NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today: DK For Three! (December 21)

Saturday brings an entertaining 11-game featured slate with a 7 p.m. ET lock time on DraftKings and FanDuel. This slate is loaded with decision points, 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 Kevin Durant, Cade Cunningham, Jaren Jackson Jr. and others.

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NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today: Saturday, Dec. 21

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NBA DFS Picks Today: Building Blocks

Devin Booker is going to be out through the holidays with a strained groin, so that means 36-year-old Kevin Durant is going to be the offensive focal point. This year when the dynamic duo is sharing the court, Durant averages 1.14 fantasy points per minute. When he is flying solo, that jumps significantly to 1.39 fantasy points per minute. Bradley Beal has played in only 16 games and when he is on the court with Durant and Booker, he averages only 0.9 fantasy points per minute. Without Booker, that increases by about 10%, though even when earmarking him for 35-to-36 minutes, it barely gets him across the 40 fantasy point threshold. Leave the former Washington Wizard to other gamers on the featured slate, though elevate him into a secondary target on the three-game nightcap contests.

Cunningham has crested into the five-figure range on both DraftKings ($10,200) and FanDuel ($10,100). This year he is averaging 36.3 minutes per game, which is nearly three more than last season. His scoring is up by one point to 23.9 per game, but he is corralling an extra three caroms and handing out two more helpers per appearance. He also has 13 double-doubles in his 24 games, providing an excellent floor and his six triple-doubles demonstrate the upside. Over the last 10 games, Phoenix has played at a middle of the pack pace (99.7), but the Suns defense is shaky at best, allowing 114.4 points per 100 possessions during this timeframe.

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Jaren Jackson Jr. has seen his minutes slide down from last year, but all is not lost now that the lineup has thinned out again. He only played 19.6 in the last game, when the Grizzlies embarrassed (cwidt, a bear joke) the Golden State Warriors with a 51 point victory in front of the Memphis faithful. Over the last 19 games, Jackson is averaging 27.8 minutes and knocking down half of his15.8 field goal attempts. Even better, he is attempting 5.6 3-pointers in this stretch, with a solid 35.8% success rate. This has worked out to 22.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 3.4 combined blocks and steals. While his “stocks” are down from his 2022 Defensive Player of the Year campaign, tonight’s environment should provide ample opportunities for a path north of 40 fantasy points and attainable upside to the 50 fantasy point plateau.

Scotty Pippen Jr. averages just over one fantasy point per minute when Morant is off the court and he should be the lead guard tonight. He will share facilitation duties with Desmond Bane, but both should be on the shortlist for tournament targets. FanDuel ($5,400) is ahead of the game, but DraftKings ($3,600) was asleep at the switch, making Pippen the most popular player in the early afternoon projection runs.

This season, Morant has missed 11 games, with Pippen playing in all and joining the first five for 10. Across these opportunities, he is averaging 26.7 minutes with nearly 33 fantasy points. He has reached 40 fantasy point three times, but topped 42 only once. Four of his appearances have been in games where Memphis rolled up 20-plus point victories, two of which he played fewer than 23 minutes.

Hopefully Young is a go tonight, since that should make for a closer game and the league leader in assists is always a threat for 50 fantasy points. These teams have played at a top-five pace for most of the season, which should lead to some fantasy goodness. The absence of Okongwu, should lead to 24-to-26 minutes for Larry Nance Jr. The soon to be 33-year-old can still put up the fantasy production in a hurry, though we should hope for something in the low-30s, rather than expecting another mid-40s effort like he dropped on the Spurs in San Antonio on Thursday.

There will be a dispersal of Okongwu’s production to the other wings and frontcourt players, with De’Andre Hunter and Jalen Johnson getting a slight bump to their fantasy efficiency ratings. This does not push them to the front of the fray, but it makes them a little more appealing for some in-game synergy options. Dyson Daniels looks good on FanDuel, where he is expected to be on nearly one-in-four lineups, more than doubling his DraftKings’ propularity.

Today’s Top Sports Betting Pick

Darius Garland is someone to target in the sports wagering world for the under on his 2.5 made 3-pointers prop.

Looking at the screenshot of Portfolio EV, we can see this wager is likely to come to pass 47% of the time, however, with the +130 odds, this works out to a stellar 7.2% expected ROI when factoring in the +115 “True Odds.”

DraftKings is offering +130, which well exceeds the True Odds of +115 and the +108 or worse odds posted on most other books.

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Stokastic’s Advanced NBA Statistical Projections have Garland projected for 32.2 minutes and 2.56 made 3-pointers. This wager is likely to go down to the wire, but the math is in our favor. For the second-consecutive night, the Cavaliers are nearly double-digit favorites and they are at home against the short-handed Philadelphia 76ers, who are expected to rest Joel Embiid and potentially Paul George. Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson gave his regulars most of the final frame to enjoy the game and if the ’76ers’Sixers are not able to keep pace tonight, we should see more of the same.

Ober the last seven games, Garland has made four, two, three, two, one, three and two troikas, while averaging 28.2 minutes. That works out to 2.4 triples on 6.9 attempts per outing in this stretch, which adds further appeal to this wager. Yes, this is already baked into the math, but the visual cue is helpful as well.

Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today

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