NBA All-Star Game 2021 Free Lineup Advice and Outlook For The Rest of the DFS NBA Season

The NBA looks a lot different this season than it has in years past. In consequence, the fundamentals of playing NBA DFS have changed a lot from what they were just 12 months ago. We are going to take the all-star break as an opportunity to provide you guys with some general strategy that has been prevailing during this bizarre season. Well also talk a little about the All-Star game, and how you should approach betting,

The 2021 Season (so far)…
The impact the pandemic has had on the court has been tremendous. Whenever a single player comes in contact with the corona virus, we typically see multiple players on that team sidelined for multiple games. Furthermore, players got a shorter off season then they were comfortable with and there are much more back-to-backs then in past seasons. The result has been players constantly sidelined, either for COVID-19, rest or “minor injuries.”  For DFS we are left with more value than we have ever had before. We have a lot of days when we can really fit whoever we want. 

Whenever you play NBA DFS your first strategy should be to check who is out and pick who you like from their teammates. The more dominant the player missing from the lineup – the more value will be potentially opened. For example, if Giannis Antetokounmpo is out on a given day, there will likely be a ton of lower priced value in other players on the Milwaukee Bucks. The obvious value plays will be to roster an injured players backup as they will typically start and get a lot more minutes. However, some players are a lot more enticing than others. There are some players who will never take a lot of usage due to the nature of their game. You want to draft big men who will get a lot of extra minutes, as they will typically get consistent FPTS through rebounds. Another great target is any high usage guard who typically is limited in floor time. For example, Hamidou Diallousually gets limited run and is nothing special in DFS basketball but when the Thunder were gutted earlier in the year he became one of the top producers available. 

Always Keep An Eye On The Newswire…
Checking the news constantly is the only way to play NBA DFS safely this season. There are plenty of great sources, between local beat writers, Google News, Twitter, email/text subscriptions to sports or fantasy networks. There are lots options to hopefully stay in the loop. With all the people playing NBA DFS, it is not hard to find all the news right when it drops. The number one key to success this season will be giving yourself time right before lock to make adjustments based on the news, and watching for news post lock. For example, on our last slate on March 4, 2021 –  Zion Williamson, Paul George, Jerami Grant, Bam Adebayo and a few others were all ruled out well after 6 PM. Which means if you just made a roster that morning and locked it in, you almost definitely did not cash in. If you were aware of the last minute changes, you could have stacked hard on some games that were most effected by the late injury news and your odds of doing well just went up – way up. 

It is essential that you can pivot off of players who will not play, but there are also a lot of times in which an injury makes another player a must have. If a guy is minimum price and will be starting point guard, you may need him in your lineup no matter what. You may not have time to make a whole lineup after news breaks, so it is important to have you core lineup prepared (like we do for you every day for free at FantasyDFSExperts.com) and then make adjustments as needed before lock. We have tried to design our daily content this season in a way that best fits this formula.

Targeting Players For DFS in the 2021 NBA Season
Nikola Jokic has been the king of NBA DFS so far this season, averaging about 60 FPTS. Jokic has almost always been priced under $11,000 this season, even though that gives him much more than the five times value players are typically priced for. Jokic being one of the more expensive players has worked great this season because of all the injury value on his team. Our two favorite players lately are the two top studs, Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Both players have been averaging north of 60 FPTS a night over the last month, yet they both have been priced around $11,000 or a bit lower. It does not really make sense that these two are consistently within a few hundred of players like Damian Lillard and Steph Curry, who have much lower median production We are suggesting (if you are carefully and well researched) often you get what you pay for in fantasy DFS basketball in 2021.

This season we have found ourselves targeting a lot of the players at the very top, as it is easy to find cheap players who will hit great value. From a value perspective the top targets really differ from slate to slate, depending on who is out. Your cheap plays should almost always be guys you expect to get extra minutes because of an injury. That is always a luxury in NBA DFS, but this season it has become a daily must.

Picking Teams To Target in DFS Basketball in 2021…
Whenever you start your slate, you should check what teams have injuries, and look there for value. Some teams like the Miami Heat, Houston Rockets and Brooklyn Nets have had recurring injuries all season. It is always worth checking what these teams look like, as they can be constant sources of value when players are out. However, these teams with frequent injuries are typically great fade options when everyone is healthy.

Later in the year, the cream will rise to the top and you know the names of those teams. Will Phoenix stay red hot in the west? We aren’t sure but we are pretty sure that The Lakers will be there despite AD being banged up and LeBron playing more than one would like. Again, expect the best teams to sort themselves out and get in position for war in the playoffs during the second half of the NBA 2021 season. The concern is that a team could get decimated by COVID in the second half of the seasons and until these young men get their vaccine shots – this will remain a wildcard that DFS players like you and I need to watch closely.

Looking At The 2021 NBA All-Star Game…
Let’s get this straight, the NBA All-Star Game is completely unpredictable and there is no way to really analyze what will happen. If you are going to gamble on it for fun, just know to only bet what you are willing to comfortably lose. We have put together a quick lineup based on salaries that fit well and fitting in starters over reserves. There is no way to know what guys feel like doing during the All-Star game. This is a great time to reflect more on what contests you want to play moving forward and how you want to change your strategy. If you are going to the play the all-star game, this is not the slate to go all in. 

Here’s a Free lineup For DFS Basketball 3/7/21 Allstar Game (using DraftKings Values)

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We will be back with the daily NBA DFS content when the season continues March 2021.