NBA DFS Picks, Projections, Lineups, Injuries & More Today: Friday Playbook

Without Jaden Ivey this year, Cade Cunningham has a 35% USG and 1.46 FP/min. Dallas is a good defensive team and decently fast paced offensively. Cunningham has a massive ceiling.

With Embiid, George, McCain and others out this year, Tyrese Maxey has a 37% USG (+6.2% USG) and 1.4 FP/min. He's scored 28+ points in 12 straight games, has 40+ minute upside, and has 48+ DKP in six straight.

The Clippers are in a very interesting spot, but all of them are largely tournament options in a 14-point spread. In 140 minutes with Kawhi Leonard, Harden has a 1.29 FP/min and a 20.5% USG rate.

The Spurs are going the wrong way defensively as they now rank 20th in that department and without Bobby Portis this year, Dame Dolla has a 27% USG and 1.22 FP/min.

The Nuggets moved Christian Braun to the bench and Aaron Gordon into the starting lineup last game and Westbrook stayed a starter. He played 37 minutes and twice in a row he's been at 35. Westbrook on the year has a 22.6% USG and 1.2 FP/min.

With Jayson Tatum struggling a bit, Jaylen Brown has picked up the slack as he's put up 28+ in straight and 22+ in three straight. He has a 41 DKP in three straight and yet, he's under 8K on DK. The Pelicans are 28th in DRtg.

With everyone out for Philly, Kelly Oubre has been nails. I don't love the FD price, but I do like it on DK. Oubre has posted 35+ DKP in four straight games. This is one of the best game environments of the day.

Devin Vassell is just solid at the price and has a massive ceiling. He has a 24% USG and is a .98 FP/min player this year. He has high-30s minutes upside and this game has an implied total on the rise as it's 234.5.

With Zach LaVine sidelined, Coby White leads the team in USG at 26.5% and that's 4.2% higher than second. He's also at 1.01 FP/min. He was apparently a 24-28 minute limit and played 31. I'd have a hard time believing he doesn't go up from there. 

The minutes are up and down and whether or not he closes is also a question mark. He's been in a 22 to 38 minute range lately. He has, during that span, made a lot of shots and has consistently been giving us 21+ DKP. 

I'm all the way in on Barnes if Immanuel Quickley doesn't play, but things are trending in the right direction for him. In the 184 minutes they've shared the court, Barnes has a 26% USG and averages 1.27 FP/min. That's still elite and the matchup is possibly the best on the board.

Soooooooooooo Kawhi Leonard. Yeah. He's up to 29 minutes and he had his best game of the year last time out. He had a 30.8% USG and had 27 points, seven assists, six rebounds, and 47.5 DKP. So far, Leonard has a 27.8% USG and 1.14 FP/min and this is an elite spot.

After being on a pretty strict minutes limit, that was seemingly lifted last game as he played nearly 29 minutes. He hasn't missed a shot in two games and has had a 23.5% USG and 31.8% USG the game before. It's a good spot and good game environment.

Two games ago we saw Khris Middleton up at 27 minutes. That's great at his price point. The last three games he's played at least 24 minutes he's notched 29 DKP. It's interesting to see Damian Lillard downgraded to probable, too. Middleton's a 1.09 FP/min player.

With everyone that's out for Philly, Council has a 23.2% USG and .85 FP/min. Council won't start over Justin Edwards, but he's better on a per minute scale and has a much higher usage rate. Edwards is the contrarian play, however.

The field is all in on Giannis Antetokounmpo today. It might sky rocket even further if Damian Lillard – who is listed probable – sits as he was downgraded to that with a groin injury. That's something to monitor. Yeah, Giannis is elite if you end up there.

Zion Williamson has posted a 35% USG or better in four straight games and has absolutely smashed each slate at this silly price point that is going DOWN on DK. Going DOWN? He's a 1.6 FP/min player with everyone on the floor this year and is at 1.75 without Ingram, Jones and Elf Payton.

Without Doncic, Kleber, and Lively, PJ Washington sees a +3% USG bump, which leads the team, up to 22.6% and averages 1.08 FP/min. In fact, Washington's upped that a bit lately posting a 26% USG or higher in five of his last five games.

I like Jeremy Sochan but I don't love him. I like the player a lot, but I hate that he's coming off the bench and I hate how his minutes have fluctuated. I also don't love the amount of ownership he's getting here. That being said he's too cheap if he's playing mid-to-high 20s minutes and if he remains the 1.02 FP/min player he's been.

We said it on the preshow and it came true; Aaron Gordon back in the starting lineup is one of the highest rostered players of the day. He played 30 minutes as a starter and it looks as if that is only going to trend upwards. Gordon on the year sits at a .95 FP/min average.

The Bulls chose to go with a four-guard starting lineup last time out, but got smoked and face a bigger Toronto team on Friday. Williams in that game still played 30 minutes and lost nearly four more to blowout. Williams' has played well in each of the last two games and with Zach LaVine out, his offense should be relied upon a bit more.

Look, any time you're going to give me Nikola Jokic hovering around 10% rostership on DK, I'm going to play it and make it work. On FD, it's harder to get to at 12.8K and no bonuses, but on DK, he's my favorite GPP play of the day.

Daniel Gafford's ceiling has been crazy lately. He's really come into his own with Dereck Lively II out of the lineup. Gafford is currently a 1.24 FP/min player with 40+ DKP in four of five, flashing a 71 DKP ceiling.

Duren has been awesome lately but it's never been about how good he is. It's always been about him just staying on the court. Injuries and foul trouble have plagued him, mostly the latter, but lately he's on the floor and has looked great. He has six double-doubles over his last seven games and 30+ DKP in six of seven.

Everyone is going to go back to the Moussa Diabate well again tonight and he's been really good when extended. He's a great rebounder that has seen a slight increase an offense, and that's what should make us comfortable with getting to him now up over 4K.

This is GPP stuff only, but BBall Paul is basically min salary on both sites and will operate as the teams backup center tonight. There's a few path's to success here, one of which involves Jalen Duren's consistent foul trouble. I like Duren, but at 3K as the team's backup center, he's a 1.19 FP/min player this year.