The extended All-Star week is over and we’re rounding the corner into the home stretch of the fantasy basketball season. For both fantasy and real life basketball teams, the playoffs are coming soon and the hierarchy of the league is becoming established in a more concrete way. The 46-10 Thunder are having an incredible season and hold a sizable 9.5 game lead over the tied 37-20 Grizzlies and Nuggets. The latter two will battle for the privilege of running into OKC into the Western Conference Finals, if all goes to plan. The bottom half of the playoff seeds in the West is a warzone, with only a 3.5 game difference between the 11th and 7th seeds.
In the Eastern Conference, the Cavaliers have a similar record as OKC, sitting at a comfortable 47-10 with the Celtics trailing behind by six games. Despite the Celtics trailing in second, most would agree that Boston is still the gatekeeper of the East, as evidenced by their +215 odds to win the Finals on DraftKings Sportsbook (the Cavaliers sit at +650).
We’re shooting the Three Lists of Threes today for your weekly dose of fantasy tips: Buy-lows, sell-highs, and streams.
Here are some streams we can consider.
Stream ’em
Donovan Clingan, C, Portland Trail Blazers
Clingan hasn’t eclipsed 30 minutes since his monster 17 point, 20 rebound effort against the Nuggets on February 12th, but he needs to be grabbed if he’s available. His per-minute upside is too high and he’s a magnet for huge rebounding numbers due to his sheer size. He’s slow, raw, and quite possibly not yet ready for big minutes, but with Deandre Ayton’s injury, Clingan needs to be on a roster.
Keon Johnson, PG/SG, Brooklyn Nets
Johnson is only ranked 175 in the past two weeks, which is low, but the Tennessee product is only 22 years old and has flashed some significant scoring upside this season for the Nets. In his last sex games, he’s averaging 12.3 PPG with 5.2 RPG alongside 1.7 SPG and 0.8 BPG. He’s only shooting 38.3% from the field in this stretch, so it will be painful for your FG% to roster him, but he could get a decent amount of run to close this season.
Keldon Johnson, SF/PF, San Antonio Spurs
Neither Charles Bassey nor Sandro Mamukelashvili has proven effective as Wemby’s replacement. To be fair, he has literally large shoes to fill, so it’ll be tough to replicate that kind of production, both offensive and defensive, that Wemby provides. Keldon Johnson will have to do. Johnson has scored at least 15 points in three straight games, including one 11/13 FG effort against the Pistons. Johnson won’t provide much in the way of defensive stats or free throw shooting, but his recent uptick in minutes means we should probably go grab him.
I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.
