Welcome to the Monday NBA DFS slate. I hope you’ve had a profitable weekend and a wonderful season so far as we turn the page to April and look to the playoffs soon. It’s been a profitable season so far and the plan is to continue that tonight.
If you’re going to play NBA DFS, you must keep in mind lineup announcements and stay tuned for late swapping. That will be the easiest way to stay ahead of the field and in the money. We have an eight- or seven-game slate tonight, depending on where you play, which is the perfect slate amount of games in my humble opinion.
Ultimately, it’s about making the right choices and picking your spots, which is why I’m here. Let’s break down the top plays for this slate.
View the best player prop bets for tonight’s slate with our NBA Prop Bet Cheat Sheet
NBA DraftKings & FanDuel DFS Primer
NBA DFS Core Plays
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (PG – OKC)
- DraftKings: $11,000
- FanDuel: $11,600
The MVP favorite against the team allowing the third-most fantasy points to point guards in a game with a total of 240 points? Sign me up. I don’t expect you to need much convincing here, but Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is going to be highly sought after, especially on DraftKings, where the Lakers game and Luka Doncic are off the board.
The Thunder guard getting to 50 fantasy points almost feels like the floor here, unless Oklahoma City blows Chicago out of the water to the point where he can sit for the entire fourth quarter. If that’s the case, he may have already got his. With a near-impossible 38% usage rate in his last five games against the third-fastest team in the league, this is an absolute smash play.
- DraftKings: $8,600
- FanDuel: $8,300
There are a lot of juicy matchups tonight that are quite DFS-friendly. Miami might be in the friendliest environment. Over their last 15 games, Miami ranks second-to-last in pace of play while Washington ranks third-fastest. On the season, they’re the fourth-fastest. It’s a big pace-up spot for Miami.
Only one team has allowed more fantasy points to opposing centers over their last 15 games. Washington has allowed the third-most to power forwards in that same time frame, depending on how you view Bam Adebayo. The Wizards have the third-worst defense on the year. With Adebayo’s 25% usage rate, he should smash tonight.
- DraftKings: $10,200
- FanDuel: $10,200
As projections look, Jayson Tatum will be around 25% rostered tonight. As the other $10,000+ pay-up option tonight, I’m surprised it isn’t higher. Jaylen Brown is currently questionable with his knee ailment. If Brown sits, Tatum might see over 30% rostership in a game with a total above 236.
The Boston forward will give you 33 minutes tonight against one of the friendlier DFS options with the league’s fastest team on the other side of the ball.
NBA DFS Cash Game Targets
- DraftKings: $4,900
- FanDuel: $4,800
The Charlotte-Utah game lines up to be one of the highest rostered matches of the day. With four games locking at 7:00 p.m. ET, Charlotte is probably the most important team to monitor their injury report before building your lineup.
There are going to be a lot of value options for the Hornets with Miles Bridges expected to be out. I don’t hate most of the options in the starting lineup for Charlotte, if you want to roster Mark Williams or Josh Green, for example. KJ Simpson played 35 minutes last night. While I’d be surprised at that again, playing above 25 minutes would be ideal and likely get him over 5X return on investment with more to come.
- DraftKings: $8,800
- FanDuel: $8,600
With Duncan Robinson and Andrew Wiggins out, there’s a chance Tyler Herro sees more minutes than his usual 36 a night. Considering Miami is facing one of the best DFS options tonight, Herro is close to a lock button in cash contests on today’s slate. He’s coming off two straight 45+ DraftKings point outings, and that feels like the floor today for the Heat guard.
- DraftKings: $4,300
- FanDuel: $5,200
This feels like more of a value play with his price tag, as we’re projecting the Wizards center for around 25 fantasy points with around a 25% usage rate. He makes for a solid bring-back option with a banged-up Washington squad.
Vukcevic also makes for an easy spend-down option to open up alternate roster options. Miami’s defense has consistently ranked outside the top 10, so there’s room for points here. When Vukcevic is on the floor, he’ll manage a 25% usage rate at over a fantasy point per minute, so he’s a bit safer of a cash play than it may seem on the surface.
NBA DFS GPP Targets
- DraftKings: $9,200
- FanDuel: $9,200
Despite averaging nearly 50 DraftKings points a night over the season, that number has taken a bit of a hit in Domantas Sabonis’ last four starts, with three sub-40 fantasy point efforts thrown in there.
The silver lining is his rostership has taken a hit with him expected to be under 10% rostered against Indiana tonight. In his fourth start against Portland the other night, he tallied 55 DraftKings points, and that’s exactly why he makes for a solid GPP play. The Kings center feels due for another big ceiling game. With a 234 total and 21% usage rate, tonight might be the night.
- DraftKings: $9,100
- FanDuel: $8,200
The pricing is a little wonky today, so this is more of a FanDuel play, but in the deeper GPP fields on DraftKings, Morant makes for an interesting leverage play where he will be minimally rostered.
Boston is a big pace-down play with a top-five defense, so it makes sense why Memphis is being faded on the DFS streets. Ja Morant went for 66 DraftKings points against Cleveland before missing some time. With the Lakers game under his belt, it wouldn’t be the biggest surprise for such a game out of the Memphis guard.
- DraftKings: $8,400
- FanDuel: $8,200
With how friendly of a matchup this is, I’m quite surprised Jalen Williams isn’t projecting for higher rostership, as it’s looking like he’ll fail to reach double-digit rostership percentage tonight. That might change given Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren are both questionable.
If they both play, Williams still makes for a solid GPP play. Chicago is the third-fastest team in the league with the game total pushing 240. Even if everyone is healthy, I’m more than happy to roster Williams.
NBA DFS Value Plays
- DraftKings: $4,000
- FanDuel: $3,900
The Utah center is coming off a start where he played 26 minutes and managed 22 DraftKings points against Denver. This is a reminder to monitor lineups, but assuming Oscar Tshiebwe starts tonight and plays a minimum of 20+ minutes, he lines up to be an ideal value option that will garner a lot of rostership.
It’s not as if the Jazz are exactly electric offensively, but they do go against another tanking team playing in a back-to-back, so I’m giving Utah and Tshiebwe a bit of a bump compared to market value right now.
Haywood Highsmith (SF, PF – MIA)
- DraftKings: $3,900
- FanDuel: $4,500
There are many ways to get creative with roster construction, and my fingers are crossed that Haywood Highsmith won’t be targeted because he won’t start, which will push rostership down.
The important part is the 34 minutes a night he’s been averaging over the last four games. There’s a path to 30 fantasy points tonight, which would be quite the get for a sub-$4,000 forward option.
- DraftKings: $3,500
- FanDuel: $4,000
For a starter to project for around 25-27 minutes at $3,500, it’s easy to play Dalen Terry as a punt option, especially with guard-forward eligibility where he can be slotted in across your lineup.
This feels like one of the riskier value options as the Bulls face the league’s best defense. Getting over 20 fantasy points feels right here and is likely closer to 23-25.
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