Wednesday’s NBA DFS slate is tiny. We just have two games to work with, which means very little wiggle room. In addition, both games are ugly carry blowout risk. Fun, right? Seems like a great time to give our new DFS lineup tool a whirl, though, as it can give you some different options to consider that you may not otherwise land on (it’s free for 7 days).
As far as identifying the best NBA DFS picks today, I will highlight the 3-4 core plays I am building around, and also touch on some GPP pivots to consider. Let’s build!
🏀 Slate Overview
- Top injury news to monitor: Suns. 3 key players are Q.
- Best value plays: Hartenstein. Can be a stud if extended.
- Top game to attack: None. Both are ugly with blowout risk.
- Top stud: Cade and SGA. Pretty similar plays, but I slightly prefer Cunningham.
- Blowout risks: Both.
Top NBA DFS Picks for Wednesday
- Jalen Duren ($8k)
- Isaiah Hartenstein ($5.2k)
- Cade Cunningham ($9.8k)
🏀 New to DFS? Core plays are the guys you put in most or all of your lineups. They have strong matchups, clear paths to big minutes, and prices that make it easy to fit premium players elsewhere.
There’s a surprisingly good amount of value on this slate despite the lines and slate size. I am very much on Detroit tonight, though, so I’d start most builds with Duren/Cade and certainly at least one of them. If Mark Williams plays – or if you want to play WCJ, perhaps – you could always entertain pivoting off Duren or Hartenstein, but I don’t think that’s what I’ll be doing.
Duren was a no-show in game one, but he’s a dominant force and I think he delivers a gut check performance. Cade was on fire in game one and I highly doubt he goes quiet with his Pistons at home and staring an 0-2 start in the face.
Hartenstein is just too cheap. Phoenix is a suboptimal matchup and there’s blowout risk, but if we can get 25+ minutes I think he hits easily. MW and WCJ are viable pivots, but he’s just the best play and probably the best value of the entire slate.
NBA DFS Lineup Strategy for 4/22
A lot of people will want to blindly pair Cade and SGA together. I do think there’s merit in doing so in terms of tapping into the raw points and a ceiling, but we’re suddenly demanding a lot of weak value pans out perfectly. That just isn’t very realistic.
Will I throw some Cade/SGA builds out there and even go one step further and cram Devin Booker into some? Sure, but if I am doing a SE I am starting with the Core Plays and not forcing SGA or Booker unless it comes naturally.
The key will be to simply identify a couple of chalky values that we can pivot off of. Ownership isn’t live yet, but a good example might be that people get on Chet Holmgren. He’s a great play, but if he is chalky we can be aggressive on guys like Jalen Williams, Desmond Bane, or Jalen Green in that same price range.
Down low, Anthony Black could be a popular value. Guys like Lu Dort and Suns values may be overlooked as a result.
- 🟢 SAFE – Cade and Duren. I think they lock in and crush.
- 🟡 BOOM/BUST – Hartenstein. Great play but OKC is favored by 17.5 so blowout risk is real.
Best NBA DFS Game Environments for 4/22
🏀 New to DFS? We look for games with high point totals because more points scored = more fantasy points available. The “total” is the sportsbook’s projected combined score for both teams. Higher is generally better for DFS.
Below you’ll see this chart map out each game based on point spread, total, and pace of play.
Wednesday’s NBA DFS Picks for Tournaments
🏀 New to DFS? GPP stands for Guaranteed Prize Pool — the big tournaments. To win tournaments, your lineup has to be different from everyone else’s. A “GPP pivot” is a player who will be lower-owned than his upside deserves, giving you a tournament edge if he performs well.
- Devin Booker ($8.4k)
- Paolo Banchero ($8.5k)
I know for sure Booker will be low-owned. Cade, SGA, Duren, and Chet are the top guys who should garner a lot of ownership. Banchero might fit into that group, too, but we’ll have to see.
In general, though, I have to think Banchero goes overlooked compared to Chet and Duren. Booker is a 17-point road dog against the best team in the league. Nobody is playing him, so he’s a great GPP play that we know has a ceiling if he can cook.
🏀 Not Sure Where to Start?
If you’re newer to DFS and feeling overwhelmed, here’s how to approach it:
- Know what contest you’re entering before you pick a single player. Cash games (50/50s, head-to-head) pay out the top half of the field. Your goal is a safe, reliable lineup. GPP tournaments pay out the top 15-20%, with most of the prize pool at the very top. Your goal there is the ceiling. These two goals require completely different lineups.
- Shorthanded teams are your best friend. When a team is missing rotation players, the guys left get more minutes, more shots, and more fantasy opportunities than their salaries reflect. That’s the formula. Check every team’s injury report before building — not as an afterthought, but as step one.
- Avoid blowout games unless you’re on the right side. High game totals tell you where the points are — the total is the sportsbook’s projected combined score. Higher total = more points on the floor = more fantasy points available.
- Minutes are the currency of DFS. Always ask: how many minutes is this guy going to play? A player can’t score if he’s on the bench. Before you add anyone to your lineup, ask yourself: is his role clearly defined tonight? Does he have a path to 28+ minutes? Then that guy is probably viable.
- Understand floor vs. ceiling before you decide who to play. Floor is the minimum you can reasonably expect from a player. The ceiling is the maximum upside if everything goes right. In cash games, you want floor guys who almost certainly hit their value. In tournaments, you want ceiling — guys who can go nuclear.
- Ownership can be your edge — use it. In GPPs, the field chases names or super-owned options. We can leverage that by playing comparable plays with lower ownership.
- Don’t pay for a big name if the context is bad. Salary doesn’t equal value. A star in a tough spot is often worse than a role player in a great one.
New to NBA DFS and need even more help? Check out our NBA DFS guide for extra assistance on how to get started!
Playing DFS since the days of DraftStreet, Kevin knows the ins and outs of DFS, specifically for NFL and NBA. He’s also been helping people win in fantasy football leagues for 15+ years and is one of many experts featured at FantasyPros.
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