The NBA Playoffs are into the Conference Finals, but Heavy’s partners at DraftKings have unveiled a low buy-in fantasy basketball contest designed to make you big bucks with the $40K Sharpshooter guaranteed game for this Tuesday and Wednesday (May 19 and 20).
Sign up for the NBA $40K Sharpshooter guaranteed contest here.
The $40K Sharpshooter, which guarantees a total of $40,000 to be paid out to over 3,200 entered teams, costs only $3 for current members to enter. But if you’re new to DraftKings and just made your first account deposit, you will receive a $3 voucher which can be redeemed to play in the contest for free. The voucher expires a year from when it was issued.
The top prize is $3,000, second is $2,000 and third $1,000. The $40K Sharpshooter gets started at 9 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, May 19, with the tip off the Golden State Warriors-Houston Rockets game, then continues with the Atlanta Hawks-Cleveland Cavaliers contest on Wednesday evening. The contest is open to over 15,300 participants, but it’s filling fast, so join now.
As a first-time user with DraftKings, when you sign up and are prompted, use the promo code “HEAVY.”
The rules are simple: When you sign in for the contest, you will be given a fixed salary cap of $50,000 to draft your 9 player roster. The Player Pool will consist of all NHL players expected to be playing on a given game day. The better your selected players do on the ice, the better your fantasy team does.
Also for first-time players, when you sign up you get a 100 percent deposit bonus up to $600. You put in $600, DraftKings will match your $600.
Playing is easy and fun. You get a $50,000 salary cap to spend on 8 players – 1 point guard, 1 shooting guard, 1 small forward, 1 power forward, 1 center, 1 guard, 1 forward and 1 utility player. The better your selected players do, the better your fantasy team does.
There are more than a handful of absolute fantasy studs remaining on these final 4 teams. The ones that immediately come to mind are Cavaliers SF LeBron James (game-most $11,400 salary), Warriors PG Stephen Curry ($10,400) and Rockets SG James Harden ($9,500). Technically, you could have them all in your lineup, but you’d really be stretching yourself thin everywhere else. That’s not a good idea if you expect to win some money. You can likely fit 2 of them and still have enough cash to make a productive lineup, but it’s still risky. Your safest option is using one of the Big 3 then surrounding him with proven fantasy commodities. I’d go, in order, LeBron, Curry then Harden.
Houston is playing atrocious defense in the postseason, making Curry and his Warrior teammates attractive options. The Cavaliers, on the other hand, are holding opponents to just 92 points per game and 40 percent shooting, both stingiest among the remaining teams.
A bargain for the contest can be found in Warriors SF Andre Iguodala, who costs $4,500 and has scored at least 24 fantasy points in 3 straight games. One to watch on the injury front is Cavs PG Kyrie Irving. Irving has been dealing with left knee tendinitis and sat out the whole second half of Cleveland’s Game 7 win over Chicago. The Cavs didn’t need Irving then, but he also skipped practice Saturday. He has an attractive price tag at $7,200 and will almost undoubtedly play Wednesday night.
Here is the DraftKings NBA scoring key:
Point = +1 PT
Made 3pt. shot = +0.5 PTs
Rebound = +1.25 PTs
Assist = +1.5 PTs
Steal = +2 PTs
Block = +2 PTs
Turnover = -0.5 PTs
Double-Double = +1.5PTs (MAX 1 PER PLAYER: Points, Rebounds, Assists, Blocks, Steals)
Triple-Double = +3PTs (MAX 1 PER PLAYER: Points, Rebounds, Assists, Blocks, Steals)
Check out the game lobby for all of the live NBA contests offered by DraftKings.
Editors note: Heavy’s partners at DraftKings are getting into the auto racing business with one-day fantasy contests designed to make you big money. The first contests you can play are for next weekend’s race in Charlotte, which is Sunday, May 24. So sign up for DraftKings now and reserve your spot in any NASCAR contest you’d like.
DraftKings also offers one-day fantasy games for a variety of other sports like MLB, PGA, NHL, MMA and soccer.