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This article aims to highlight some of the best NBA DFS Plays at every position for your cash game lineups. Keep in mind that the following player write-ups were constructed earlier in the day, and sometimes injury/rest situations can alter the fantasy landscape. Monitoring our NBA News & Headlines Feed throughout the day will keep you in the loop while giving you the subsequent DFS consequences of each information piece.
We’ll take a look at Friday’s nine-game slate starting at 7:00 ET.
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POINT GUARD
Fred VanVleet – Toronto (vs. Houston) - DK: $8,200 / FD: $8,100 / Yahoo: $29
VanVleet rested last night and should play tonight based on the early injury report from Toronto. Although, anything can change (and has) this week, so be sure to double check your roster before contests lock tonight. Toronto has everything in its favor to come away with a big win tonight, including Houston’s league-leading pace, their 29th ranked defense, and top turnover rate. As a high-level multi-category contributor, FVV should have no trouble filling the stat sheet tonight.
Also Consider: Luka Doncic, Vit Krejci, Zavier Simpson, Trae Young, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Porter, LaMelo Ball,
SHOOTING GUARD
Malik Monk – LA Lakers (vs. Oklahoma City) - DK: $5,600 / FD: $5,400 / Yahoo: $19
Monk and Talen Horton-Tucker should both be highly rostered tonight, and for good reason. The Lakers are giving up, but despite the absence of LeBron James and other stars, Monk and others should continue to show off their stuff in great matchups like tonight’s. THT is coming off the monster effort against the Warriors last night, but Monk also filled the stat sheet with 44 fantasy points last night. Oklahoma City is the second-best overall fantasy matchup and second-best to shooting guards, conditions which haven’t changed with the recent tanking effort by the Thunder.
Also Consider: Cade Cunningham, Caris LeVert, Pat Connaughton, Keon Johnson, Josh Green
SMALL FORWARD
Braxton Key – Detroit (vs. Milwaukee) - DK: $4,500 / FD: $5,000 / Yahoo: $15
Tonight is definitely a stars and scrubs style build, as it has been most of the week. Key is one of the quieter value options, but has put up 23, 32, and 30 fantasy points in his last three games. Milwaukee seized the No. 2 seed last night, but on a b2b in a game they should win easily, I doubt we see a full game from any of their stars. Matchup aside, Key is cheap enough and versatile enough (three blocks against Dallas, three steals vs. Indiana, and at least 10 points per game) to reach value on all three sites.
Also Consider: Ish Wainright, Jaylen Hoard, Talen Horton-Tucker
POWER FORWARD
Kevin Durant – Brooklyn (vs. Cleveland) - DK: $11,600 / FD: $11,700 / Yahoo: $54
With so much savings you’ll have to decide how you want to spend. I’m choosing Durant over Doncic tonight because I think this will be a closer and more meaningful game for him. Not that Dallas is totally unmotivated, but they are almost 20-point favorites over Portland, the worst defensive team in the league. Should be a sleep-walk win for Luka and Co. The Nets and Cavs enter a game with a 230.5-point over/under, in which the Nets are 6.5-point favorites. In two meetings back in November, Durant had one good and one not-so-good game vs. Cleveland. However, he’s been hot lately with three 70-plus fantasy point games since the end of March.
Also Consider: Scottie Barnes, PJ Washington, Obi Toppin
CENTER
Jericho Sims – New York (at Washington) - DK: $3,700 / FD: $4,800 / Yahoo: $13
Sims is likely in line to start again tonight, which would be enough to hop on the bandwagon at his great salary given his last performance – a double-double with three blocks and a steal vs. Brooklyn. But then you consider that the Wizards are one of the most generous matchups for opposing centers, giving up the fifth-most fantasy points to the position. A lot of the top-salaried centers have little-to-nothing to play for and are at risk for reduced workloads. I love rostering players like Sims who are getting a last shot to show what they can offer before the season comes to an end. That’s real motivation and it should pay off again tonight, albeit at a much higher roster percentage tonight.
Also Consider: Rudy Gobert, Bam Adebayo, Drew Eubanks, Hassan Whiteside, Kevin Love, Nikola Vucevic
Additional Notes
Obi Toppin (F– NYK) Toppin is old news compared to Sims, but still worth a look if that’s how much salary you have left for your final F slots. Since being unleashed at the beginning of April, he hasn’t had a bad night. Even though both teams benefit from losing tonight, fantasy points will accumulate, and Toppin gets the advantage of that plus frontcourt matchup with the Wizards.
Zavier Simpson (G – OKC) At this point, anything could happen in OKC, but it seems likely that they will continue to give their newly signed guys a thousand minutes to close out the season. Simpson has played 37 and 43 minutes in his two games, approaching 30 fantasy points in both. He has shown that he can do a little bit of everything, and could put together his double-digit scoring and double-digit assist games tonight while facing a Lakers team that has not only given up, but has been one of the best guard matchups in the league all season.
Darius Garland (G – CLE) is another high-priority spend for me tonight. I already noted the positives of this game above, and Garland is for Cleveland what Durant is for Brooklyn – the driver. He’s scoring, facilitating, playing defense every single night. The Cavs may get Evan Mobley back, and Caris LeVert should be in good shape to rise up against his former team, which to me, only strengthens the case for Garland. In three prior games with the Nets, Garland is besting his season average by about seven fantasy points. The East is still jockeying for position in the play-in tournament, so both teams should be trying out there.
