NBA DFS Picks: Building Blocks for Wednesday, May 26th | Bradley Beal
Wednesday, May 26, has a front-loaded three-game slate with the first two games tipping off in the 7 o’clock hour. Let’s look at the three-game main slate and discuss the top NBA DFS picks for DraftKings, FanDuel and Yahoo lineups. Don’t forget to head over to the Awesemo NBA DFS home page for more great written daily fantasy basketball content, including the FREE NBA Deep Dive — the most in-depth article in the industry.
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NBA DFS Picks: Building Blocks, Wednesday, May 26th
Yahoo Play of the Day — Bradley Beal: Washington Wizards at Philadelphia 76ers
Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 43.11 | DraftKings: 44.45
Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 24.0% | FanDuel 30.8% | DraftKings 27.6%
DFS Salary: Yahoo $41 | FanDuel $9,500 | DraftKings $8,800
The time off between games should help Bradley Beal continue to recover from his hamstring injury. He looked better on Sunday than he did during the play-in tournament games, so ideally this healing trajectory holds. While it is unlikely he will have another double-digit rebounding performance in this series, seeing Beal get 41 minutes and going 13-for-23 from the field was comforting. He will likely be better than his 1-for-6 performance from behind the arc, which will offset the decline in rebounds yet still provide attainable upside. This is an all-hands-on-deck situation for the Wizards, who are 8.5-point road dogs, and Beal should see heavy usage once more.
Julius Randle: New York Knicks vs. Atlanta Hawks
Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 44.1 | DraftKings: 47.16
Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 20.4% | FanDuel 30.8% | DraftKings 24.2%
DFS Salary: Yahoo $45 | FanDuel $9,800 | DraftKings $9,400
Game 1 was a heartbreaker for New York, losing on a last-second bucket by Trae Young in Madison Square Garden. Even though he ended up playing 36 minutes, Julius Randle lost nearly four second-quarter minutes when he was kept on the bench, as rookie Obi Toppin and the rest of the reserves cut down an 11-point Hawks lead to just a bucket. Even in the postseason, from time to time coaches may go with their second units for extended stretches if they are playing well.
Today Randle has a salary that is just below the other stars, though it is not quite an extreme value. However, he also is likely to carry less popularity than the other players who have a realistic potential of posting 50-plus fantasy points, which gives him added intrinsic value beyond his salary. In the playoffs, with limited player pools and massive tournaments, differentiation can be worth its weight in gold.
Good Value
Philadelphia 76ers vs. Washington Wizards
From a macro standpoint, the Washington Wizards are essentially the worst defense of this slate while also playing at the fastest pace. One of the key things to remember in the playoffs is that the rotations are tightened and starters tend to see a minutes increase. This held true for the 76ers on Sunday when Shake Milton, Furkan Korkmaz and Tyrese Maxey played just 20 minutes combined. George Hill should likely be on the court any time that Ben Simmons is on the bench, and there is a chance he will see a couple more minutes if the game goes small and coach Doc Rivers is looking for another veteran ball handler on the court with Simmons.
Dwight Howard got 18.5 minutes, though, for some inexplicable reason, Rivers decided to play Joel Embiid only 11 minutes in the first half, as he was dealing with foul trouble. In his last three seasons over 166 regular-season games, Embiid has fouled out only three times. He has fouled out once in 27 career postseason appearances, and that was back in the 2018 playoffs. In just 29.5 minutes, Embiid had a 40.7% usage, scored 30 points and was 12-for-13 from the charity stripe. If he sees even low-30s minutes, he should tally 50-plus fantasy points against a Wizards team that does not have an answer for him defensively.
While Tobias Harris will not likely see 29 field-goal attempts again in the playoffs (short of an injury to Embiid or Simmons), he is clearly the secondary offensive option with his three-level scoring capabilities. Simmons dropped 15 assists and 15 rebounds, though he only had 6 points. These two make for excellent secondary-star options in all formats.
Finally, gamers can look to Danny Green, who can chip in with whatever is needed, and Seth Curry, who has the green light from beyond the arc. The DFS salary algorithms have not adjusted yet for the increased minutes of the shorter 76ers rotation.
Risky Value
Utah Jazz vs. Memphis Grizzlies
Donovan Mitchell was a surprise late scratch on Sunday, and he missed his 16th straight game due to an ankle injury. There was some dissention in the reporting of the reason for him being held out of action, with Mitchell himself saying it was an organizational decision. There will be an impact to the minutes and opportunities for Mike Conley, Joe Ingles and Jordan Clarkson with his return. The added wrinkle of Utah dropping Game 1 only adds to the uncertainty and pressure. There is a good chance that the Jazz will look to tighten things up on defense and employ even more of a deliberate pace on offense, which could result in a 10% decrease in the 98 possessions they had during Sunday’s game. All of this comes together to dampen the general upside of the Jazz backcourt options. While they are not bad plays, they will just have a difficult path to outperforming their fantasy salaries with any level of predictability.
Yahoo Daily Fantasy Basketball Discount Dandies
Ishmael Smith: WAS at PHI – $12
Taj Gibson: NYK vs. ATL – $10
Davis Bertans: WAS at PHI – $10
Final Thoughts on the Wednesday, May 26th NBA DFS Slate
The only wild card tonight is that the official starting lineup for Utah will not be released until well after the other games have tipped off. While word is that Mitchell will be playing, that was the thought on Sunday as well prior to him being a late scratch. Keep in mind that salaries and scoring formats differ across the various fantasy sites, and a slam-dunk play on Yahoo may be a below-average play on DraftKings or FanDuel.
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