Thursday brings a festive eight-game featured slate, tipping off at 7:30 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. Injury news is everywhere, and with 16 teams in action, the information wheel has not stopped spinning yet. Let’s dig into the NBA DFS picks and core plays.
NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today: Thursday, December 28
Tyrese Haliburton: Indiana Pacers at Chicago Bulls
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 54.17 | FanDuel: 51.2
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings: 3.4% | FanDuel: 4.7%
- DFS Salary: DraftKings: $10,300 | FanDuel: $10,600
The last two games have seen Tyrese Haliburton back to his furious fantasy ways, as he has back-to-back 50-plus-fantasy-point efforts under FanDuel scoring, and those were both 60-fantasy-point outings with the DraftKings bonuses. Chicago does have a decent defense, but now Nikola Vucevic has joined Zach LaVine on the injured list. Haliburton himself is carrying the questionable tag, as he is dealing with a sore back, but if he starts, consider him a full-go.
Bruce Brown Jr. (knee) remains out for the Pacers, but with everyone else healthy, it is hard to pinpoint any specific plays worthy of being core targets. Of course, if Haliburton is out, T.J. McConnell will get a boost. Even if he stays in a reserve role, he should approach 30 minutes of run. That would also give Buddy Hield additional scoring responsibilities in what is a good matchup.
Turning our attention back to the Bulls, Andre Drummond rattled off 24 points, 25 rebounds, one assist, three steals and a block in 39 minutes against Atlanta. While that is an apex performance and not likely to be repeated tonight, even if his production falls by one-third, he is still in line for a 40-fantasy-point night and is projected for mid-40s on the main DFS sites. FanDuel was aggressive and has him with an appropriate $8,900 cap hit, while DraftKings missed the mark by about 15%, only moving him to $7,500. Currently the rebounding king is projected to be on nearly half of all DraftKings lineups but just over 12% on the blue site.
DeMar DeRozan and Coby White are players to target on all DFS sites, as they have reasonable salaries but get the added production increase of facing the Pacers.
Tyler Herro: Miami Heat at Golden State Warriors
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Point Projections: DraftKings: 41.17 | FanDuel: 39.89
- Stokastic’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: DraftKings: 15.4% | FanDuel: 17.7%
- DFS Salary: DraftKings: $8,400 | FanDuel: $8,000
Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry and Caleb Martin have all been ruled out for Miami, and Josh Richardson (back) is doubtful. That means Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo will be the main offensive options tonight in the frontcourt and on the wing, with Duncan Robinson chipping in from behind the arc. Gamers are not overly fond of Herro for DFS purposes, but he has three consecutive 40-fantasy-point efforts, and with a little luck he should push for 50 tonight. Adebayo has the better chance at the 50-fantasy-point plateau; however, things are crowded at the center position once more.
Stephen Curry and Brandin Podziemski are the Warriors to consider if looking for some matchup synergy, but each is just a neutral option when considered as a standalone play.
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Portland Trail Blazers vs. San Antonio Spurs
Deandre Ayton and Shaedon Sharpe remain out once again, but we can still consider the core members of the Blazers in this favorable matchup. Duop Reath and Moses Brown are plays for the late slate, as they provide value and will be splitting the center minutes. Anfernee Simons stands out across the DFS sites as the best overall Portland play, with Malcolm Brogdon not too far behind from a fantasy-point-per-dollar viewpoint.
Everyone is healthy for the Spurs, which makes them nothing more than tournament fodder on the featured slate. For the late-game action, Devin Vassell holds the most appeal. Victor Wembanyama could be on sort of a soft minutes limit as the team continues to ease him into the marathon schedule of his first NBA campaign. He dropped 40 fantasy points in 24 minutes on Tuesday. He played 22.2 minutes on Dec. 21, and he sat out on Dec. 19 in Milwaukee. He also tripped over the ball boy in Dallas last Saturday, resulting in him being scratched for that game.
Additional NBA Building Blocks Pick — Sports Betting Opportunities
Jeremy Sochan is a talented basketball player, but he is miscast as a point guard. It makes sense that he gets run at multiple positions to showcase his versatility in this lost season, but he still shares the duties with Tre Jones. Tonight we can consider the -125 line on his under 4.5 assists prop. Per the true odds of -137 (how OddsShopper measures the potential expected ROI of a given wager), this opportunity has a decent 4% expected ROI as a function of the inefficient line.
It is crucial to take advantage of OddsShopper to look at all the available lines since that can easily be worth another 2% to 3% for your ROI, even on perfectly neutral bets, based on how the different books value things. Looking at the screenshot below, the -139 posted at Caesars for under 4.5 assists demonstrates this very concept.
NBA Bet Pro has Sochan projected for 29.2 minutes and 4.16 assists. The current available wager has a 58% win probability, which makes getting the best line available key since they are all shaded to the under.
In his last 13 games, Sochan has surpassed 4.5 assists on three occasions, though it is worth noting that he landed on four assists five times. This will be a nip-and-tuck bet down to the wire, but it grades out as a smart play over a long-term horizon.
Rooting for unders may not be as fun as rooting for overs, but that is where the line value is more often than not when it comes to player props, as the sportsbooks look to use psychology against casual bettors.
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Final Thoughts on NBA DFS Picks & Building Blocks Today
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