Thursday, October 20 has the NBA doing battle with Thursday Night Football. There are two marque matchups on tap tonight with contests on DraftKings and FanDuel locking at 7:30 p.m. ET. Let’s look at the player pool and discuss the top NBA DFS picks today for DraftKings, FanDuel and Yahoo lineups. As always, you can head over to the Stokastic NBA DFS & Fantasy Basketball home page for all the fantasy basketball content you need for any given slate.
NBA DFS Picks Today: Thursday, October 20
Core Play of the Day — Giannis Antetokounmpo: Milwaukee Bucks at Philadelphia 76ers
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 57.57 | FanDuel: 55.98
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings: 47.9% | FanDuel: 53.2%
- DFS Salary: DraftKings: $10,700 | FanDuel: $11,300
Tonight marks the second game for Philadelphia, who lost 126-117 in Boston on Tuesday night. Milwaukee will be making their regular season debut along with the Los Angeles Clippers. Khris Middleton (wrist) is still recovering from the injury that sidelined him in the playoffs. Pat Connaughton (calf) is also expected to miss the next couple of weeks.
Giannis Antetokounmpo will once again be the engine driving all aspects of the Milwaukee offense. While he will have help from Jrue Holiday, Bobby Portis, Brook Lopez and Grayson Allen, make no mistake he is the first, second and third option on offense. Over the last two seasons, the 27-year-old put together statistical lines that were eerily similar to his back-to-back MVP seasons. We know exactly what we are getting with Antetokounmpo and he is the priority play of the night.
Joel Embiid: Philadelphia 76ers vs. Milwaukee Bucks
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 52.69 | FanDuel: 51.23
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings: 32.8% | FanDuel: 42.7%
- DFS Salary: DraftKings: $10,300 | FanDuel: $10,200
The only knock against Joel Embiid tonight is that he is only center-eligible. Against the Celtics on Tuesday, he was outstanding with 26 points, 15 rebounds and five assists in 37 minutes of action. Similar numbers should be in store tonight as Lopez, Portis and Antetokounmpo have little chance of doing anything more than slowing down the inside-out game of the Cameroonian. Even if they double-team, Embiid is adept enough as a passer that he can deliver a dime to anyone cutting through the key or send the ball back out to the perimeter to an open marksman.
Additional NBA DFS Picks Today – Opportunities
Anthony Davis is an interesting option in the NBA player props market and currently he has an 8.5 over/under on his rebound prop. The Stokastic NBA player projections have him for 10.7, which gives him a 73% probability of surpassing this over. While he will of course be battling with his own teammates such as James and Westbrook, he should still be in the mix for double-digit boards more often than not.
The Battle for Los Angeles
Tonight the Clippers are designated as the visiting team, so the crowd is likely to be leaning towards the Lakers, with their season ticketholders making up a large portion of the crowd. Kawhi Leonard will be making his first appearance since the playoffs on June 14, 2021. There is no reason for him to be rushed back as the Clippers boast one of the deepest rotations in the league. However, on DraftKings ($8,400) and FanDuel ($8,600), Leonard does have an appealing salary as it is more in line with an expected soft cap of 28-to-30 minutes. Paul George is also in play and he is only a few hundred more on each site.
After this duo, things get very crowded as we would see several players in a rotation getting every third or fourth game off, until the inevitable injuries occur. Tonight, it would not be a surprise at all to go 12 players deep, which makes some things rather cloudy. Norman Powell and Marcus Morris Sr. are likely to play around 25 minutes and offseason addition John Wall just behind in the low-20s. That still leaves Reggie Jackson (groin) who is expected to play and potentially start, along with key contributors Luke Kennard, Robert Covington and Terance Mann backing them up. Ivica Zubac will be starting at center most nights, but we know that the Clippers rarely use him in the fourth quarter of close games, so while he has a strong case for 24ish minutes, his upside will be matchup and game score dependent.
The Lakers lost to the defending champion Golden State Warriors on Tuesday and they are 5.5 point underdogs tonight. LeBron James and Anthony Davis had tremendous games and their availability is going to be the key to the entire season for the Purple and Gold. They should again see something in the mid-30s tonight, though expect there to be load management or in-game rest at other points in the season.
Kendrick Nunn looked good off the bench getting his first action in over a year, while rookie Matt Ryan was an unexpected addition to the rotation getting almost nine minutes in the second quarter and another six in the third. He will be battling Juan Toscano-Anderson and Austin Reaves for bench minutes, with this likely being a matchup drive situation most nights for new head coach Darvin Ham. Russell Westbrook, Lonnie Walker IV and Patrick Beverley rounded out the starting five and that should be the go forward expectation for the next couple weeks, with Walker having the most tenuous grip on his role.
Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks Today
Tonight should be a fun one with a lot of moving parts in the second game. Do not lose track of news at it is unlikely we will have the starting lineup for the Clippers before Thursday Night Football is underway and that will be a distraction that could trip up some gamers depending on how things break.
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