Tuesday, June 1, leads into the first of the Game 5’s with a couple of injuries that are opening up some opportunities for ancillary players. 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, Tuesday, June 1st

Yahoo Play of the Day — Deandre Ayton: Phoenix Suns vs. Los Angeles Lakers

• Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 32.66 | DraftKings: 34.18

• Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 37.4% | FanDuel 25.0% | DraftKings 32.2%

• DFS Salary: Yahoo $28 | FanDuel $8,100 | DraftKings $7,000

This has been a phenomenal inaugural playoff series for Deandre Ayton. Through the first four games, he is averaging 39.7 minutes per game and 11.8 field-goal attempts, which he is converting at an insane 80.8% clip. While he is not getting a lot of blocks and steals, he has been a key disruptor on the defensive end of the floor. For the postseason, he is averaging 19.8 points and 13.5 rebounds, and he won’t have to battle Anthony Davis for boards tonight. The salary algorithms have not yet caught up to the increase in minutes from 30.7 in the regular season to nearly 40 per game in the postseason. Ayton is coming in at a 15 to 20% discount across the board tonight.

Kevin Durant: Brooklyn Nets vs. Boston Celtics

• Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 47.07 | DraftKings: 48.88

• Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 13.8% | FanDuel 24.2% | DraftKings 18.8%

• DFS Salary: Yahoo $48 | FanDuel $10,600 | DraftKings $10,200

Tonight LeBron James is coming in at a 5 to 10% discount compared to Kevin Durant depending on your DFS site of choice. This is keeping Durant’s popularity in check, which makes him a tremendous tournament option. NBA WOWY shows that, in the postseason, Durant is leading the Nets with a 34.1% usage rate and is racking up 1.54 fantasy points per minute. Brooklyn is solidly favored by a dozen points tonight, but as with the 76ers and Wizards, things do not always play out as expected by any stretch of the imagination. Even if this becomes a runaway game, it is hard to envision Durant with less than 40 fantasy points, and he easily could be flirting with the mid- to upper 50s and be one of the top scoring options on the slate. As of the most current run of Awesemo NBA DFS projections, Durant is coming in at 48.88 projected points in the model.

Story continues

Good Value

Boston Celtics at Brooklyn Nets

It is highly unlikely that Kemba Walker and Robert Williams will suit up tonight, which will be leaving quite a production void when we remember that Jaylen Brown is also out. While Romeo Langford drew the start, Payton Pritchard was more effective. There is no guarantee that is the case again tonight, Pritchard is a slight preference since he looked more comfortable as a facilitator. It looks like they will likely split most of the point guard minutes, as they had only six total minutes together on the court. This makes it a little dicey using both players on the same roster.

Tristan Thompson is still a viable option, even though he did not play in the fourth quarter of Game 4. The Celtics chose to go with a small-ball lineup of Jabari Parker and Jayson Tatum essentially being the de facto centers. If the game remains competitive, the Celtics are likely to keep Thompson in the rotation for his rebounding and defense in the halfcourt sets. Evan Fournier and Marcus Smart are fine mix-and-match options, as their minutes should be secure in the 28 to 32 range.

Risky Value

Dennis Schroder: Los Angeles Lakers at Phoenix Suns

• Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 27.04 | DraftKings: 28.3

• Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 20.4% | FanDuel 18.6% | DraftKings 17.0%

• DFS Salary: Yahoo $22 | FanDuel $6,600 | DraftKings $5,800

LeBron James is going to need some help tonight, and it looks like gamers are leaning towards Dennis Schroder as a value option. The Awesemo Boom/Bust tool shows that there is a 17.9% probability of Schroder being in the FanDuel optimal lineup. That aligns with his 18.6% projected popularity, giving him a relatively neutral -0.7% leverage score. However, there is only a 4.8% likelihood that Schroder will reach his boom score of 43.0 FanDuel points, which is his tournament target score. Conversely, there is a whopping 63.7% chance of him falling below his bust threshold of 33 FanDuel points. It seems that the savvy strategy would be to let other gamers assume this risk tonight.

Yahoo Daily Fantasy Basketball Discount Dandies

1. Payton Pritchard: BOS at BKN – $10

2. Monte Morris: DEN vs. POR – $13

3. Alex Caruso: LAL at PHX – $10!

Final Thoughts on the Tuesday, June 1st NBA DFS Slate

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 NBA DFS pick on DraftKings or FanDuel.

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