DraftKings Daily Fantasy Basketball Helper: Friday 4/2/21

With 10 games to choose from on Friday’s slate — which locks at 7:00 p.m. EST — let’s look at the top options across all five positions for NBA DFS.

Be sure to check out our projections, which are updated throughout the day as news breaks, and our other DFS tools such as advanced stats and a matchup heat map.

Here are some of the top plays on today’s DraftKings slate. As always, good luck.

Point Guard

Ja Morant ($7,500) – This is one of those nights where you may want to target the second and third tier of players in plus matchups. That long list of guys includes Morant, who draws a Minnesota squad allowing the third-most DraftKings points to point guards, according to FantasyPros. The second-year stud is also fresh off a game in which he totaled 36 points and 53.5 DK points, marking his second 50-game in just four games. Morant should be able to feed off of his team’s 119.5 implied total via a 232 over/under at FanDuel Sportsbook.

Kevin Porter Jr. ($6,500) – The Houston rebuild is well underway, and Porter finds himself at the forefront. Victor Oladipo is now elsewhere, and while John Wall serves as the starting point man, he is listed as questionable for yet another game. Porter will start either way, but it’s worth noting that — according to NBA Wowy — he has posted a 26.2% usage rate without the likes of Wall, Oladipo and Eric Gordon. At face value, this could be a tougher matchup, but Boston rates 21st in defensive efficiency, per NBA.com.

Shooting Guard

Gary Trent Jr. ($5,600) – On Friday night, the Toronto Raptors are expected to be without both Kyle Lowry and addition Rodney Hood, leaving more minutes to go around for the newly-acquire Trent. In Toronto’s last game against Oklahoma City, Trent soaked up 36 minutes in route to 6 three-pointers, 31 points and 40.5 DK points. He eclipsed 36 minutes and 32 DK points for a second straight game, so it would appear he is comfortable with his new squad. You can feel good locking him in against the visiting Warriors, who bring their second-ranked pace to Tampa.

Malik Monk ($4,700) – Monk has been a straight firecracker off the Charlotte Hornets‘ bench. That’s been even more the case with LaMelo Ball sidelined, as he’s been bumped up a spot in the backcourt pecking order. Since Ball went down on March 20th, Monk has averaged 18.3 points and 28.8 DK points over 24.8 minutes. His usage sits at a team-high 27.1% in that timeframe, during which he’s managed a game of 32.75 and 40.5 DK points. He can have a monster scoring night at any time.

Small Forward

Anthony Edwards ($7,100) – This Minnesota/Memphis game is intriguing on both sides, given the high total, as well as a number of young players with promising earlier careers. After a slow start to his rookie campaign, Edwards has shown as much as any, averaging 24.2 points and 38.8 DK points for the month of March. His minutes are above 35 a game, which has led to steady productivity on a night-to-night basis. And although the Timberwolves find themselves seven-point underdogs, the high total should allow enough scoring for Edwards to possess a high ceiling in this road matchup.

Josh Hart ($5,800) – J.J. Redick is in Dallas, Lonzo Ball might still be out, and both Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson (both of whom sat out Thursday) can be considered questionable for the New Orleans Pelicans. They’re in need of backcourt bodies, and Hart can be productive when called upon to be more than the three-and-D guy he is in the typical lineup. In Tuesay and Thursday’s games, he was able to tally double-digit points, two straight double-doubles and an average of 41.75 DK points. His minutes have been off the chart, and we should expect that to hold true here against Atlanta.

Power Forward

Giannis Antetokounmpo ($10,900) – The Bucks and Blazers check in tonight with a monstrous 236.5 over/under. With Milwaukee favored by 3.5 in Portland, Giannis and company draw a 120 implied team total — just juicy enough to prioritize him over the likes of Luka Doncic and Karl-Anthony Towns. Despite that, there’s a chance Antetokounmpo is slightly under-rostered because of recent performances, which have been lower for his high standards. But it wasn’t long ago that he was putting up 65-plus DK points on the regular, so there’s still reason to believe in him as the center of your lineups.

Kyle Kuzma ($7,200) – Like many others, Kuzma has taken on a larger role without both LeBron James and Anthony Davis healthy for Los Angeles. He’s done as much as he can to keep them afloat, too, averaging 16.4 points, 9.0 rebounds and 4.2 assists, all for 35.5 DK points a night. That comes in the face of a lowly 23.5-point showing in a low-scoring affair with Cleveland, though surrounding that is three games of 37.75 DK points or more. Now, the Sacramento Kings and their bottom-of-the-barrel defense are on tap, boosting Kuzma’s chances of another good performance.

Center

Montrezl Harrell ($6,600) – As part of a Lakers frontcourt stack, Harrell makes for an even better than Kuzma. After making his team debut, Andre Drummond is set to miss a bit of time due to injury, opening up the starting lineup for Harrell, given Marc Gasol has been phased out of late. When the two stars have been out, Harrell’s per-minute output is up to 1.25 DK points thanks to a 27.5% usage rate and 15.7% rebounding rate. He should feast against the Kings.

Deandre Ayton ($6,500) – Ayton is going against the Thunder’s backups with Al Horford no longer playing and the combination of Moses Brown and Isaiah Roby taking his place. Meanwhile, the Phoenix center continues to be a big under-valued at his salary point. He’s averaging a solid 33.4 DK points per game on the season and has two double-doubles in his last three games. At home, he’s also shot 5% better from the floor and has averaged 1.07 DK points per minute. He’s a good play in any format.

Brett Oswalt is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Brett Oswalt also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username BRO14THEKID. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.