We have officially arrived at the 2nd round of the Western Conference Playoffs, as Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors prevailed in a close, tight first-round series against the Houston Rockets, and now they face as Timberwolves team that just had a easy five game series against Lebron James, Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers thanks to Anthony Edwards.
This series is one of those intriguing series for not only the landscape of the playoffs, but for DFS as well, as both teams have great value plays in DFS, as well as Curry, Jimmy Butler, and Edwards, who are consistent locks in DFS. Here are my picks for Game 1.
Lock of the Game
Buddy Hield
Golden State Warriors
AT
Minnesota Timberwolves
(0-0)
DraftKings has Hield as a $4.2K value on DFS for Tuesday Night. This is a definite lock to play him, especially at that value, especially with him coming off a 51.8 Fantasy point game on DraftKings in his Game 7 performance that he had for the Warriors in that win. Hield had nine threes in that game.
If he can get you half of that on Tuesday, this is an amazing play for the DFS lineup on a Tuesday Night for your pockets. Love Buddy Hield at this value! It’ll be interesting to see how Minnesota defends him as well on Tuesday night.
Start ‘Em
Rudy Gobert
Minnesota Timberwolves
VS
Golden State Warriors
(0-0)
Gobert is coming off a 20-20 game in the Timberwolves‘ Game 5 win over the Lakers in Round 1, after the Lakers refused to play a center in that game. I think the Warriors will have a similar issue with the size of Gobert in this game, even though Draymond Green always plays physical with Gobert every time these two teams meet.
DraftKings has him at a $5.9K value on DFS for Tuesday after he’s coming off a 62.5-point fantasy performance. If he can get you at least half of that, this is a great play on Tuesday that will help you make some money in DFS.
Jaden McDaniels
Minnesota Timberwolves
VS
Golden State Warriors
(0-0)
I know normally, we have Starts and Sit from both teams. If I were to stick to that formula, I would start Brandon Podziemski at $5.4K or Butler or Curry, but I think the better play is to start McDaniels for the Timberwolves as well in this game.
McDaniels has versatility at small forward or power forward in DFS lineups, and he’s had a great playoffs, DFS-wise wise thus far. McDaniels at $5.6K on DraftKings for Tuesday averaged 30.44 Fantasy points in that first-round series. Love that value for that potential in DFS! Now we move on to the Sit’ems.
Sit ‘Em
Moses Moody
Golden State Warriors
AT
Minnesota Timbewolves
(0-0)
Moses Moody is one of those Warriors who gets a lot of minutes on this team, but it doesn’t equate to Fantasy production normally, and I wouldn’t personally risk it when there are a lot more options in this game for DFS.
Moody is a tempting play with his $3.3K value on DFS and his Game 5 performance against the Rockets of 46.8 Fantasy points, but the length of the Timberwolves is going to provide a lot of problems for Moody in this series.
Draymond Green
Golden State Warriors
AT
Minnesota Timberwolves
(0-0)
Green has had a typical Draymond Green playoffs thus far in terms of DFS in the 2024-25 playoffs for the Warriors. He’ll have a couple of bad games before a good game, so with his DraftKings value at $5.6K on Tuesday night, this is a risky play in DFS.
Knowing how Draymond Green is on the court fantasy-wise, I would consider sitting him for the first few games of this series. I like Green for DFS once the series returns to Golden State because he has a better chance of having a better game in Golden State rather than in Minnesota.
Fade of the Game
Jonathan Kuminga
Golden State Warriors
AT
Minnesota Timberwolves
(0-0)
Yes, Kuminga has a great value at $3.1K on DraftKings, and it’s a tempting opportunity, especially if you stack your lineup with too many locks, but it won’t pan out like you think it will because of his lack of minutes thus far in the Playoffs for the Warriors.
The most minutes that Kuminga played in the first round were 26 minutes, which equated to his best fantasy performance at 20.3 fantasy points. I’m just afraid that Steve Kerr won’t play him enough to start this series against the Timberwolves in Game 1 on Tuesday night.
