DraftKings Daily Fantasy Basketball Helper: Thursday 2/25/21

With six games choose from on Thursday's slate -- which locks at 7:00 p.m. EST -- let's look at the top options across all five positions for NBA DFS.

Be sure to check out our projections, which are updated throughout the day as news breaks, and our other DFS tools such as advanced stats and a matchup heat map.

Here are some of the top plays on today's DraftKings slate. As always, good luck.

Point Guard

Russell Westbrook ($9,500) - With his shift in play of late, Westbrook is more than viable at this salary. He has dropped $300 from his last game in spite of his fifth straight above the 50-fantasy-point threshold. He's done so by attacking the paint more than settling for shots on the perimeter, particularly in his last three games where he's shot only 3 of his 60 shot attempts from range while hitting 55% of his field goals. Westbrook makes for a great play against a Denver Nuggets team allowing the seventh-most points to point guards, according to FantasyPros' data.

Eric Bledsoe ($4,800) - This play is all about the narrative, as Bledsoe takes on his former squad -- the Milwaukee Bucks -- for the second time this season. The last time he faced off with them he popped off with 25 points and 38 DK points on 21 shots. He played 34 minutes. And therein lies the reason he shouldn't be a popular narrative play tonight. Going back eight games the veteran has averaged a mere 25.2 minutes with four below 25. He needs to get more playing time to make him worthwhile, but in that event, he should provide good value. According to Basketball Reference, Bledsoe is putting up 30.7 DK points when drawing more than 30 minutes.

Shooting Guard

Tyrese Haliburton ($6,600) - Haliburton has absolutely exploded of late as he continues to make his case for Rookie of the Year honors. While he's averaged a cool 30 DK points on the year, he's bested himself in both the last 10 games (34.1 a game) and previous 3 games (44.1). He's taken at least 16 shots in each of the last three, during which he has contributed with 7.3 assists to go alongside his 20-plus points. The New York Knicks' much slower pace will turn many away from Haliburton here, but that's all the more reason to go at him in tournaments and GPPs. The upside is certainly there.

Facundo Campazzo ($4,200) - On the flip side of that Washington/Denver game are a few solid fantasy options, mostly due to the Wizards' 27th-rated defense by efficiency. The guy worth considering in the lowest salary tier is the Nuggets' untraditional rookie, who has been getting a lot of run with Gary Harris and others down in the backcourt. Campazzo has played all of his minutes at point guard, but he allows Murray and Monte Morris to slide to the two in a primary scoring role. His 28.9 minutes over the last six put him among the night's best values.

Small Forward

Michael Porter Jr. ($6,000) - Porter joins his teammate as someone to play or even stack versus the Wiz. With the absences in the backcourt, in addition to Paul Millsap's injury, Porter has now started 10 straight games, tallying 25.6 DK points in his 29.6 minutes a night. A faulty shot has him averaging only 11.6 points and 1.7 threes a game in that span, but in the last four, he has shot nearly 49% on his way to 2.0 threes, 14.5 points, and 27.4 DK points. It looks like his game is coming around just in time for a meeting with the fantasy-friendly Wizards.

RJ Barrett ($5,500) - While the Sacramento Kings see a downshift from their typical high pace of play, the Knicks should benefit greatly from going against a team that's 10th in pace and allows the single most points per game to their opponents (119.9). And though the consistency hasn't been there from Barrett, he's primed for a bounce-back here. Last time against the Kings he scored 21 points for a total of 33 DK points, and he has two 21-point games in the last four. His salary is just too low for the fantasy boost the Kings provide.

Power Forward

Julius Randle ($9,200) - What makes Barrett a good option to roster on the low also applies to Randle, who possesses the 50-point upside that his teammate doesn't. The first-time All-Star has been piling up numbers across the board, all the while averaging 47.4 DK points -- more than five-times value at this salary. He is fresh off a 25-and-10 double-double, which marked his second in a row and third in the last 10 matchups. As if that wasn't reason enough, he's at home in the Garden where he uses 1.7% more of his team's possessions and posts 4.4 more fantasy points on a per-game basis.

James Johnson ($3,200) - Johnson was a healthy scratch for some time, but it would appear he is healthy and ready to contribute again for Dallas. He was handed a starting spot on Tuesday, and with it turned 28 minutes into 20.25 DK points without Kristaps Porzingis. Porzingis is questionable Thursday, as is Maxi Kleber, so we could see Johnson in a larger role once more. Averaging 0.86 DK points per minute on the season, he needs to get you just 16 to return value at this low, low salary.

Center

Nikola Jokic ($10,400) - Altogether, there's a great opportunity for a full-on game stack out in Denver, and that all starts with The Joker. Even with his consistently high production -- to the tune of 59 DK points a contest -- and very recent 41-point outing, the big man's salary has fallen $600 in less than a week's time. Is it warranted? Absolutely not. Over the last 10 days, Jokic is averaging 57.9 DK points on a 30.1% usage rate. A player that's an obvious value at a high salary in a plus matchup? Sign me up.

Joel Embiid ($9,900) - Even if you can't justify a guy like Joker taking up more than 20% of your roster's salary if you're choosing between the two Embiid presents just as much upside at a $500 drop. He too is in a plum spot at home versus Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks, who come into the evening allowing 56.1 DK points per game to centers -- the fifth-most in the Association to this point. Embiid should only improve on his 56.7% shooting, double-double average, and 56.5 DK points per game at home this season.

Brett Oswalt is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Brett Oswalt also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username BRO14THEKID. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.