We are finally back from a long NBA All-Star break with a delightful Thursday night NBA DFS showdown slate between the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors. The new-look Lakers should be at full strength, but the Warriors will still be without two key pieces of their lineup, including Stephen Curry. With a very high 238.5 implied total, there should be plenty of fantasy points to go around tonight. Here are the NBA DFS picks and top plays we can invest in for our showdown lineups on FanDuel and DraftKings!

 

NBA Injury Report

Golden State Warriors Injuries

Los Angeles Lakers Injuries:

 

NBA DFS Showdown Picks

MVP/CAPTAIN

LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers SF

James wasn’t needed much in the All-Star game or in the game against New Orleans which was a blowout win over the Pelicans where he played only 29 minutes. But before that game and his minor foot injury, LeBron was doing his normal thing with over 50 fantasy points in all but three games since the calendar turned to 2023. He scored 62 fantasy points in his last game against the Warriors and now doesn’t have the defensive strength of Andrew Wiggins out there to try and slow him down. 

Anthony Davis, Los Angeles Lakers C

Davis has not shot well in three early February games (about 40%), but he bounced back in a huge way right before the break with 55.5 fantasy points on 76% shooting in just 30 minutes. He has four straight double-doubles and two blocks per game over his last four, just crushing people on the defensive end all game. The Warriors are first overall in pace this season but just 20th in rebound rate, so this could be another big defensive game for Davis in addition to the 20 points he always puts up.  

Jordan Poole, Golden State Warriors PG/SG

The 24.5 fantasy points on February 13th against Washington looks like a major outlier now as Poole is putting up 40 fantasy points routinely now with Steph Curry out. The last time he played the Lakers, Poole put on a clinic in the fourth quarter and ended up with 50 fantasy points in just 37 minutes. The Lakers allow the third-most fantasy points to point guards this season and now are without Patrick Beverley on defense. Poole looks like an excellent play tonight, especially with a discount off of James and Davis. 

UTILITY 

D’Angelo Russell, Los Angeles Lakers PG/SG

The minutes have been 35, 28, and 28 for Russell in his first three games with the Lakers so we need to see how he is deployed consistently before we start going crazy on how many rosters he finds himself on. But with Curry out tonight, Russell should be able to at get to the 30 fantasy points he averaged in his first three games with the team, even if he doesn’t quite hit the 30-minute mark. With a little bit of revenge on his mind, Russell averages 33 fantasy points against the Warriors this year across three games. 

Klay Thompson, Golden State Warriors SG/SF

Thompson got a small vote of confidence this week from Coach Steve Kerr when he said Thompson will be able to play in back-to-backs moving forward. That means he should be fully back to health now and it’s good timing with both Curry and Wiggins missing. When those two do not play, Thompson averages a 27.9% usage rate and more than one fantasy point per minute. In his previous two games against the Lakers, Thompson has only managed around 28 minutes in each one, but that should be around 30+ tonight as Thompson’s scoring will be desperately needed.  

Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors PF/C

Green is not in play at the MVP spot for me as he keeps yo-yo-ing up and down between fantasy points in the teens or twenties and fantasy points in the thirties and forties. But he can easily go for 40+ on any given night and scored 30 fantasy points over the last two times these teams have played. He may not be the MVP, but he will certainly be on a number of my rosters. The Lakers are a bottom-five team against power forwards this season and are now relying on Jarred Vanderbilt to fill the position.  

DART THROWS

Ty Jerome, Golden State Warriors PG

When Steph Curry is out, it looks like we know exactly what we are going to get from Ty Jerome every night. He has played 18 or 19 minutes and scored between 16 and 21 fantasy points for six straight games. That’s a safe floor at a very low salary on both sites tonight when most of the players we want have a very steep price tag. If this game turns into a blowout for whatever reason (Lakers are favored by six), you can expect a lot of Jerome in the fourth quarter. He put up 20.8 fantasy points in just 18 minutes in their game against Los Angeles in the week before the break. 

Malik Beasley, Los Angeles Lakers SG

Coach Darvin Ham said that Malik Beasley will now remain in the starting lineup going forward, which is great news for his potential production tonight compared to the low $4,000 salary on DraftKings. In 22 minutes per game over his first two contests as a Laker, Beasley averaged 25 fantasy points per game. The Warriors have been one of the 10 worst teams against shooting guards all season, and Beasley has already played them four times this year. He has not shot well in those contests (32%), but he should get plenty of opportunity as a leader of the second unit to put points on the board tonight.  

 

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