NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today: Jakob Poeltl and Friends! (December 16)

Monday gets the work week rolling with a six-game featured slate, tipping off 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 Jakob Poeltl, James Harden and more standout players from this six-game lineup.

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NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today: Monday, Dec. 16

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NBA DFS Picks Today: Building Blocks

This will be the second game he has missed, and he is likely to be out for the rest of the month. Bruce Brown Jr. will be returning to action this week, though he is still working through his conditioning. Immanuel Quickley remains out as well, so there will be plenty of Raptors to choose from tonight in this cherry matchup.

Jakob Poeltl is setting career highs across the board this season, finally cracking the 30-minute mark regularly, despite this being his ninth season in the Association. Early this season, when Barnes was out with an orbital issue, Poeltl averaged 33.9 minutes and 13.2 field goal attempts per game at a 61.4% success rate. This worked out to 17.6 points, along with 12.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 2.6 combined blocks and steals.

RJ Barrett is also posting personal bests in the main statistical categories, and he has really stepped up his role as a facilitator with Barnes and Quickley on the sidelines. He is averaging 23.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, 6.0 assists, and 1.1 combined blocks and steals.

Gradey Dick has become a legitimate scorer, and he is going to need to help fill the void Barnes vacated. Jonathan Mogbo is likely to see some trickledown minutes, with the early projection runs having him as the most popular player on both DraftKings (64.9%) and FanDuel (57.5%). There is other pending injury news that will likely put a few more fantasy point-per-dollar plays into the mix, but expect Mogbo’s popularity to stay in the 40% to 45% range.

Chicago has fewer moving parts, but Zach LaVine is dealing with a balky back, and since the oft-injured guard hasn’t missed a game in well over a month, it feels like he is due, even though this is only the third game for the Bulls in the last eight days. If he is out, then Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu will move from neutral options to secondary tournament targets.

Nikola Vucevic is one of many center options tonight, but he has increased his scoring to 21.0 points per game, which has been buoyed by DeMar DeRozan’s departure to Sacramento. His rebounding is down a little, but the 34-year-old frontcourt maven is still a 20-10 threat most games.

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It has been three games since Harden topped 40 fantasy points, but he had three games of 55-plus just prior to this nadir. Yes, Norman Powell missed one of those and was dealing with an injury in the others, but his return to action actually makes life easier for the 35-year-old offensive savant. Harden is averaging 21.4 points per game, which is his highest rate since leaving Brooklyn, and he has a slight increase to his rebounds (6.1) that offsets a small slippage in his assists (8.4).

Kevin Porter Jr. is one of the 10 most popular players on DraftKings ($4,400, 26.1%), though he falls out of the top 20 on FanDuel ($5,200, 8.7%). Powell projects to be on around 25% of the tournament entries on both sites, plus it is always fun to refer to him as the leading scorer (23.2) for the Clippers.

Jordan Clarkson returned to action after missing nearly three weeks with plantar fasciitis in his left foot. Unfortunately, he is back on the injury report with the issue and may be out tonight. If he is out, then that will boost the guards and wings for Utah, which is key for the two-game late slate. Keep in mind this is the final game of the night, with the fifth game on the docket tipping off a half hour earlier at 10 p.m. ET when the Denver Nuggets battle the Kings in Sacramento.

Today’s Top Sports Betting Pick

John Collins looks interesting tonight with the under on his 7.5 rebounds prop.

Looking at the screenshot of Portfolio EV, we can see this wager is likely to come to pass 51% of the time, and with the +105 odds, this works out to a steady 4.3% expected ROI when factoring in the -104 “True Odds.”

DraftKings is offering +105, which well exceeds the True Odds of -104 and the dreadful -115 or worse of most other books.

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Stokastic’s Advanced NBA Statistical Projections have Collins projected for 29.8 minutes and 8.27 rebounds, which is, of course, above the eight needed for this under to fail. However, when looking at how DraftKings is posting such a better number than the other books, this is one to take advantage of quickly.

In his last six games, Collins corralled nine, nine, five, three, seven and six caroms. He has to battle not only Walker Kessler, who has 11.3 rebounds per appearance in this stretch, but Lauri Markkanen is no slouch on the glass either. Plus Ivica Zubac will be patrolling the paint for the Clippers, and he is averaging a career-best 12.2 rebounds per game.

Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today

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