Thursday sees the return of the NBA regular season, with the action locking at 7 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 Cade Cunningham, Kyrie Irving and others.
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NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today: Thursday, Dec. 19
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NBA DFS Picks Today: Building Blocks
Cade Cunningham: Pistons vs. Jazz
NBA DFS Projections
DraftKings: 52.19 | FanDuel: 49.08
NBA DFS Ownership Projections
DraftKings: 32.1% | FanDuel: 35.4%
DFS Salary
DraftKings: $9,800 | FanDuel: $9,600
Shout out to the Pistons, who are just three victories shy of last year’s 14-win total. Heck, Detroit should actually push for 35 wins this season, which would be more than the last two seasons combined (31).
The steadying veteran presence of Tobias Harris and Tim Hardaway Jr. have helped, but Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey continue to improve and now with Malik Beasley finally finding a home, the bones of a Play-In Tournament team are in place. That is something considering, in the last 16 years, Detroit made the playoffs only three times, being swept in 2008-09, 2015-16 and 2018-19.
Over his last 11 games, Cunningham averaged 36.1 minutes, 24.1 points, 7.7 rebounds, 11.1 assists, and 1.8 combined blocks and steals. Not only has the upside been there with six triple-doubles, but he also has been consistent with 13 double-doubles in his 23 outings. Ivey is doubtful tonight, so that means more opportunities will filter to Cunningham and Beasley.
Utah has the worst defense in the league with a 120.7 defensive rating on the season, and over the last 10 games — all with Walker Kessler — the team was even worse, allowing 123.7 points per 100 possessions. Isaiah Stewart is out, which hopefully means Jalen Duren will push for 28 to 30 minutes, moving him into consideration on DraftKings ($5,000), where his center-only eligibility is more manageable.
John Collins continues chugging along for Utah, finally figuring out how to coexist in the frontcourt with Kessler. He is a secondary target on FanDuel ($7,200). Over the last 10 games, he averaged 18.5 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists and nearly two “stocks,” which make him a solid foundational option.
FanDuel Bonus: If Scottie Barnes is somehow able to play tonight, he is sitting at the $3,500 minimum salary on the blue site. He was expected to miss a couple weeks with a sprained ankle; however, this weekend there was some noise he could return to action tonight, and he has not yet been ruled out.
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Kyrie Irving: Mavericks vs. Clippers
NBA DFS Projections
DraftKings: 45.45 | FanDuel: 43.69
NBA DFS Ownership Projections
DraftKings: 41.8% | FanDuel: 48.1%
DFS Salary
DraftKings: $8,200 | FanDuel: $8,100
Luka Doncic and Jaden Hardy are out, so Kyrie Irving will be the main backcourt scorer and facilitator tonight. In his last 1,439 minutes without Doncic on the court, the enigmatic Irving has averaged nearly 1.4 fantasy points per minute.
While with Doncic, he is a tick above a fantasy point per minute, and overall he is just shy of 1.2 fantasy points per minute.
Surprisingly, the Clippers are 15-12, despite Paul George in Philadelphia and Kawhi Leonard in street clothes. The team defense has been decent with a top-5 rating on the season, though over the last 10 games, Los Angeles fell back to the middle of the pack. Irving has over a 30% usage rate and a 32.6% assist rate when Doncic is out of the mix, so even if this game slows down, he should be able to produce the fantasy goodness DFS gamers are looking for. The last time Doncic was out, Irving had 60 fantasy points. It is good to know that is still in his bag, but upside expectations should be more aligned with a 50-fantasy point effort.
PJ Washington has performed well as a complementary scorer when Doncic has been out. In the last five games without the franchise superstar, Washington averaged 13.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 2.1 combined blocks and steals. That may not seem sexy, but it is solid and also stands out on the evening sub-slate.
Dereck Lively II projects to be on around 15% of all tournament rosters on both FanDuel and DraftKings, though better center options may appear as the injury updates are released leading up to lock. Klay Thompson had his best game of the season in Golden State on Sunday, and it looks like he may have found his range on this road trip, converting on 54.5% of his field goal attempts and half of his 30 3-pointers over the last trio of tilts.
The one wrinkle is that Irving missed Tuesday’s practice with a shoulder issue, but he was a full participant yesterday.
Today’s Top Sports Betting Pick
Carlton Carrington III is someone to target in the sports wagering world, for the under on his 3.5 assists prop.
Looking at the screenshot of Portfolio EV, we can see this wager is likely to come to pass 48% of the time, and with the +123 odds, this works out to a terrific 7.6% expected ROI when factoring in the +107 “True Odds.”
BetRivers, SugarHouse and Unibet are offering +123, which well exceeds the True Odds of +107 and the -+106 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.
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Stokastic’s Advanced NBA Statistical Projections have Carrington projected for 22.4 minutes and 3.38 assists. This wager is likely to go down to the wire, but the math is in our favor. The 14th overall selection of the 2024 NBA Draft has seen his minutes fluctuate all over the place. He has worked his way back into the starting lineup, though in these last four outings, he tallied six, two, three and two assists, despite averaging 33.8 minutes. He has been dealing with an illness, which also favors the under, assuming he steps on the court.
Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today
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