While March Madness brackets are the hot topic in the sports world right now, we still have a solid eight-game slate of NBA action for all the DFS diehards out there. The slate tonight is interesting with a lot of low Vegas totals including five games at 202 or lower. Then we have the highest Vegas total of the night of 230 in a game between the Lakers and Nuggets with the Nuggets as a big 13-point favorite. While a big spread like that would typically get you to question playing time for the starters, both teams are so young right now that it probably won’t affect the starters minutes too much.
The numbers in the parenthesis are the number of experts that picked that player to give you more context as to the gaps between players and the tiers. Also listed are our new “smarter” projected ownership percentages for Cash and GPP leagues to help determine which players will be the chalk and which players could be a good low owned contrarian play.
Here are the Industry Consensus picks for tonight…
Highly Touted
- Nikola Jokic (12x) – Cash 42% / GPP 31% – Averaging 20.8 points, 13.6 borads and 6.6 assists in his last five games and gets very favorable matchup against Lakers
- Paul Millsap (10x) – 35% / 25% – Very consistent producer who gets a Spurs defense without LaMarcus Aldridge and maybe not Kawhi Leonard
- Patty Mills (10x) – 43% / 28% – No Tony Parker or Dejounte Murray should force Mills to play close to 30 minutes on Monday
- Kemba Walker (9x) – 26% / 21% – Has scored at least 23 points in eight straight games
- Willie Cauley-Stein (9x) – 27% / 22% – More of a GPP option with his inconsistent fantasy production and high upside
- Marc Gasol (8x) – 22% / 19% – Coming off one of his worst games of the season (8 points) but should bounce back against the Bucks interior defense
- David Lee (8x) – 22% / 19% – Should see increased minutes and fantasy production at a low salary with Aldridge out
- Karl-Anthony Towns (7x) – 16% / 16% – Putting up huge numbers of his last 10 games, averaging 27.4 points and 15.0 boards
- Bradley Beal (7x) – 17% / 16% – Has scored 22+ points in each of his last 10 games
- Gary Harris (7x) – 19% / 17% – Continues to play big minutes (35+) and score points with a reasonable salary in a game with the highest Vegas total
- Evan Fournier (7x) – 19% / 17% – Consistent point scorer but is upside is limited to the few games where he contributes in other categories
- Jordan Clarkson (7x) – 19% / 17% – Coming off career-high 30 points and get another plus matchup in a high scoring game versus Nuggets
- Ivica Zubac (7x) – 27% / 19% – Cheap option, averaging 12 points and 4.5 boards in his last two games
Recommended
- Giannis Antetokounmpo (6x) – 13% / 13% – Tough matchup could limit his ownership but capable of a big game against anyone
- D’Angelo Russell (6x) – 15% / 14% – Favorable matchup in high scoring game against Nuggets give him big upside
- Nicolas Batum (6x) – 15% / 14% – Questionable for the game, good option if he plays, pivot to Jeremy Lamb if Batum is out
- Ricky Rubio (6x) – 15% / 14% – Continues to be underpriced on DFS sites despite consistently good play over his last nine games averaging 13.1 points, 10.2 assists and 5.0 boards
- Danilo Gallinari (6x) – 15% / 14% – Has scored at least 15 points in each of his last nine games but doesn’t do much else
- Brandon Ingram (6x) – 15% / 14% – Plays big minutes but doesn’t produce much, yet low salary makes him playable
- Kawhi Leonard (5x) – 11% / 12% – Watch to confirm he is playing before inserting into your lineup, great matchup if he does play and could be lower owned due to injury status
- Julius Randle (5x) – 11% / 11% – Has been great of his last nine games averaging 13.3 points, 12.1 boards and 4.7 assists
- Nikola Vucevic (5x) – 12% / 12% – Huge return from Achillies injury with 20 points and 16 boards in his last game
Suggested
- DeMar DeRozan (4x) – 9% / 10%
- Gordon Hayward (4x) – 9% / 10%
- Andrew Wiggins (4x) – 9% / 10%
- Elfrid Payton (4x) – 9% / 10%
- Otto Porter (4x) – 9% / 9%
- Tyreke Evans (4x) – 9% / 9%
- Kyle Anderson (4x) – 15% / 11%
- John Wall (3x) – 6% / 8%
- Dennis Schroder (3x) – 7% / 8%
- Pau Gasol (3x) – 7% / 8%
- Cody Zeller (3x) – 7% / 8%
- Gorgui Dieng (3x) – 7% / 8%
- Jamal Murray (3x) – 9% / 8%
- Buddy Hield (3x) – 9% / 8%
- Jeremy Lamb (3x) – 9% / 8%
Hope you find the right combination to cash!
Check back again on Tuesday for the next edition of the NBA Industry Consensus picks.
