Sunday winds down the weekend with NBA DFS featured-slate action tipping off at 6 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 Victor Wembanyama, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and potential injury news pending for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Subscribe today for access to our industry-leading resources, including our lineup generator (available for NFL, NBA, MLB and PGA), our DFS simulation tools (available for NFL, NBA, MLB, PGA, MMA and NASCAR) and our industry-leading projections for every sport.
NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today: Sunday, March 3
NBA DFS Picks: Building Blocks
Victor Wembanyama: Spurs vs. Pacers
Stokastic’s Fantasy Point Projections
DraftKings: 55.79 | FanDuel: 56.77
Stokastic’s Rostership Projections
DraftKings: 25.4% | FanDuel: 22.0%
DFS Salary
DraftKings: $10.400 | FanDuel: $11.800
Tonight, rookie Victor Wembanyama has the highest median fantasy point projection. He has been sublime over the last five games, averaging 31.2 minutes with his least amount of playing time ending up at 26.9 minutes when he dropped 50 fantasy points on the Jazz in Utah.
in this stretch he is averaging 16.8 field goal attempts with a 45.2% conversion rate, leading to 22.6 points, 11.8 rebounds, 5.2 assists and a ridiculous 7.8 combined blocks and steals.
Devin Vassell has been getting big minutes and it has resulted in some terrific fantasy production. In his last nine games, he has four of 40-plus and a pair of 50-burgers. Tre Jones has settled in to the lead guard role, which makes him intriguing at his $5,500 salary on DraftKings and $5.800 on FanDuel. For those feeling frisky, Keldon Johnson is just $5,200 on DraftKings, though he has 20 or fewer fantasy points in six of his last 10 games. There is a chance that Johnson slides into the starting lineup with Julian Champagnie (ankle) already ruled out for tonight.
This game has a 242.5 projected point total and with the Spurs playing up-tempo and with barely passable team defense, looking to Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam and Myles Turner. Haliburton dropped a dud on Friday, missing all seven of his field goal attempts and handing out just three assists, with a sad 23 minutes. Chalk that up to a bad night as he is still the league leader with 11.4 assists per game and in the midst of a career season, despite managing a hamstring issue.
Shai-Gilgeous Alexander: Thunder at Suns
Stokastic’s Fantasy Point Projections
DraftKings: 54.88 | FanDuel: n/a
Stokastic’s Rostership Projections
DraftKings: 12.8% | FanDuel: n/a
DFS Salary
DraftKings: $10,700 | FanDuel: n/a
FanDuel has elected to leave this game off of their featured slate, so this is just for the gamers playing on DraftKings. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has the second highest median fantasy point projection, just behind Wembanyama. Phoenix is on the second leg of a back-to-back after losing in 118-109 in overtime to the visiting Houston Rockets.
Oklahoma City has dropped three of the last five games, so this is a key spot for a road win against a Western Conference rival.
Chet Holgmren and Jalen Williams round out the Thunder fantasy options, since the team is running a deep 10-man rotation, that keeps most everyone else in the low-20s for minutes. Luguentz Dort is a late-slate or single-game lottery ticket as his defense can give him a path to 30 minutes, but he does not actually pick up much fantasy production and unless he is collecting steals, blocks and converting his corner-3s.
Devin Booker (ankle) left last night’s game early and he is unlikely to play tonight. Eric Gordon (groin) has missed a week and a half, though he is getting close to a return. Jusuf Nurkic suffered a neck issue last night an his availability is in question after leaving the game in the second quarter. Bradley Beal was back after a five-game absence and while he was on a minutes limit due to his tender hamstring, he was ejected after playing 20.2 minutes, so it is hard to know both what that limit was going to be and if he will be back in the mix tonight.
Kevin Durant played 39.4 minutes, including overtime, though he has topped 38 minutes in eight of his last 10 games. He is in play for tournaments as the Suns are only half a game above the Play-In Tournament after having lost three of the last five games. Durant had a 50-fantasy point effort the last time these teams met and he is averaging close to that for the season.
Bol Bol could slide in as a strong value option, depending on how many of the aforementioned players are out. In the final three games of last month, Bol averaged 25.4 minutes with a 59.4% conversion rate on 10.7 field goal attempts per game. This culminated in 14.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.3 combined blocks and steals. These averages are buoyed by a 46 fantasy point effort, with the other two being in the low-20s and low-teens. He is essentially a fantasy point per minute player, who will be hard pressed to see more than 25 minutes.
Grayson Allen is a strong option if Booker is out, though he loses some luster if both Beal and Gordon are available. Drew Eubanks would be a lottery ticket if he draws a spot start, but the opportunity cost is high with his center-only status. Royce O’Neale remains in play as he should come close to 28 minutes off the bench or as a starter. Then there are Thaddeus Young, Josh Okogie, David Roddy, Saben Lee and Theo Maledon, and while they are not fantasy viable, it does demonstrate that Phoenix has capable replacement level players who can at least absorb minutes, even if they are all offensively flawed to varying degrees.
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NBA DFS Picks: Key Games
Toronto Raptors vs. Charlotte Hornets
Scottie Barnes fractured his hand on Friday against the Golden State Warriors and there is a good chance he is done for the season. Charlotte is still without LaMelo Ball and now Cody Martin and Seth Curry are hurt, with rookie Brandon Miller (back) questionable.
This has led to the seven most popular options on DraftKings and seven of the top nine projected popular plays on FanDuel coming from this game. Barnes was averaging 34.9 minutes and 15.7 field goal attempts, along with 8.2 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 2.8 combined blocks and steals. That is close to 50 potential fantasy points per game that are now up for grabs for the rest of the Raptors.
Immanuel Quickley will take on even more of a facilitation role, while also assuming more scoring duties with RJ Barrett. Jakob Poeltl will see a couple extra shots an more potential rebounds, with either Bruce Brown Jr. or Kelly Olynyk sliding into the starting lineup and both likely to approach 30 minutes per game down the stretch. Brown is questionable, so if he is out, that would boost Gary Trent Jr. and Gradey Dick from also-rans to tournament-worthy targets.
Vasilije Micic has seen inconsistent minutes and while he is not much of an offensive threat, he is a tremendous passer and still able to tally around a fantasy point per minute. Miles Bridges will remain the focal point of the offense and if Miller is in the starting lineup, the rookie will get one of the best matchups of his young career against a dreadful defense.
Tre Mann and Nick Richards are decent selections, but nothing to write home about. They would see a slight bump in offensive opportunities if Miller is out.
Today’s Top Sports Betting Pick
Tre Mann may slide into our DFS lineups, but he also looks like someone to target in the sports wagering market for the under on his 25.5 points + rebounds +assists (PRA) prop, which is currently available at odds of -120 on DraftKings and Hard Rock.
This is a good example that demonstrates the power of letting OddsShopper do the heavy lifting when researching favorable bets.
Looking at FanDuel, we can see they are offering similar -113 odds, but have lowered the threshold to 24.5 PRA.
Per the true odds of -138 (how OddsShopper measures the potential expected ROI of a given wager), this opportunity has a stellar 5.7% positive expected ROI as a function of the inefficient line.
NBA Bet Pro currently has Mann projected for 31.9 minutes,, 14.11 points, 5.70 rebounds and 5.38 assists for 25.12 PRA. That median projection is just above the 24.5 target, but keep in mind a range of outcomes is far different than one specific projection.
Mann has cooled down after a hot start when he first joined the Hornets and in his last five games, he is averaging 30.1 minutes, 10.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.6 assists for a 17.6 PRA. In these games he has not topped 23 PRA and it does coincide with Micic gaining more playing time.
Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today
Check out the Stokastic NBA Live Before Lock Show starting at 5:00 p.m. ET on YouTube, breaking down all of the key elements for today’s slate. Brought to you by PrizePicks – new users, use this link to receive a $100 first deposit match AND – ONE FREE MONTH of OddsShopper Premium! Full details here.
