Tuesday brings the NBA Cup Championship, which begin at 8:30 p.m. ET on DraftKings and FanDuel. This slate is packed with intriguing options, making it the perfect opportunity to highlight the top NBA DFS building blocks and today’s must-have picks. Let’s break down the day’s core plays, featuring Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and their respective teammates.
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NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today: Tuesday, Dec. 17
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NBA DFS Picks Today: Building Blocks
Isaiah Hartenstein: Thunder vs. Bucks
NBA DFS Projections
DraftKings: 42.22 | FanDuel: 42.17
NBA DFS Ownership Projections
DraftKings: 49.2% | FanDuel: 34.2%
DFS Salary
DraftKings: $12,000 | FanDuel: $16,000
Yes, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is amazing and he continues to bring it every night. Since Chet Holmgren went down, Gilgeous-Alexander has averaged 35.7 minutes per game and 21.8 field goal attempts, with a wicked 52.3% success rate. This works out to 33.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, 6.3 assists, and 3.2 combined steals and blocks.
Isaiah Hartenstein has thrived with his new team, even though he missed a significant portion of the season due to injury. The big man is posting career highs in most categories, which makes sense as he is frequently crossing the 30-minute threshold. The only knock against Hartenstein is that he can disappear on offense unless he is getting lobs or passes on the low block. He has attempted eight or fewer field goals in five of his 10 games this season. In his last three games against Milwaukee, all with the Knicks, Hartenstein averaged nearly 32 minutes, 13.7 points and 10.3 rebounds. He also has block and steal upside, which gives him access to a “must have” fantasy performance, albeit with the frequency of that outcome being less common than the true stars in this matchup.
Jalen Williams has upped his statistical production across the board for the fourth consecutive season. He is a budding go-to scorer and over the last 15 games averaged 23.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 2.8 combined blocks and steals.
Luguentz Dort, Cason Wallace, Alex Caruso and Isaiah Joe are neutral options in tournaments for the single-game slate.
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Giannis Antetokounmpo: Bucks vs. Thunder
NBA DFS Projections
DraftKings: 58.57 | FanDuel: 46.77
NBA DFS Ownership Projections
DraftKings: 71.2% | FanDuel: 66.9%
DFS Salary
DraftKings: $13,000 | FanDuel: $17,200
Giannis Antetokounmpo is the most popular player on both DraftKings and FanDuel, which is no surprise. On DraftKings, the two-time NBA MVP has the highest popularity for the Captain and the Utility slot. FanDuel is a little different, but that is because Antetokounmpo is expected to carry the MVP designation 50% of the time and the Star multiplier 17.4% of the time.
By this point we all know the bona fides for Antetokounmpo, so the real questions are, 1) how many lineups to build before he is not in the highest multiplier slot ,and 2) how many lineups to build without him? Those crafting 50-plus lineups may also want to build a lineup set where he is in the Utility or Professional slot for a partial fade, which can help create differentiation by rotating through other players in the multiplier slots.
Brook Lopez is a wild card. This season he is really showing his age, which, to be fair, is 36 years old, and his scoring has become very inconsistent. In five of his last six games, he had 7 or fewer points and seven or fewer field goal attempts. However, in his last game he popped off for 16 points and a pair of blocks, which is a reminder of his upside, even if it is about as rare as a blue moon these days. Similarly, Khris Middleton falls into this category, but it is more that he is capped around 22 minutes, so he will need to get by on efficiency, which could be tricky as this game is likely to see actual defense at a postseason level.
Damian Lillard is always live for “Dame Time,” but it is going to be an uphill battle with defenders like Gilgeous-Alexander, Dort and Caruso able to take turns as coolers. In his last four games against OKC, Lillard has topped 40 fantasy points only once.
Bobby Portis has been all over the place. He topped 20 points twice in the last two games, and he had 20-plus points on three occasions in the last 17. Your mileage may vary.
Today’s Top Sports Betting Pick
Lillard looks interesting tonight with the under on his 3.5 made 3-pointer prop.
Looking at the screenshot of Portfolio EV, we can see this wager is likely to come to pass 60% of the time, and with the -135 odds, this works out to a nice 5.1% expected ROI when factoring in the -152 “True Odds.”
BetMGM and DraftKings are offering -135, which well exceeds the True Odds of -152 and the -140 or worse of most other books.
Let Portfolio EV handle the heavy lifting and take the guesswork out of finding +EV bets. This powerful tool swiftly identifies inefficient odds, making it easy to spot profitable opportunities.
Since odds change fast, having accounts with multiple sportsbooks is key to locking in the best lines as soon as they appear. Portfolio EV shines in this area — it constantly scans for the top odds, ensuring you’re always first to seize every golden opportunity.
Stokastic’s Advanced NBA Statistical Projections have Lillard projected for 38.6 minutes and 3.36 made 3-point attempts. This wager is likely to go down to the wire and the pucker factor, of course, will be high, but there are very few positive wagers on the board with only the NBA Cup Finals on the docket.
Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today
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