Thursday, October 27 sees the NBA once again doing primetime battle with the NFL. Tonight, there is a four-game featured slate starting at 7:30 p.m. ET on DraftKings and FanDuel. Let’s look at the player pool and discuss the top NBA DFS picks today for DraftKings and FanDuel 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. Let’s dive into our NBA DFS Building Blocks.
NBA DFS Building Blocks Today: Thursday, October 27
Core Play of the Day — Luka Doncic: Dallas Mavericks-Brooklyn Nets
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 58.42 | FanDuel: 54.88
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings: 18.5% | FanDuel: 33.0%
- DFS Salary: DraftKings: $12,000 | FanDuel: $12,000
This is a back-to-back for the Nets who lost 110-99 last night in Milwaukee. Tonight, they will be hosting the Dallas Mavericks who lost a 113-111 nail-biter in New Orleans to a shorthanded Pelicans squad. Both of these teams have only one victory in the early going, so one franchise is going to be able to double up the win total tonight.
Brooklyn has been a defensive sieve allowing 115.6 points per 100 possessions which is the fifth worst efficiency rating in the league. Dallas has the best offensive efficiency rate, with a robust 119.1 points per 100 possessions. Luka Doncic projects for almost 10 more points than anyone else in the player pool, which makes him a core building block tonight.
Doncic currently has the best odds in the MVP race, but there is a lot of games left to play. So far this season, Doncic leads the league with a 41.1% usage rate along with leading the Mavericks in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals.
Ja Morant: Memphis Grizzlies-Sacramento Kings
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 50.18 | FanDuel: 48.77
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings: 21.8% | FanDuel: 27.5%
- DFS Salary: DraftKings: $10,200 | FanDuel: $10,600
Though the first four games of the season, Ja Morant has continued building off his breakout campaign from last season. In three of these outings, he has at least 50 fantasy points. Thus far the 2022 Most Improved Player has averaged 35.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 1.8 combined blocks and steals in 33.1 minutes per game.
Sacramento is allowing 114.5 points per 100 possessions which is the seventh worst mark in the league. They also play at a frenetic pace with no real defensive stopper, which bodes well for Morant cruising to 50 fantasy points.
Additional NBA DFS Picks Today – Sports Wagering Opportunities
Caleb Martin is back in this section for a second straight night. On Wednesday he was the recommended NBA player props play with an 8.5 over/under points prop. He ended up with 16 against Portland and that is his milestone in that category again tonight. While that wager is still very much in play, we have a second to review.
Currently the Stokastic NBA player projections have him for 5.8 rebounds which gives him a 68% likelihood of surpassing his 4.5 over/under points prop. In his four games this year, Martin has 8, 5, 7 and 4 rebounds.
If this wager feels a little risky, you can use this link to sign up for a new account and get a RISK FREE BET up to $1,000 on BetMGM.
Los Angeles Clippers-Oklahoma City Thunder
Kawhi Leonard (knee) and Marcus Morris (personal) are both out again tonight, though Paul George (illness) is questionable. In this same matchup on Tuesday, the Thunder boat raced the Clippers 108-94.
Ivica Zubac is a strong play, though of course he is only eligible as a center. Norman Powell and Reggie Jackson were disappointing on Tuesday, but they did each see 30 minutes and they should have similar playing time tonight. George of course is a top option if healthy, though if he is out, it boosts both Terance Mann and Luke Kennard into more than just lineup filler. John Wall is a dart throw, but he can still be efficient with what seems to be a 20-to-22 minute cap.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a strong option and a borderline core play. Tre Mann is also a tremendous point per dollar option with Josh Giddey out again tonight. The top half of the rotation is all in play to varying degrees depending on salary cap and position constraints. Aaron Wiggins, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Luguentz Dort, Kenrich Williams and Aleksej Pokusevski are viable options, though it would be unwise to play more than two from this bucket.
Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks Today
Do not lose sight of any late-breaking news and injury updates/confirmations, with Thursday Night Football being a distraction. One way to get ahead of this is to make sure to enable push notifications from the Stokastic NBA Twitter account.
