NBA DFS Lineup Picks & Advice: Thursday (5/8)

Welcome to the Thursday NBA DFS slate. I hope you had a profitable week as we are deep into the NBA playoffs. If you’re going to do NBA DFS, you must keep in mind lineup announcements and stay tuned for late swapping. That will be the easiest way to stay ahead of the field and in the money. With only one game and Steph out today, your options are limited and there is no late swap. Showdown contests have some of the highest variance so there’s still plenty of opportunity for big cashes. Ultimately, it’s about making the right choices, and picking your spots, which is why I’m here. Let’s break down the top plays for this slate.

View the best player prop bets for tonight’s slate with our NBA Prop Bet Cheat Sheet

NBA DraftKings & FanDuel DFS Picks

NBA DFS Captain Plays

Anthony Edwards (PG/SG/SF – MIN)

DraftKings: $18,000
FanDuel: $15,400

Without Steph out tonight, Edwards is the clear spend-up option for tonight’s game. He’s going to be high owned, looking around 25 percent captain ownership and likely in over 50 percent of lineups across the board. Still, he’s a staple for cash or lower-field GPP’s. He has the highest ceiling for tonight and will get the highest usage with his 40 minutes on the court. There seems to be some spite with him and Steve Kerr, or maybe it’s just the media, but there still seems to be some fire under Ant to have a career-type game. Even with Minnesota tallying just 88 points in game one, Edwards went over 50 fantasy points. He’s expensive to captain but I’m willing to bet he will be the highest scorer tonight.

Jimmy Butler (PF – GSW)

DraftKings: $11,200
FanDuel: $15,200

Now if you are expecting to back Golden State to go-up in the series 2-0 tonight, it’s because Jimmy Butler takes over. He’s a solid cash game captain with his consistency, scoring over 40 fantasy points three straight games. Tonight I likely expect a boost from him as his usage will sky rocket without Steph in the lineup. Without Curry on the court, Butler’s usage jumps with his assist rate and he actually has shot the ball better. Minnesota might try to get all over Butler tonight and force someone else to beat them tonight but butler will get the opportunity and will likely be on the court over 40 minutes. There’s a chance Butler is smothered all game and can’t get any offense going so I wouldn’t go all in on Butler because this is another chalk play with likely over 50 percent ownership so if you’re looking to win deeper field GPP’s I’d consider fading Butler and/or Ant. However, I wouldn’t advise today to be the day you enter such contests with the likely condensed usage on both sides that make it a bit more difficult for madness to happen.

NBA DFS Core Plays

Gary Payton (SG/SF – GSW)

DraftKings: $6,600
FanDuel: $4,400

Without Steph, I see Payton getting the biggest boost in the today’s game and finding the right Golden State options with their roster shakeup is the ideal way to get big cashes. I’d project his minutes to bounce up to 25 minutes and Kerr will likely try to find the hot hand of sorts. Payton hasn’t exactly been that but he’s shown flashes at times and done so in games against Houston. He’s cheap and can return the most value for your lineups if you’re rostering the expensive captains. He showed up relatively well with 26 minutes to open the series and should be in line for around 25 fantasy points tonight.

Buddy Hield (SG/SF – GSW)

DraftKings: $11,400
FanDuel: $6,400

The individual who statistically gets the biggest usage bump without Steph on the court is Buddy Hield. Maybe he’s motivated by Butler’s boding as well but there’s a chance Hield is in line to surprise as well with his 51 DK point effort he produced in the series clincher against Houston. Hield is my favorite deeper field GPP play as his captain ownership is around five percent and he’s only seeing 30 percent ownership across the board. He is definition risk-reward as someone who can also fail to get into the double-digits of fantasy scoring. Proceed with caution, but if he hits, your leverage over the field is high.

A similar point can be said about Brandin Podziemski so I won’t spend too much time talking about him. Someone in this Golden State lineup that isn’t named Jimmy Butler will be a smash hit tonight and it’s anyone’s guess as to who. His usage gets a little bit of a bump and will see the court likely around 35 minutes. He’s a fine play but he doesn’t exactly have “take over” written all over him tonight.

Pat Spencer (PG – GSW)

DraftKings: $1,800
FanDuel: $2,800

The wildcard for today’s slate might just end up being Pat Spencer. He might project to play 10-12 minutes but that can mean 10-12 fantasy points as well and a solid value option if you need a punt option in your lineups tonight. Getting to double-digits would be ideal here but don’t expect him to be the reason you win, just a spend down option if you want the heavy hitters in your lineup.

Donte DiVencenzo (PG/SG – MIN)

DraftKings: $9,300
FanDuel: $5,800

The other Minnesota option I’ll throw out there is Donte DiVincenzo. There’s a path where Minnnesota dominates tonight with Golden State struggling to find any offense and Kerr pulls the starters halfway through the third quarter again. If anything like that happens again, it’s because the Timberwolves offense has found a way to get by the Warriors and with the number of three’s DiVencenzo will take any given game, he’s capable of catching fire and returning over 30 fantasy points with ease.