NBA

DraftKings Daily Fantasy Basketball Helper: Tuesday 3/2/21

The Knicks could provide nice value in a matchup with the Spurs. Which of their starters should you roster on Tuesday night?

With six games (Pistons/Raptors was postponed) to choose from on Tuesday's slate -- which locks at 7:00 p.m. EST -- let's look at the top options across all five positions for NBA DFS.

Be sure to check out our projections, which are updated throughout the day as news breaks, and our other DFS tools such as advanced stats and a matchup heat map.

Here are some of the top plays on today's DraftKings slate. As always, good luck.

Point Guard

Ja Morant ($7,000) - One of the first things we have asked ourselves all season is, "Are the Washington Wizards playing tonight?" The reason isn't to fit Bradley Beal or Russell Westbrook into our lineups, either; rather, it's to know which players to give a bump to on the opposing team. The Wiz coming into Tuesday evening ranked 27th in the league in defensive rating and first in pace, according to NBA.com. That's led them to give up the second-most points per game (119.0) to opponents, including 25.6 to point guards. According to FantasyPros, they give up a total of 49.4 DK points per game to the position, and with a talent such as Morant you know he could go for 40 to 50 in this fantasy-friendly matchup.

Justise Winslow ($3,900) - This is one of the nights where value can be hard to come by, but if we can find it and incorporate those plays well it could pay off big because of the high-salary guys at our disposal. Winslow is a prime candidate to be highly-rostered given his recent production, the opponent and situation in Memphis. Not only has Winslow returned from offseason surgery to average nearly 20 DK points a game in 22-plus minutes, but he could benefit from Kyle Anderson sitting, as he is questionable due to illness. Keep an eye on Anderson's status, because even if Winslow comes off the bench he will likely see 25-plus minutes against this same poor Washington defense.

Shooting Guard

Paul George ($8,400) - When a guy like George is under $8,500 it's almost impossible not to consider him regardless of matchup. And while Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics' defense aren't the biggest of pushovers, they have fallen to 16th in defensive rating and 18th over the last 10 games alone. Meanwhile, PG has produced on a nightly basis, as he's averaged an efficient 23.4 points on 50% shooting, which combined with his 6.2 boards and 5.5 assists brings him to 42.8 DK points on a per-game basis. That's just above his salary-implied output and far short of what he could do if his shot is falling in droves.

Derrick Rose ($5,900) - The New York Knicks aren't the most exciting team, nor do they boast a lot of fantasy-relevant options. However, on a night like tonight, facing the San Antonio Spurs, we can look to them for some decent value in the midrange. That includes Rose, who since coming over from Detroit has averaged 12.5 points in 10 games, but in his three starts he's increased his scoring to 16.3 a game for a total of 34.1 in 32.7 minutes of work. Despite the head-to-head with Dejounte Murray, he should provide a decent chunk of production in a pace-up game.

Small Forward

Jimmy Butler ($9,200) - Akin to George, Butler is someone who just flat-out piles up the stats on a very regular basis. He has dipped below 40 DK points only twice in the previous 10 games, meaning he has had two more triple-doubles than he does games south of 40 during that time. Butler is fresh off a 33-point game in Miami's fifth straight win, and so long as he's in the lineup -- listed as questionable -- he should enjoy a nice line.

RJ Barrett ($5,900) - Like Rose, Barrett is another Knick that fits tonight's build rather well. He can slide into the small forward spot and flirt with 35 or more DK points against a Spurs team that rates outside the top 10 in defensive efficiency over the last five and 14th in the last two, which have seen them impacted by players being placed on the COVID list. Barrett seems to be thriving off of the addition of Rose to the starting lineup, too. In the last three, he has shot 55.2% from the floor for 19.0 points with back-to-back games of 21 or more. He's averaged 36.5 in the last two, during which he has played 34 and 35 minutes, respectively. At this salary, you can't do much better than his workload.

Power Forward

Giannis Antetokounmpo ($11,000) - Giannis' salary is up $400 in the matter of 10 days, yet he could still be under-valued in light of his recent tear. In that time he has averaged the second most points per game (33.5) in all of the NBA in route to 67.5 DK points. His usage is also up from 33.2% on the year to 35% during this stretch of monster performances. Coming off a 71.5-point outing against the Los Angeles Clippers, it's tough to expect any less versus a Denver team that ranks in the bottom half of the league defensively.

Julius Randle ($9,300) - The Knicks are in a pretty nice spot on the road here. But for the most part, tonight comes down to how high we are willing to go to roster one player or another at the top. In the case you aren't down to have Giannis take up 22% of the allotted salary, Randle could obtain the 50-plus DK points at a pretty solid discount. During the last 10 he's turned a 27.7% usage rate and 14.0% rebound rate into 25.1 points and 47.9 DK points a game. Five of those have resulted in the first-time All-Star popping off for 50 or more in the fantasy scoring column.

Center

Nikola Jokic ($10,800) - Basically, if we want the odds-on chance at a 60-to-75-point fantasy game we have to choose between Giannis and The Joker as the Milwaukee Bucks and Denver Nuggets battle it out tonight in Milwaukee. For Jokic, it's a matchup he fared well in during the last go-around, when he hit half of his 26 shots for 35 points, a double-double and 62 DK points. The big man's put together 3 60-point fantasy nights in the last 10 and has three triple-doubles to show for it. He has to be Tuesday's 1B option to Giannis' 1A.

Nerlens Noel ($5,200) - It might feel gross, but rostering a near starting lineup full of Knicks might be the way to success here. Mitchell Robinson won't return until some time after the All-Star break, and Noel's only competition has been Taj Gibson. The veteran has gotten some good run off the bench, but he's now questionable due to an ankle injury that kept him out of Sunday's contest. With him out, Noel logged nearly 40 minutes last game, leading to double-digit boards and 35.8 DK points. Lock him in if Gibson's out.


Brett Oswalt is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Brett Oswalt also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username BRO14THEKID. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.