Thursday brings an eight-game featured slate, locking at 7 p.m. ET on FanDuel and DraftKings. There are a lot of moving parts at this point in the NBA season, so the focus is on the best NBA DFS building blocks and picks for the day. Let’s break down Thursday’s top options, with Nikola Jokic, Domantas Sabonis, Scottie Barnes and a couple of Atlanta Hawks leading the way.
NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today: Thursday, Jan. 23
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NBA DFS Picks Today: Building Blocks
Nikola Jokic: Nuggets vs. Kings
NBA DFS Projections
DraftKings: 62.53 | FanDuel: 60.36
NBA DFS Ownership Projections
DraftKings: 17.9% | FanDuel: 8.1%
DFS Salary
DraftKings: $12,200 | FanDuel: $12,800
Both Denver and Sacramento are at full strength, pending any wonky news. That, of course, can strike at any time in the current NBA, where it so many stars and regulars are sitting nearly 20% of the games.
Both of these teams are looking to win, so we should get a competitive game tonight.
Nikola Jokic is once again crushing, with career highs of 30.1 points, 9.9 assists and 1.9 steals per game. His 13.2 rebounds rank as his second-best effort, and it should be no surprise that he is leading the league with 19 triple-doubles. Aaron Gordon is back in the fray after missing nine games, though he has been coming off the bench for around 22 minutes per game as he regains his health, stamina and effectiveness. The beauty with Jokic is that he piles up the stats across the box score, and it is rare that the reigning and three-time NBA MVP has “bad” games.
Of course, “bad” does mean something different for a player averaging $12,000 or more on any given slate. In the 13 games since Christmas, Jokic did not fall below 50 fantasy points. In five of these games he had 60-plus fantasy points, three of 70-plus and five — yes, FIVE — games of 80 or more fantasy points.
Russell Westbrook often times gets to close out games that are lopsided, which gives him extra usage. It has been interesting to see how coach Mike Malone and Jokic have worked to incorporate Westbrook’s unique skillset into the offense and actually turn him into a regular contributor, seeing plenty of perfectly placed passes from Jokic on back cuts and off-ball movement. Jamal Murray is a tertiary option who continues to be a strong scorer and runs the more traditional offense when Jokic is on the bench.
Interestingly enough, Domantas Sabonis had double-digit rebounds in each of the last six games against Jokic, averaging 13.2 per game. This should not be a surprise since he is the Rebound King, having led the league each of the last two seasons, and he is pushing to do so again this year. Jokic collected 10.1 caroms in these games, though he also had three triple-doubles while averaging nearly 25 points per appearance.
Malik Monk continues to look good across the DFS sites, and De’Aaron Fox gets an honorable mention on DraftKings.
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Scottie Barnes: Raptors at Hawks
NBA DFS Projections
DraftKings: 43.47 | FanDuel: 43.04
NBA DFS Ownership Projections
DraftKings: 18.9% | FanDuel: 14.4%
DFS Salary
DraftKings: $8,700 | FanDuel: $9,300
Scottie Barnes continues to be a fun DFS option, with his numbers nearly back to those of his breakout campaign last year. Over his last 10 games, he averaged 36.4 minutes and 17.0 field goal attempts with a 48.8% success rate. This culminated in 20.0 points, 8.1 rebounds, 6.2 assists, and 3.2 combined blocks and steals.
RJ Barrett also is an interesting tournament selection in this delightful matchup. Toronto has 11 wins on the season, including three in the last four games. The Raptors are staying in Atlanta to play the Hawks again on Saturday, so there is a decent chance they will manage to get one victory.
The Hawks lost two consecutive games, including a painful 114-104 tilt to the visiting Detroit Pistons last night. Clint Capela (knee) is out, while De’Andre Hunter and Bogdan Bogdanovic are questionable as they deal with nagging injuries. Jalen Johnson, Trae Young and especially Onyeka Okongwu are borderline core plays for Thursday’s contests. Rookie Zaccharie Risacher is also out, which could lead to Vit Krejci or Garrison Mathews getting a bump, depending on the status of Hunter and Bogdanovic. David Roddy is a long shot, but strange things are afoot these days in the NBA.
Today’s Top Sports Betting Pick
Daniel Gafford is worthy of our consideration in the sports wagering world for the under on his 27.5 points + rebounds + assists (PRA) prop in a tough matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The screenshot of Portfolio EV shows that this wager projects to win 59% of the time. That combined with the -120 odds on DraftKings lead to a stupendous 7.3% expected value when accounting for the -141 “True Odds.”
Stokastic’s Advanced NBA Statistical Projections have Gafford projected for 25.6 minutes, 14.54 points, 8.92 rebounds and 1.48 assists for 24.94 PRA. Dereck Lively II is out with a foot injury, and we know that Gafford is a solid rim runner and defender. Of course, he only has one of his lob partners tonight with Luka Doncic out of action, and his injury-prone nature, along with a propensity for silly fouls, is also lurking.
When things go well, we see lines like Monday, when the NBA journeyman put up 31 points, 15 rebounds, three assists, one steal and seven blocks in a career game against Charlotte. Last night he had 14 points, 12 rebounds and two assists, which is right in line with tonight’s PRA. This will be his third game in four days, and even though Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren are out, Gafford can still collect fouls protecting the rim against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drives and trying to out-rebound and defend Jalen Williams.
Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today
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