NBA Yahoo DFS Advice: Who To Play, Avoid For Wednesday, March 22

NBA Yahoo DFS Advice: Who To Play, Avoid For Wednesday, March 22

This article is part of our Yahoo DFS Basketball series.

Wednesday is a busy 10-game slate. That gives us no shortage of options when building lineups, even when considering some lingering injuries around the league.

As customary, we'll highlight multiple advantageous positional matchups to exploit at each position for your Yahoo Fantasy lineups, as well as a good trio of candidates that may be best to steer clear of due to a combination of circumstances/salary.  

Guards

Devin Booker, PHO at LAL ($40): Booker requires much less of an investment than several other players at his position yet brings just as much upside, as evidenced by his six tallies of 51.1 Yahoo points or more in his last nine games. The veteran sharpshooter will continue as the primary scorer with Kevin Durant (ankle) still sidelined. Despite the Lakers having defended the shooting guard position relatively well, there should be plenty of opportunity for Booker to outpace his current salary in a game that's important for Phoenix.

Austin Reaves, LAL vs. PHO ($19): Reaves makes for an intriguing tournament play that gives you plenty of flexibility elsewhere on the other side of the Lakers-Suns tilt, and he checks in having scored at least 30 Yahoo points in three straight games, including more than 40 in two of those contests. Reaves has also scored 34.4 and 35.3 Yahoo points in two other games during March. The Suns come in surrendering 37.4 percent three-point shooting to two-guards while ranking just in the bottom half of the league in offensive efficiency rating yielded to second-unit players (40.0).

ALSO CONSIDER: Damian Lillard, POR at UTA ($47)

Guard to Avoid

Dennis Schroder, LAL at PHO ($16): Schroder's production has taken a notable hit with the return to health of D'Angelo Russell, making the veteran less than appealing for fantasy purposes. Schroder has scored under 20 Yahoo points in three of his last five games, and he's also facing a Suns team that's always tough on point guards with Chris Paul in the backcourt.

Forwards

Jimmy Butler, NY vs. MIA ($37): Butler has notably over-delivered on his current salary consistently of late, scoring 40.6 Yahoo points or more in 11 of the last 13 games. The veteran forward even has a trio of tallies of more than 55 Yahoo points in that sample, including one of 56.1 against this same Knicks squad on March 3. New York has been highly vulnerable to the small forward position all season, allowing the second-highest offensive efficiency rating to threes (24.4) and the third-most Yahoo points per game to the position (42.8).

Jonathan Kuminga, GSW at DAL ($14): Kuminga fits the bill as a value tournament play that could help make an impact at a modest rostering rate on a large slate. The third-year pro has scored 23.7 to 43.1 Yahoo points in his last three games and had a stretch of putting up 31.6 to 40.4 Yahoo points in a three-game stretch earlier in March. The improved play and bump in minutes should continue Wednesday against a Mavericks team that's allowed the third-highest offensive efficiency rating to power forwards (28.0), along with the fifth-most Yahoo points per game to the position in the last 15 contests (48.9).

ALSO CONSIDER: Giannis Antetokounmpo, MIL vs. SA ($56)

Forward to Avoid

Tim Hardaway, DAL vs. GSW ($16): Hardaway is listed as questionable for Wednesday's game due to an illness, and he already comes in putting up some sub-standard production in recent games. The veteran wing has scored 9.4 to 19.3 Yahoo points in his last three games despite playing no fewer than 25 minutes in any of those contests, and the possibility he's also out or limited by his illness makes him even less appealing.

Centers

Joel Embiid, PHI at CHI ($57): Embiid's fit as a play worth considering needs no explanation, and he has the numbers to justify his elevated salary. One need look no further than Monday's first installment of the back-to-back set against the Bulls, when the odds-on MVP favorite put up 64.7 Yahoo points on the strength of a 37-point, 16-rebound double-double. That was incredibly Embiid's sixth instance of scoring over 60 Yahoo points in the last seven games alone, and he should be in for another outsized role yet again Wednesday.

Rudy Gobert, MIN vs. ATL ($29): Gobert comes into Wednesday's favorable matchup having scored 33.9 to 55.3 Yahoo points in his last three games, plus tallies of 41.6 and 61.6 in his last six contests. One former tally came against this same Hawks squad, which is allowing the sixth-highest offensive efficiency rating to centers (27.7), along with 52.3 Yahoo points per contest to centers in the last 30 games. Every game is key for Minnesota at this juncture, and Anthony Edwards (ankle) could also remain sidelined Wednesday, which would keep Gobert's involvement even higher than usual.

ALSO CONSIDER: Jakob Poeltl, TOR vs. IND ($27)

Center to Avoid

Mitchell Robinson, NY at MIA ($17): Robinson's production has always been hard to trust. Considering he'll be stuck in one of the most challenging matchups in the league for centers Wednesday, he's best avoided. The Heat allow an NBA-low 27.4 offensive efficiency rating to centers, and Robinson scored just 16 Yahoo points against Miami in the March 3 meeting between the teams.

The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it's possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire. Juan Carlos Blanco plays in daily fantasy contests using the following accounts: DraftKings: jcblanco22, FanDuel: jc_blanco22, DraftPot: jc_blanco22, FantasyDraft: jc_blanco22, OwnThePlay: jcblanco22.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Juan Carlos Blanco
Winner of the FSWA 2016 Newcomer of the Year Award, Juan Carlos Blanco has been playing fantasy sports for over 20 years and covers NBA, MLB, NFL, CFL and Arena Football for Rotowire.com, including serving as the beat writer for teams in multiple sports. He has previously written for KFFL.com and remains an avid season-long and daily fantasy player in multiple sports as well.
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