Friday again has the NBA battling March Madness with an eight-game featured slate beginning at 7 p.m. ET on DraftKings and FanDuel. There are several options in the player pool worth analyzing to find the top NBA DFS building blocks and NBA DFS picks. Let’s dig into the NBA DFS picks and core plays like Jaren Jackson Jr.
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NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today: Friday, March 22
NBA DFS Picks: Building Blocks
Jaren Jackson Jr.: Grizzlies at Spurs
Stokastic’s Fantasy Point Projections
DraftKings: 43.32 | FanDuel: 43.99
Stokastic’s Rostership Projections
DraftKings: 13.1% | FanDuel: 29.2%
DFS Salary
DraftKings: $8,300 | FanDuel: $8,600
This is an island game for Memphis, as the Grizzlies last played on Wednesday and they do not take the court again until Monday. Desmond Bane is going to be out for rest, which means increased scoring opportunities will be available for Jaren Jackson Jr. and Gregory “GG” Jackson as the most likely to pick up the vacated field goal attempts.
In his three games back, Bane took 17, 19 and 13 field goal attempts, which are sizable numbers to disperse among the remaining ambulatory Grizzlies. That, of course, is the other wild card, with Scotty Pippen Jr. (shin) and John Konchar (foot) looking like intriguing discount dandies, though each carry an injury designation. If they are in the starting lineup, proceed as if they will be receiving their standard complement of minutes. If they are not among the first five, look elsewhere. In the event Pippen or Konchar (birthday narrative) are out, then Jordan Goodwin and DeJon Jarreau will be the most likely to benefit as the direct replacements.
Santi Aldama feels like a trap. Over his last 20 games, he has more than 30 fantasy points just five times. The odd part is that three of those came in each of the games that Bane has played in since returning from injury. That feels like a trend worthy of our consideration, even in a great matchup. Jake LaRavia was bestowed a questionable tag on the mid-day injury report due to an illness. Caveat Emptor on Aldama, as this may just be an abundance of caution or irrational avoidance on my part.
Victor Wembanyama has just one 50-fantasy point effort in his last four games, but we can continue giving him tournament consideration, particularly on this slate with a lack of top-shelf fantasy producers. Tre Jones and Devin Vassell are each good on DraftKings and FanDuel from a fantasy point-per-dollar perspective, with Keldon Johnson more of a DraftKings-only option.
Anthony Davis: Lakers vs. 76ers
Stokastic’s Fantasy Point Projections
DraftKings: 53.60 | FanDuel: n/a
Stokastic’s Rostership Projections
DraftKings: 17.5% | FanDuel: n/a
DFS Salary
DraftKings: $10,300 | FanDuel: n/a
FanDuel has elected to go with the first five games for tonight’s featured slate, eschewing the trio of West Coast tilts. DraftKings included these games and also elected to keep late swap in place.
That bodes well for Anthony Davis and LeBron James since both are carrying their standard injury designation. The former is $100 more and each has power forward eligibility, which means rostering Davis and then deciding which player is the more advantageous later in the night will be easy.
Los Angeles is favored by 7.0 points over the visiting Philadelphia 76ers, but considering the Lakers are 4-4 over their last eight games, nothing can be taken lightly. The storied team is only half a game up on the Golden State Warriors, and with the Houston Rockets just three games back and on a 9-1 run, things are starting to get spicy for the final two Play-In Tournament slots. Keep in mind that the Sacramento Kings, Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks have three- or 3.5-game leads over Los Angeles.
The expectation is that both of the future Hall of Famers will be playing tonight, particularly since the Lakers have had a mini-break after topping Atlanta 136-105 on Monday. The team takes on Indiana Sunday then embarks on a six-game East Coast swing, making the next two games crucial to convert into wins.
Over the last three weeks, the Lakers are allowing 118.4 points per 100 possessions, which is the sixth-worst defensive efficiency rating in the league during this timeframe. Tyrese Maxey and Kyle Lowry are the best 76ers on the featured slate, with Kelly Oubre Jr. and Tobias Harris (ankle) entering the fray for the three-game nightcap contests.
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Today’s Top Sports Betting Pick
Jonathan Kuminga has been on a nice run with his scoring, but the Warriors have had a relatively easy set of defensive matchups over the last fortnight. That has the under 20.5 points prop looking like an intriguing target at -112 on bet365.
By using OddsShopper to do the heavy lifting when researching favorable bets, we can quickly spot inefficient lines like this one, and having accounts at multiple sports books allows us to pivot to the best number quickly.
Per the true odds of -126 (how OddsShopper measures the potential expected ROI of a given wager), this opportunity has a stellar 5.5% positive expected ROI as a function of the inefficient line.
NBA Bet Pro currently has Kuminga projected for 29.9 minutes and 19.02 points. While that is slightly below tonight’s targeted threshold, it still does not account for variable outcomes. The 56% win rate does provide some comfort when looking at a long time horizon to realize the value held within this posted line.
Over his last eight games, Kuminga is averaging 30.6 minutes, 15.6 field goal attempts and a 53.3% conversion rate, culminating in 22.7 points per game. In this stretch he has faced the Spurs twice, along with the Bulls, Mavericks and Grizzlies, giving him five extra-favorable matchups. Additionally, Draymond Green missed one game and Stephen Curry missed three, which gave more usage to Kuminga.
Indiana is still playing at a fast pace, but the team has a top-8 111.7 defensive efficiency rating over the last 10 games, courtesy of Myles Turner and Pascal Siakam getting more time together.
Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today
Check out the Stokastic NBA Deeper Dive and Live Before Lock Shows starting at 5:00 p.m. ET on YouTube, breaking down all of the key elements for today’s slate. Brought to you by Sleeper – new users, use this link to receive a $500 first deposit match! Full details here.
