If you rolled with our NBA DFS Core Plays yesterday you weren’t disappointed. KAT was a smash pick, Time Lord was solid for the price, and Dylan Harper bounced back and was a strong value. I was also high on Tatum, Embiid, and Wemby – all of which cleared 50 fantasy points.
Maxey was one of my favorite GPP pivots (53 fantasy points), while I also shouted OG (39) in my video and said I was not on Deni (30.75). Plenty of good calls, so hopefully it helped you cash or even win big. We did see some hits in Discord, so sign up if you’re not part of the site now, and also be sure to check out our FREE lineup tool with our 7-day trial. I’ll walk you through this slate beyond that, pointing you to the top plays, best pivots, and more. Let’s build!
🏀 Slate Overview
- Top injury news to monitor: Austin Reaves, Franz Wagner, and Kevin Huerter.
- Best value plays: Reed Sheppard. Too cheap for his role with KD still out.
- Top game to attack: HOU/LA. Tight spread and most of the top plays are here.
- Top stud: Cade. Best pure ceiling spend on the slate, but not the best stud value.
- Blowout risks: All. Two elimination games and just in general blowouts happen a lot in the playoffs.
Top NBA DFS Picks for Wednesday
- Alperen Sengun ($8.8k)
- Reed Sheppard ($5.4k)
- Collin Murray-Boyles ($5.5k)
Need more direction? Try out our DFS lineup tool if you haven’t already.
🏀 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.
I am starting most of my builds with Sengun and Reed. They are the two best Rockets plays in terms of role and projection, but they are admittedly followed closely behind by Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith, and Tari Eason. I think playing 4 of them is totally in play. Tari is a great value but might be the one I’d get away from considering how volatile he can be.
Sengun is the best play of the entire slate. Maybe Houston folds here and he’s butt, but he has the top projection and he has as high of a ceiling as anyone. His price has gone up, but not enough. He’s a lock for me, but you can head to my tourney plays to find some pivots.
CMB looks like a good value yet again. Poeltl is going to be very popular, as his price plummeted and he’s still involved. But CMB is pushing 30 minutes in these games and has been better. I’d rather pay for the safety and ceiling, but Jakob is in theory also a good play.
NBA DFS Lineup Strategy for 4/29
I want to stack up the Lakers/Rockets game. It has a tight spread and it’s a huge game for both sides. It’s also harboring some of the best plays of the slate. I am definitely more into the HOU side, but I would like to get to LeBron, who I feel is the 2nd best stud on the slate.
Reaves should be back, which honestly could simply help James. That doesn’t keep me off of LeBron, but I do think it hurts the minutes for some of the other guys. Kennard, Smart, and Rui should all still play a ton and are fine plays, but they’re more volatile now. Of that group, Rui is the cheapest and looks the best. I also don’t hate Ayton, but he’s GPP only, as we never know which version will show up.
I think the Pistons destroy Orlando to get back in this series. I have been wrong about this series the entire time, but Franz Wagner is questionable to play. If he’s not 100% or sits, that hurts Orlando’s offense quite a bit. Remember, they were pretty bad when he was out before. Plus, I think the Pistons will fire back with this game being on their home floor.
Cade is a viable spend and I don’t mind getting to Tobias, Ausar, or Duren (in that order). On the Orlando side, they’re all just kind of there. Anthony Black is most appealing if Wagner sits, but overall I kind of want to stay away. Tristan da Silva and even Jamal Cain are interesting punts with Wagner possibly out.
I think Cleveland smokes Toronto. Game 5 is huge and the winner tends to win the series, so the Cavs are not about to lay down for the third game in a row. The top 3 Cavs all look good, but aren’t priorities. If I had to pick one, it’d be Mobley due to price.
Cleveland value is a nightmare, but Tyson is super cheap and has gotten run lately. Strus and Merrill seem the safest, but for the price I like targeting Tyson a bit.
CMB is in my core and Poeltl is viable. Scottie Barnes is forever in play in GPPs, but his price went up and now he’s on the road again and Cleveland will be very motivated. Raptors feel like bad options in this spot, but I don’t mind targeting them (and this game in general) in tourneys.
- 🟢 SAFE – Sengun. He’s been mostly a stud and 3 of 4 games have been very close in this series.
- 🟡 BOOM/BUST – Reed is very scoring reliant and TOR rotation/blowout risk make CMB shaky.
Best NBA DFS Game Environments for 4/29
🏀 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.
- Paolo Banchero ($8.9k)
- Donovan Mitchell ($8.5k)
I don’t think anyone will trust the Magic to actually win this series tonight. Who even knows anymore? Win or lose, Banchero is a clear pivot away from Sengun and we know he has upside. The potential absence of Wagner could hurt Orlando’s offense, or it could unlock Banchero.
Spida is the ceiling play when it comes to Cleveland’s studs. Most people will play Sengun, Cade, or LeBron up top, plus Evan Mobley is the obvious Cavs spend. That should keep his ownership in check, but I can’t envision the Cavs dropping a third straight game to fall behind in this series at home.
🏀 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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