The Dallas Mavericks welcomed center Kristaps Porzingis back to the lineup on Saturday against the Orlando Magic after he missed seven games to comply with the league’s health and safety protocols. He made four of his eight shots, including two three-pointers, to score 19 points in just under 28 minutes of action. Porzingis should be back among the starters again on Monday night when the Mavs take on the Oklahoma City Thunder, but should he also be in your NBA DFS lineups?
The Thunder have hovered around the bottom-10 Fantasy defense against opposing centers this season, and have also allowed opponents to hold the second-highest rebounds per game average in the league. Porzingis snagged seven boards against the Magic, and should be positioned to grab more tonight. Before you set your NBA DFS picks for Monday, be sure to check out the NBA DFS advice, player rankings, stacks and top daily Fantasy basketball picks from SportsLine’s Mike McClure.
McClure is a DFS professional with nearly $2 million in career winnings. He’s also a predictive data engineer at SportsLine who uses a powerful prediction model that simulates every minute of every game 10,000 times, taking factors like matchups, statistical trends and injuries into account.
This allows him to find the best NBA DFS values and create optimal lineups that he shares only over at SportsLine. They’re a must-see for any NBA DFS player.
On Sunday, McClure included Nuggets center Nikola Jokic as one of his top NBA DFS picks on both DraftKings and FanDuel. The result: Jokic posted his second consecutive triple-double and ninth of the season in a loss to Utah. His 25 points, 15 rebounds and 14 assists returned 72.75 points on DraftKings and 67 points on FanDuel. Anybody that included him in their lineups was well on the way to a profitable day.
Now, McClure has turned his attention to the Monday, January 17, NBA DFS slate and locked in his top daily Fantasy basketball picks. You can only see them by heading to SportsLine.
Top NBA DFS picks for Monday, January 17
One of McClure’s top NBA DFS picks for Monday is Lakers superstar LeBron James, who is listed at $10,900 on DraftKings and $11,200 on FanDuel. Monday began with James’ wife, Savannah, trending on social media for her look in a fashionable black dress, but LeBron has looked pretty good as well over his last 10 starts. During that stretch, he averaged 33.4 points, 9.1 rebounds, 6.3 assists, with 1.5 steals and blocks per game.
The Lakers close out the day’s schedule with a matchup against the Utah Jazz, who snapped a four-game losing streak on Sunday with a 125-102 win over Denver. The Lakers haven’t played Utah yet this season, and in the only game James played against the Jazz last season, he scored 19 points with four rebounds and four assists. The Lakers have listed James as their center in recent games, but he took 11 shots outside of the paint in his last game, which should force Jazz center Rudy Gobert out of his comfort zone on defense if that’s the case again tonight.
Another key in McClure’s optimal NBA DFS strategy includes rostering Suns center JaVale McGee ($8,400 on DraftKings and $8,100 on FanDuel). The veteran center stepped in for Deandre Ayton on Sunday when the Suns’ starter left with a hurt ankle. McGee made nine of his 10 shots, and finished with six rebounds and a block to go with his 20 points in 15 minutes of relief work.
The Suns take on San Antonio on Monday night, which has been a top-five Fantasy matchup for opposing centers on sites like FanDuel and DraftKings this season. The last time the Spurs played against a dynamic center was Friday against Cleveland’s Jarrett Allen. Allen finished with 17 points and 16 rebounds, so an athletic center like McGee should be able to put up comparable numbers tonight in a road start with Ayton unavailable.
How to set NBA DFS lineups for Monday, January 17
McClure is also targeting a player who could go off for massive numbers on Monday because of a dream matchup. This pick could be the difference between winning your tournaments and cash games or going home with nothing. You can only see who it is here.
So who is DFS pro Mike McClure putting in his optimal NBA DFS lineups for Monday? Visit SportsLine now to see optimal NBA DFS picks, rankings, advice, and stacks, all from a professional DFS player who has almost $2 million in career winnings, and find out.