NBA
DraftKings Daily Fantasy Basketball Helper: Thursday 12/19/19

With four games to choose from on tonight's NBA slate, let's take a look at how to utilize the DFS possibilities. Here are some of the top plays and sleepers on DraftKings. As always, good luck.

Point Guard

Louis Williams ($5,900) -- Williams and the Clippers have a big game in Staples tonight as they welcome the Rockets to L.A. The Rockets' defense is average by defensive rating (16th), and Williams should have much more open looks tonight and opportunities with Houston likely focusing a lot of attention on Kawhi Leonard ($9,200) and Paul George ($8,500). The Rockets play at the second-fastest pace (106.5) and the Clippers seventh (105.7), so expect Williams to expand on his average of six three-point attempts per night over the past four games.

Rajon Rondo ($4,800) -- Rondo has recorded at least five of each of points, rebounds and assists in four of the last six games for the Los Angeles Lakers. He's averaged 7.6 points, 6.4 assists, and 5.2 rebounds in his past five games. With Kyle Kuzma and Anthony Davis ($10,100) potentially missing more time, Rondo's role in the offense should increase as well as his volume of attempts. Rondo had 19 shot attempts across his last two games, the most in a two-game span this season since November 23rd through 25th. The Milwaukee Bucks play at the fastest pace in the league, and Rondo in transition is lethal.

Shooting Guard

Spencer Dinwiddie ($7,900) -- Last time out, Dinwiddie finally broke his four-game streak of scoring exactly 24 points, and he did it by dropping 31 on the Pelicans in overtime. The Nets are in San Antonio for their first meeting with the Spurs this season. Dinwiddie is averaging more points (21.9) and assists (6.6) on the road than at home in 14 games this season. The Spurs are 22nd in defensive net rating (111.2), giving the Nets a boost here. It's a boost they don't really need after they've scored at least 100 points in 14 straight games. In that 14-game span, DInwiddie has averaged 24 points per game and 7.5 assists.

Derrick White ($4,000) -- White has averaged 11.6 points and 3.6 assists in his last three games and has scored 16 or more in two of them. The Spurs have played four overtime games in their past five contests and lost by two in the lone non-overtime game, so they may be running on some tired legs. Still, White has scored double-digits in three of his last five games, and on a small slate, he's worth a look as a cheap dart throw against a Nets team that is in the top half of the league in pace (10th-fastest) and a middling 14th in defensive rating.

Small Forward

Giannis Antetokounmpo ($11,300) -- Giannis is averaging 34.6 points, 11.0 rebounds and 4.4 assists over his last five games, and last game, he dropped 48 points in the Bucks' first loss since November 8th. He's averaging 27 minutes in his past eight games, and the Bucks have won six of those by double-digits. Tonight we should see more of Giannis than his 31.2 minutes per game on the season, because it should be a tight matchup versus the Lakers (Bucks are 4.0-point favorites). The Greek Freak is averaging 61.1 fantasy points per game, and our models project him to post 29.9 points, 12.5 rebounds and 5.4 assists tonight as the slate's top fantasy producer.

Bojan Bogdanovic ($6,700) -- Bogdanovic has scored 62 total points in his past two games against the Magic and Warriors, two of the worst defensive teams in the league. The Jazz's stretch of nice matchups actually gets easier as they're on the road in Atlanta to take on the Hawks, a team that sits 28th in defensive rating and plays at the 9th-fastest pace. Oer his last 10, Bogdanovic has recorded two games of 40-plus fantasy points and cleared the 30-DK-point barrier four times. Our models predict Bogdanovic to record 19.9 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists tonight versus Atlanta.

Power Forward

Anthony Davis ($10,100) -- Davis missed the loss to the Pacers, but if he's available tonight, he will be a must-play after three days off. Davis put up 25 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists in his one game on three or more days of rest this campaign. In that split a year ago, he put up averages of 23.3 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 3.9 assists in 10 games. If he's active, he's in play, per usual.

Montrezl Harrell ($6,100) -- Harrell had a terrible outing in his last game versus the Rockets, scoring only four points and grabbing nine rebounds while going just 2 for 12 from the field. Tonight's game should be a fast-paced one, as we touched on earlier, and that lifts the floor and ceiling for everyone. Harrell is averaging 19.9 points and 7.3 rebounds in his past nine games, and he's got five games of at least 20 real-world points in that span. He's a cheaper way to get exposure to a high-floor option in a fantasy-friendly game.

Center

Clint Capela ($7,600) -- Capela is averaging 40 fantasy points per game and remains second in rebounding with 14.7 per night. He's recorded 17 straight games of at least 10 rebounds, with 16 double-doubles in that run. The Rockets will be on the road versus a Clippers team that is top-five in defensive rating and rebounding rate, so the matchup is tough. But the pace helps, and Capela has a floor that's tough to ignore at center on a small slate.

Jarrett Allen ($6,500) -- Allen has been a driving force in the Nets' success lately as he's averaging a double-double in his past 10 games -- 13.6 points and 11.3 rebounds in that span. The Nets have climbed to seventh in rebounding rate (51.3) and are tied for 12th in defensive efficiency (105.1) due to the Dinwiddie-Allen duo. Fantasy-wise, Allen has recorded 33 or more fantasy points in seven of his past 10 games and should fare well in a nice matchup with San Antonio, who sits 22nd in defensive rating and plays at the 12th-fastest pace.


Vaughn Dalzell is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Vaughn also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username vdalzell. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.

Related News

An Introduction to FanDuel Research

Jim Sannes  --  Dec 19th, 2019

FanDuel Single-Game Daily Fantasy Basketball Helper: NBA Finals Game 5

Austin Swaim  --  Dec 19th, 2019

NBA Finals: Player Prop Bets to Target for Game 5 (Heat at Nuggets)

Austan Kas  --  Dec 19th, 2019