Monday’s NBA action wraps up the three-day holiday weekend with a seven-game featured slate tipping off at 7:00 p.m. ET on DraftKings and FanDuel. Let’s look at the player pool to discuss the top NBA DFS building blocks today for DraftKings and FanDuel lineups. Be sure to check out the Stokastic NBA DFS & Fantasy Basketball home page, where you can find NBA DFS picks and analysis for each slate of games.
NBA DFS Picks Building Blocks Today: Monday, Dec. 26
Core Play of the Day — Paul George: Los Angeles Clippers-Detroit Pistons
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 43.98 | FanDuel: 42.27
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings 20.2% | FanDuel: 14.8%
- DFS Salary: DraftKings: $9,000 | FanDuel: $9,500
Christmas Day featured most of The Association’s superstars, so things are a little light at the top of the projections, despite 14 teams in action. Recommending Paul George is easy, particularly since Kawhi Leonard has been ruled out in anticipation of Tuesday’s game in Toronto. This season in 551 minutes without Leonard, George is averaging 1.27 fantasy points per minute. Detroit has been abysmal on defense, allowing 117.2 points per 100 possessions over the last 10 games, which is the fourth worst defensive efficiency rating in the league. The Clippers are six-point road favorites and they will need to secure a victory tonight if they want to continue getting ahead of the Western Conference Play-in Game scrum. That should mean big minutes for George and he likely would be a major contributor in any blow-out scenario.
Tyrese Haliburton: Indiana Pacers-New Orleans Pelicans
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 45.52 | FanDuel: 43.64
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings 10.0% | FanDuel: 6.9%
- DFS Salary: DraftKings: $9,500 | FanDuel: $10,000
Tyrese Haliburton may be having some in the Sacramento front office regretting the trade that brought them Domantas Sabonis, after the season the former 12th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft has compiled. Currently Haliburton leads the league with 10.5 assists per game, while also posting career highs with 3.1 made 3-pointers, 20.7 points and naturally his 46 fantasy points per game are also a personal best.
Brandon Ingram (toe) is still out for the Pelicans and they will also be without one of their best defenders Herb Jones (health and safety protocols). Plus Zion Williamson is doubtful after clearing the health and safety protocols, but his conditioning is in question as he has missed the last week. Larry Nance Jr. (Achilles) could be out and both Dyson Daniels and Trey Murphy III are dealing with illnesses. That means a shorthanded New Orleans squad, that already plays at a fast pace while eschewing defense and missing rim protectors is going to be hard pressed to contain Haliburton. In turn, CJ McCollum, Jonas Valanciunas, Naji Marshall and Jose Alvarado should be in play as well, depending on who is available for the Pelicans tonight.
Utah Jazz-San Antonio Spurs
Even four years ago, it would have been folly to think of these two defensive-minded franchises squaring off in a game with a 236.5 projected point total. Lauri Markkanen continues to pile up the points and he is a strong play on both DraftKings and FanDuel. Mike Conley also is popping up on both sites with nearly a 20% chance of being in the optimal lineup per the proprietary Stokastic Boom/Bust tool.
Jordan Clarkson, Collin Sexton and Walker Kessler are also above average options on DraftKings, though they are only neutral plays on FanDuel, despite the appealing offensive environment. Kelly Olynyk remains out, so Kessler should continue to start.
The Spurs look good on both DraftKings and FanDuel for the evening sub-slate, but with everyone healthy and available, it is hard to make a strong push for anyone other than Jeremy Sochan. We should not be taking this team out of the player pool, though unless someone ends up sitting, it would be a surprise to see more than one San Antonio player in any main slate lineup.
Additional NBA DFS Picks Building Blocks Picks Today – Sports Wagering Opportunities
Tonight Collin Sexton is an intriguing option with a 10.5 over/under line on his point prop in his matchup against the Spurs. The Jazz brought Sexton along slowly to start the season while he was recovering from a catastrophic knee injury suffered while he was with the Cavaliers. Keep in mind that he did miss seven games over the last two weeks with a hamstring injury, but he played 17.3 minutes on Thursday in his return. He was hot from the field missing only one attempt and pouring in 18 points.
For the season he is averaging 14.5 points per game and 21.5 per 36 minutes. If he is able to see mid-20s minutes, he has a 65% probability of surpassing his threshold and at -125 this works out to an expected ROI of 17%. It would not be a surprise to see this line tick up to 12.5 if money continues coming in on the over.
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Minnesota Timberwolves-Miami Heat
Though this game has the lowest projected point total on the slate, Bam Adebayo (migraine) is out along with Dewayne Dedmon (foot). Naturally half of the ambulatory Heat players also have injury designations, so we will need to see who actually is available and what impact that has on the the defense.
Kyle Lowry, Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, Caleb Martin and Victor Oladipo are the players to target. Butler and Martin have been dealing with ankle issues, so they may legitimately be at risk of sitting. Nikola Jovic would become an excellent discount dandy if he is in the starting lineup. He has power forward eligibility on both DraftKings and FanDuel which allows us to still work in a top center option.
Karl-Anthony Towns of course is out for the season and Jordan McLaughlin may not return from his calf injury for another week. Kyle Anderson has been plagued with a sore back and he will test things out in warmups. D’Angelo Russell, Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert are the trio to target and they should benefit from the weakened Miami frontcourt. If Anderson is out, then Jaylen Nowell is worth a look on the main slate and he would be a solid secondary option on the evening sub-slate.
Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks Building Blocks Today
Tonight should be a fun one with plenty of news still to be released as most teams have been off since Friday and we could see more than a few players with “flu like symptoms” getting the night off. Be sure to tune into the Stokastic NBA Deeper Dive and Live Before Lock shows wat 5:00 p.m. ET on YouTube, courtesy of No House Advantage.
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