d be very interested in him again.
The next piece is going to be a major exception for me and I’m looking at Ben Simmons. I cannot stress how much I NEVER play these two together. It’s an exception spot today. He’s second on the team behind Embiid in DKPM at 1.18 and these are the types of games that he can really rack up the stats. I don’t think we’re looking at a triple double, but it won’t surprise me if he gets close.
Now that we have a five man core set, we need to go value hunting. It just so happens we can turn to the late night hammer. Kemba Walker is sitting out for the Celtics on a back to back with a knee issue. I’m (with trepidation) looking at Brad Wanamaker at stone cold minimum to fill in a guard slot more me tonight. If you MME, I would strongly recommend builds without him. Even without Kemba, he only averaged 0.75 DKPM on the season. He’s an unstable value at best but worth exposure at minimum salary.
*NOTE* In chatting with Brian, Grayson Allen for the Grizzlies is an excellent pivot from Wanamaker if you can afford him. He’s been seeing consistent minutes and in crunch time at that.
I would also love to get in another Celtic against whatever the Brooklyn Nets are putting on the court tonight. While they did have a top 10 defensive rating on the overall season, their team is on about the 37th man with injuries and opt-outs. Jayson Tatum and Gordon Hayward are strong options but expensive for our build already. Instead, I’m turning to Jaylen Brown. He was second on the team behind Tatum with a 26.5% usage when Kemba was missing. Brown represents the best bang for your buck with Boston.
We can rotate our last spot between forwards like Keldon Johnson for the Spurs, Dion Waiters of the Lakers and even James Ennis of the Magic for some value to go with what we have.
NBA DFS Picks and Pivots: The Wrap Up
I’ll put a disclaimer in this spot since we haven’t talked about it yet. The Lakers clinched the #1 seed in the West with their last win. They could throw the slate into chaos and open up worlds of value if someone sits. It’s only 9:30 AM so please, stay tuned. The slate could turn on its head in a hurry.
Otherwise, I want my main lineup in GPP to be 5-6 pieces from the first two games of the day. On paper, they should be the best for fantasy goodness. I really love the four man core of Smith, Mitchell, Clarke and Embiid. I’m then using up my last 2-3 spots in my lineup with the late night Celtics. Hopefully they take us to the top of the board today!
Let’s jump into Discord and talk some hoops my friends. Time to make money!
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