Sunday’s NBA action looks like another wild puzzle, as there are teams on back-to-backs and plenty of pending news. The six-game featured slate begins at 6 p.m. ET on DraftKings and FanDuel. There are several options in the player pool that we’ll analyze to find the top NBA DFS building blocks and NBA DFS picks for DraftKings and FanDuel lineups, including Atlanta Hawk stalwart Trae Young.
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NBA DFS Picks: Sunday, Jan. 8
Core Play of the Day — Trae Young: Atlanta Hawks-Los Angeles Clippers
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 44.84 | FanDuel: 42.3
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings 9.8% | FanDuel: 11.7%
- DFS Salary: DraftKings: $9,700 | FanDuel: $9,400
Atlanta lost to the Lakers on Friday night, and tonight they have a chance to redeem themselves against the Clippers as they wrap up their weekend in Los Angeles. The Hawks have dropped five of their last six games, four of which were on the road. While Kawhi Leonard is still a defensive stopper, he does not expend nearly as much energy on that end of the court and tends to pick his spots. One other interesting thing is that the Clippers have been in the bottom third of the league over the last month from a defensive efficiency perspective.
Trae Young is having his worst season from the field since his rookie campaign, but he is still regularly recording double-doubles and he has a safe 40-ish-point fantasy floor. The only real knock against Young — other than his defense, which doesn’t do anything for his fantasy points — is that he is a below-average rebounder. The addition of Dejounte Murray has further exacerbated this issue, and Young is averaging only 2.9 rebounds per game. Young has upside, however, and he has reached the 50-fantasy-point plateau in four of his last eight appearances.
Dallas Mavericks-Oklahoma City Thunder
Tonight all indications are that Luka Doncic (ankle) will receive a night off on the second leg of this back-to-back. Maxi Kleber (hamstring) is going to miss another month at a minimum, plus Dorian Finney-Smith (adductor) is out for at least another week and Josh Green (elbow) is close to a return but not expected to be available tonight after missing the last month.
That should do wonders for the DFS prospects of Spencer Dinwiddie, who will see an increase in his scoring responsibilities, in addition to being the main offensive facilitator. Christian Wood also should get a boost, as he too will be called upon to put the biscuit in the basket. Of course, his defensive liabilities could cost him some minutes, but there the alternative options are mostly offensive zeroes.
Rookie Jaden Hardy should get a chance at extra run, and he has played 15 and 21 minutes off the bench in his last two games while also posting 20 fantasy points. He is at a near-minimum salary on most DFS sites, as is deep cut McKinley Wright IV. Keep in mind that Wright has appeared in only 15 games over the last two seasons after being undrafted as a four-year starter at the University of Colorado.
Tim Hardaway Jr. should get at least 12 to 15 field goal attempts, and if he is finding his mark, he can flirt with a 20-point night and 30 fantasy points. The rest of the Mavericks are hard to trust, as coach Jason Kidd tends to be unpredictable with his rotations in these situations.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 50 fantasy points per game this season, and he is a core option tonight in all formats. Josh Giddey continues to impress, and he does have 40-fantasy-point upside when everything breaks his way. Injuries to Aleksej Pokusevski and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl have opened up frontcourt minutes, though we have seen coach Mark Daigneault tend to mix and match players in the first and second half, so there is a lot of uncertainty around who the other “good” Thunder DFS options will be on a game-to-game basis.
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Additional NBA DFS Building Blocks Picks Today – Sports Betting Opportunities
Jalen Williams is someone to consider in the betting market with a 3.5 total for his rebound prop in his matchup against the Mavericks tonight on his home court. For the season, the rookie is averaging 3.7 rebounds per game and 4.9 rebounds per 36 minutes. Over his last 13 games as a starter, he has averaged 31.2 minutes and 4.8 rebounds.
The NBA Bet Pro projections have him corralling 4.7 caroms for a 62% likelihood of surpassing this milestone at -145 on BetMGM. To help increase the 4% xROI (expected return on investment), bettors can utilize this wager as part of a same-game parlay for extra upside.
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Cleveland Cavaliers-Phoenix Suns
There are several injuries and uncertainties for both teams in the matchup. Cleveland is awaiting word on Darius Garland (thumb), who did return after a three-game absence with a fine fantasy showing but is still questionable. The longer the questionable tag is next to his name, the less likely it is that gamers look his way. Donovan Mitchell should also be available after getting an injury maintenance day, and both of these players should thrive against a shorthanded Suns squad.
There are a lot of solid frontcourt options tonight, so Jarret Allen, Evan Mobley and Kevin Love are all neutral options. Of course, Sundays tend to have a lot of unexpected news. If one of this trio is out, the other two would elevate to secondary options.
Devin Booker, Cameron Payne and Cameron Johnson are all out and Chris Paul is questionable with a hip issue that forced him out of the last game. If Paul is in, he should be considered good to go … if he is out, then Duane Washington Jr. and Damion Lee would enter the slate as value options. Landry Shamet is a solid selection regardless of Paul’s status since he should see upwards of 30 minutes and he is still undervalued for this new workload.
Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks Building Blocks Today
Sunday always brings foolishness when it comes to NBA news, and all eyes are on the chaos of NFL’s Week 18 activity. Be sure to tune into the Stokastic Live Before Lock show at 5 p.m. ET on YouTube, courtesy of No House Advantage.
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