DraftKings Daily Fantasy Basketball Picks (6/16/21): NBA DFS Lineups

We have a couple of Game 5's tonight with Atlanta back in Philadelphia and the Clippers back in Utah with both series the same way they were when we started. Four games have solved nothing in either series, so now it's a best of three for these teams.

Trae Young's shoulder isn't going to keep him out of this game. The Jazz still haven't said whether Mike Conley will play, but if he does at this point, he will likely be on a minutes restriction. That leaves us with Danny Green joining the usual absences of Cam Reddish, Serge Ibaka and De'Andre Hunter.

This article will supply you with my daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for the DraftKings on 6/16/21. You can also check out today’s FanDuel lineup picks. It’s also important to monitor injury news as a result of COVID-19 as the slate can completely change before line-up lock. Without further ado, let’s dive into the picks! 

DraftKings DFS Guards

Donovan Mitchell - PG/SG, vs. Clippers ($9,000)

Mitchell has hit at least 5x value in six straight games at this price. Yes, the absence of Conley has something to do with that, but his assist numbers haven't spiked. Even if Conley returns, I think Mitchell at least comes close to 5x value again. When he has scored over 30 actual points in each of those games, he's more than halfway there just on points alone. Mitchell remains a safe play here, regardless of the status of Conley.

Paul George - SG, at Utah ($8,600)

Utah has had a tough time handling George so far. George has 182 DraftKings points in the first four games of the series. I wouldn't consider his games anything usual either. George is scoring at a high level, shaking off last year's terrible end to the playoffs for himself as well as the team. Dare we say that he's safe now? After clearing 45 DraftKings points in 9 of 11 games in the playoffs so far, he sure seems like it.

Seth Curry - SG, vs. Atlanta ($5,000)

Let me get this straight: Curry drops at least 24 DraftKings points for the fifth straight game and his price drops? Go home DraftKings, you're drunk. And I'm not too proud to take advantage of Curry's pricing again. The ceiling isn't all that high, but the nice floor on a value pick is pretty hard to come by at this price.

Bonus Guards: Trae Young ($9,900), Ben Simmons ($7,600), Bogdan Bogdanovic ($6,500), Furkan Korkmaz ($3,800)

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DraftKings DFS Forwards

Kawhi Leonard - SF, at Utah ($9,700)

I guess DraftKings lowering the price on Kawhi after another solid outing isn't totally out of line. After all, he had just 75.75 DraftKings points combined in the first two games in Utah. After seeing his performances in L.A. though, I might be ready to believe that he can keep this up. The biggest difference was scoring, and some of that was him getting to the foul line more at home. Some of those chances may dry up on the road, so I think the upside is a bit lower. Still, I don't think we see Kawhi fall to the depths of the first two games of this series.

John Collins - PF/C, at Philadelphia ($6,000)

It has been a long time coming, but Collins' price is finally to a manageable level. He's not priced for a true ceiling game. Collins has between 24 and 36 DraftKings points in all but one playoff game so far. In the game that he missed that mark, Collins played just 15 minutes because of foul trouble. He's becoming a very reliable cash option, but it's pretty obvious that Collins has no real upside unless someone gets hurt. However, it was an encouraging sign that Collins only committed three fouls in Game 4, resulting in the most minutes that he's played all season. He finally got an elusive double-double for that effort.

Nicolas Batum - SF/PF, at Utah ($4,600)

It's pretty clear that Marcus Morris has the higher ceiling, but Batum's floor is much safer. Batum stepped up his rebounding in Games 3 and 4 to clear 30 DraftKings points in both of those games. He doesn't do anything flashy, but Batum puts up better defensive stats than anyone on the team aside from Kawhi. Both he and Morris are interchangeable for the price and position. If you're in a large field GPP, Morris may make more sense.

Bonus Forwards: Tobias Harris ($8,100), Bojan Bogdanovic ($5,700), Joe Ingles ($5,200), Marcus Morris ($4,500)

DraftKings DFS Centers

Joel Embiid - C, vs. Atlanta ($10,500)

Embiid was a miserable -20 from the floor in Game 4 and he still managed 49.25 DraftKings points. That poor shooting is an outlier. I want this kind of upside. Even if Embiid gets that shooting percentage up to just 40%, he is pushing 60 DraftKings points. Embiid's upside is still the best on the slate. What Ben Simmons and Tobias Harris do doesn't detract from Embiid's stat lines much at all.

Clint Capela - C, at Philadelphia ($6,700)

Capela had by far his best game of the series in Game 3, putting up 37 DraftKings points in the loss. The only real difference from Capela was that he was more aggressive on the boards, hauling in 16 rebounds. He backed that up with 13 boards in Game 4. There is reason to believe that Capela can do it again. Collins becoming more of a scorer has hurt Capela's upside, but if he's going to keep getting those rebounding totals, Capela still has plenty of value.

Bonus Centers: Rudy Gobert ($7,400), Dwight Howard ($3,400)

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