The 2025 NBA Play-In Tournament concludes on Friday, as the No. 8 seeds will be decided in both the Eastern Conference and Western Conference to finalize the 2025 NBA playoffs. The Atlanta Hawks (+1) will host the Miami Heat at 7 p.m. ET, followed by the Memphis Grizzlies (-6) hosting the Dallas Mavericks at 9:30 p.m. ET and all teams have stars in the NBA DFS player pool like Trae Young, Tyler Herro, Anthony Davis and Ja Morant you’ll want to consider for NBA DFS lineups. Morant (ankle) is questionable after suffering the injury on Tuesday, so how should his uncertainty affect how you form an NBA DFS strategy?
The NBA DFS Optimizer uses info from the SportsLine Advanced-Data Projection Model to identify top DFS picks for any daily Fantasy slate on places like DraftKings and FanDuel. It simulates every game 10,000 times to help DFS players optimize, export, and enter lineups confidently with injury updates, floor and ceiling player projections, and Vegas lines and picks all with one winning tool for sports betting apps.
The SportsLine model has returned well over $10,000 for $100 players on its top-rated NBA picks over the past six-plus seasons.
The Optimizer has created a full NBA DFS lineup for FanDuel. You can find its NBA DFS picks below.
Top NBA DFS picks for Friday, April 18
Trae Young ($9,600 on FanDuel)
Youg (Achilles, probable) had 28 points against the Magic, who have the No. 1 scoring defense in the league, and although Miami has a top-10 defense as well, it’s not nearly as difficult as Orlando’s. The four-time All-Star led the NBA in assists (11.6 per game) this season and he averaged 25.9 points and 12 assists over seven regular-season games in April.
Check out SportsLine now to discover McClure’s top NBA DFS picks.
Additionally, you can access expert betting advice before making your Friday NBA picks, player props, or DFS selections. Head over to SportsLine now to see Mike Barner’s picks. Barner boasts a 138-90 record (+3232) over his last 228 NBA player props picks. He even has a player prop selection for Friday that could assist you in shaping your NBA DFS lineups.