Saturday brings mixed featured slate, though the action is locking at 7:00 p.m. ET on DraftKings and FanDuel. There are several options in the player pool worth analyzing to find the top NBA DFS building blocks and NBA DFS picks. Let’s dig into the NBA DFS picks and core plays like Victor Wembanyama and Jalen Williams, along with a variety of secondary players as premium targets.
NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today: Saturday, Oct. 26
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NBA DFS Picks: Building Blocks
Victor Wembanyama: Spurs vs. Rockets
NBA DFS Projections
DraftKings: 63.63 | FanDuel: 66.38
NBA DFS Ownership Projections
DraftKings: 40.4% | FanDuel: 58.9%
DFS Salary
DraftKings $10,700 | FanDuel: $11,200
Currently Victor Wembanyama has the most lofty median fantasy point projection across the main DFS sites. When teams are healthy, it is rare to see a mid-60s fantasy point projection, let alone for a second-year player who has yet to turn 21 years old.
Wembanyama is not going to be sneaking up on anyone, since he is already the most popular option on DraftKings and FanDuel. In the opener, the Frenchman was struggling on offense, leading to just 14 minutes of run. The fourth quarter saw coach Gregg Popovich wave the white flag, emptying the bench with 5:58 left in the game. These situations combined to see Wembanyama with only 28.5 minutes.
Even in the shortened outing, the budding superstar still got up 18 field goal attempts and if he had not been dreadful and hit his average conversion rates from his rookie campaign, he would have had another five fantasy points — plus with just one block as his only defensive stat, well that is just an anomaly and a “bad runout” more than anything else. The Spurs are not going to run their prized player into the ground, but just looking at his 18 best games from last year, he averaged nearly 71 FanDuel points and 68 DraftKings points, in 32 minutes of action. Simply ridiculous and the reason we want to keep going back to the phenom. In his three games against Alperen Sengun last year, Wembanyama averaged 31.3 minutes, with a trio of double-doubles and two games with 50-plus fantasy points.
For his part Sengun had a pair of 50-plus fantasy point efforts against his counterpart, with the winning box score posting 45 points, 16 rebounds, three assists, five steals and a block on his way to 80-plus fantasy points in 37 minutes of action. The fourth-year big man is leading the league with 16.5 rebounds per game, accompanied by 20.5 points, 3.5 assists, 2.5 steals and half a block. This is going to be a great matchup to watch for years to come.
Jeremy Sochan saw time running the offense last year, which was good for his development, but also impacting Wembanyama. Now with Chris Paul in the fold, Sochan can focus more on his frontcourt and wing duties, while being a complementary facilitator. He looked great in the opener, with 18 points six rebound and a pair of assists in 27 minutes. Tre Jones is out through weekend with a sprained ankle and Devin Vassell is not expected to make his debut for at least another 10 days. That means some minutes will be consolidated for Sochan and Paul, while also opening up opportunities for newcomer Harrison Barnes and solidifying Keldon Johnson’s role off the bench.
Julian Champagnie is in the mix as a discount dandy on DraftKings ($4,000), projecting to be on between 15%-and-20% of all lineups. The Houston salaries are keeping most of the Rockets in check, though Jalen Green and Fred VanVleet can be sprinkled in with Sengun for some in-game synergy.
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Jalen Williams: Thunder at Bulls
NBA DFS Projections
DraftKings: 37.48 | FanDuel: 37.3
NBA DFS Ownership Projections
DraftKings: 33.6% | FanDuel: 37.8%
DFS Salary
DraftKings: $7100 | FanDuel: $7,400
Last year in his second season, Jalen Williams leveled-up as a scorer, with 19.1 points per game, after averaging 14.1 in his rookie campaign. The Thunder looked great in Denver, beating the Nuggets 102-87. Oklahoma City outscored the host squad by seven points in the first quarter and 10 points in the third.
Williams did not have his best game, going 5-of-16 (32%) from the field, for 12 points, adding three rebounds, three assists and two blocks. OKC is going to continue to give him plenty of offensive opportunities, since he will need to augment the scoring of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren. This is going to be the trio to target for most games involving OKC, as starters Isaiah Joe and Lugentz Dort do not have consistent offensive games and the bench is deeper than ever this season.
For those dabbling in the three-game evening sub-slate, Alex Caruso gets a “Remember Me?!” spot as does his Chicago counterpart, Josh Giddey as they were traded for each other this offseason. Giddey will get a fresh start and more offensive opportunities, with the Bulls looking to replace the void left by DeMar DeRozan, who is now in Sacramento.
Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic will be the first two offensive options, with Giddey and Coby White in elevated roles, that should present more offensive opportunities than their respective situations last season. LaVine is a strong play on both of the main sites, with White and Giddey looking best on the blue site.
Chicago crushed the Bucks in Milwaukee last night, 133-122, with most of the starters getting mid-30s minutes, aside from Giddey who had 24.5. Ayo Dosunmu was solid off the bench, but it was White who dropped in 35 points as the scoring leader, followed by LaVine (25) and Vucevic (22). The Thunder will look to bring the defensive pressure, but it should not dissuade gamers from getting a smatter of these players across lineups tonight.
Today’s Top Sports Betting Pick
Julius Randle is now in his 11th season and with his fourth franchise. While he did make the NBA All-Star Game in three of his five seasons with New York, he has deficiencies in his game as a ball-stopper and rarely contributing defensive stats with a career 0.7 steals and 0.4 blocks per game. He is still a strong scorer, with 23.3 points in his las four-plus seasons, while also averaging 9.9 rebounds per game.
So why in the world are we considering his under 7.5 rebounds prop worthy of our attention tonight. Well that of course is a great question!
By using Portfolio EV to do the heavy lifting when researching favorable bets, we can quickly spot inefficient lines like this one, and having accounts at multiple sportsbooks allows us to pivot to the best number quickly. This pits the books against each other, which shows that the DraftKings line has jumped way ahead of all the other major operators.
Lines are constantly shifting and moving, so when you find a good number, pounce on it. That is the beauty and power of Portfolio EV to find the best lines at any point in the day.
Stokastic’s Advanced NBA Statistical Projections have Randle projected for 32.9 minutes and 7.31 rebounds. While this wager is likely to come down to the wire, it is still below the eight needed for this under to fail and the 51% projected win rate is augmented by the “plus money” line of +110, forecasting a strong 7.6% expected ROI.
Keep in mind that Randle is no longer playing for coach Tom Thibodeau, which means the gaudy minutes are not likely to occur on the regular. He also will be battling teammate Rudy Gobert, who led the league with 14.7 rebounds per game in 2021-2022 and has averaged 13.2 over his last five seasons.
Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today
Get all the latest news and updates for NBA DFS picks today on the Stokastic NBA Live Before Lock Show at 6:00 p.m. ET on YouTube, breaking down all of the key elements for today’s slate. For a limited time, get NBA Core for just ONE DOLLAR with promo code TIPOFF24! This grants you access to all of Stokastic’s tools and data, including the Sims, through Oct. 29. Act fast — this preview window closes next Tuesday whether you sign up now, tomorrow or this weekend. The clock is ticking!
