NBA DFS Playoff Primer: Tuesday, May 16
The NBA postseason is finally upon us. We no longer have to worry about players resting, late scratches, and teams trying to lose. For the next couple of months, we get meaningful basketball game after meaningful basketball game. We have decided to combine the Core Plays and the Grind Down into one all-encompassing article for the NBA playoffs. We will break down each slate, sift through the game flow trackers of prior meetings between teams, cover the notable matchups, and provide our favorite NBA DFS targets.
Happy Tuesday everyone. We have officially made it to the Conference Finals. There are positives and negatives once we get this deep into the playoffs. The stakes are extremely high, but we have fewer basketball games to watch and are now forced to play showdown slates. The sites do offer two-day slates, but the prize pools are much bigger for the showdown slates. Our focus follows the prize pools, which means we will break down the games from a showdown perspective.
If you are new to showdown, the strategy between the two sites is quite different. On DraftKings, there is one captain spot where the salary and the fantasy production of that player gets multiplied by 1.5. There’s a bigger gap between the salary floor and ceiling on DraftKings, which brings more options into play at the captain position. On FanDuel, there are three multiplier spots (MVP, STAR, PRO), but the multiplier only applies to the fantasy production and not the salary. The goal on FanDuel is to put the three highest-scoring players in those spots. We have done an excellent job of crafting up the Expert Survey to cover all angles of these showdown slates, so make sure to check that out each day.
Game 1: Los Angeles Lakers at Denver Nuggets
- Time: 8:30 PM ET
- Series: Lakers 0 – Nuggets 0
Regular Season Matchups
- LAL 99 – DEN 110 (10/26/22)
- DEN 110 – LAL 121 (10/30/22)
- DEN 108 – LAL 126 (12/16/22)
- LAL 109 – DEN 122 (1/9/23)
Notable Injuries
Jamal Murray – Questionable
Los Angeles Lakers Lineup – DraftKings & FanDuel Salaries
| Player | DK | FD | MIN/G | +/- | FP/G | +/- | USG% | +/- | DK/M | +/- | FD/M | +/- | MIN (P) | DK (P) | DK/$ | FD (P) | FD/$ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dennis Schroder | $4,600 | $8,000 | 30.1 | -5.8 | 24.2 | -7.9 | 18% | -4% | 0.80 | -0.13 | 0.79 | -0.11 | 28 | 18.0 | 3.92 | 17.9 | 2.24 | |
| D’Angelo Russell | $7,200 | $11,500 | 32.5 | -0.9 | 33.9 | -4.1 | 23% | -1% | 1.04 | -0.10 | 1.00 | -0.09 | 34 | 31.7 | 4.40 | 30.5 | 2.65 | |
| Austin Reaves | $7,600 | $10,500 | 28.8 | 6.3 | 23.4 | 6.8 | 15% | 3% | 0.81 | 0.05 | 0.79 | 0.05 | 36 | 30.0 | 3.94 | 28.9 | 2.75 | |
| LeBron James | $11,200 | $15,500 | 35.5 | 1.9 | 52.6 | -4.1 | 32% | -7% | 1.48 | -0.18 | 1.43 | -0.15 | 41 | 50.8 | 4.53 | 48.4 | 3.13 | |
| Anthony Davis | $11,600 | $16,500 | 34.0 | 2.9 | 51.7 | 0.7 | 28% | -5% | 1.52 | -0.10 | 1.54 | -0.06 | 40 | 52.4 | 4.52 | 52.4 | 3.18 | |
| Rui Hachimura | $4,000 | $7,500 | 23.3 | -2.1 | 19.6 | -1.1 | 19% | -2% | 0.84 | 0.03 | 0.84 | 0.03 | 20 | 15.1 | 3.78 | 14.9 | 1.99 | |
| Lonnie Walker | $4,200 | $7,000 | 23.2 | -9.8 | 17.7 | -6.7 | 20% | -1% | 0.76 | 0.06 | 0.75 | 0.08 | 24 | 14.7 | 3.49 | 14.5 | 2.07 | |
| Jarred Vanderbilt | $2,600 | $7,000 | 24.1 | -6.9 | 23.5 | -8.8 | 14% | 1% | 0.97 | -0.12 | 0.99 | -0.08 | 8 | 5.3 | 2.04 | 5.6 | 0.80 | |
| Troy Brown | $1,200 | $6,000 | 24.5 | -13.3 | 16.6 | -10.0 | 12% | -3% | 0.68 | -0.09 | 0.68 | -0.07 | 3 | 1.8 | 1.53 | 1.8 | 0.31 | |
| Malik Beasley | $1,000 | $6,000 | 25.8 | -16.8 | 22.0 | -17.0 | 21% | -4% | 0.85 | -0.29 | 0.81 | -0.29 | 2 | 1.4 | 1.35 | 1.3 | 0.21 |
The +/- columns show the difference between season averages and this series.
Denver Nuggets Lineup – DraftKings & FanDuel Salaries
| Player | DK | FD | MIN/G | +/- | FP/G | +/- | USG% | +/- | DK/M | +/- | FD/M | +/- | MIN (P) | DK (P) | DK/$ | FD (P) | FD/$ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jamal Murray | $9,200 | $13,000 | 32.8 | 5.6 | 37.1 | 8.5 | 26% | 2% | 1.13 | 0.06 | 1.09 | 0.07 | 40 | 48.8 | 5.30 | 46.7 | 3.59 | |
| Kentavious Caldwell-Pope | $5,600 | $8,500 | 31.3 | 1.9 | 22.1 | -0.8 | 14% | -2% | 0.71 | -0.06 | 0.72 | -0.06 | 35 | 20.6 | 3.68 | 21.2 | 2.49 | |
| Michael Porter | $7,000 | $10,000 | 29.0 | 3.8 | 29.0 | 1.1 | 22% | -6% | 1.00 | -0.08 | 0.96 | -0.06 | 34 | 30.8 | 4.40 | 29.8 | 2.98 | |
| Aaron Gordon | $6,800 | $9,500 | 30.2 | 4.9 | 32.2 | -6.1 | 21% | -5% | 1.07 | -0.32 | 1.07 | -0.33 | 37 | 30.9 | 4.54 | 31.1 | 3.28 | |
| Nikola Jokic | $12,800 | $17,500 | 33.7 | 4.1 | 59.1 | 7.6 | 26% | 5% | 1.75 | 0.01 | 1.67 | 0.00 | 39 | 65.1 | 5.08 | 63.0 | 3.60 | |
| Bruce Brown | $5,200 | $9,000 | 28.5 | -2.4 | 25.0 | -1.9 | 17% | 1% | 0.88 | 0.01 | 0.89 | 0.03 | 25 | 22.5 | 4.33 | 23.1 | 2.56 | |
| Jeff Green | $3,600 | $6,500 | 19.5 | -0.2 | 13.9 | -4.2 | 17% | -6% | 0.71 | -0.21 | 0.71 | -0.19 | 18 | 10.2 | 2.84 | 10.2 | 1.57 | |
| Christian Braun | $2,400 | $6,000 | 15.5 | -2.3 | 10.3 | -2.6 | 13% | -3% | 0.66 | -0.08 | 0.68 | -0.08 | 14 | 8.8 | 3.68 | 9.0 | 1.50 |
The +/- columns show the difference between season averages and this series.
Game 1 Analysis
NBA DFS Targets
Elite Plays –
Tournament Targets –
Salary Savers –
Image Credit: Getty Images