NBA DFS Picks
Every Wednesday, I’ll be diving into a loaded NBA schedule to find you some legitimate difference-makers for the DraftKings main slate — with the help of our NBA Advanced Metrics, NBA Optimizer and NBA DraftKings Projections pages.
What you’ll see when you come to this weekly column are our four favorite values of the night. Whether that’s an All-Star that is priced too low and is bound to explode or an absolute bargain that is capable of supporting your high-scoring studs, this is where you’ll want to look before submitting your lineups.
Last week was a bit of a rough go for this column, making it one of the few bad nights we’ve had all season. The biggest mistake we made was rolling with two members of the Denver Nuggets, who ended up losing by 17 to the Minnesota Timberwolves in a game in which Denver was favored by 4. We also rolled with Grayson Allen against the Indiana Pacers, and Allen went 2 for 13 from the floor and 1 for 6 from three in that game. He’s shooting 43.7 percent from the floor and 41.7 percent from deep this year, so luck simply wasn’t on our side last week.
With that out of the way, check out our favorite values for the 6-game NBA slate on Wednesday, December 22, when the Atlanta Hawks host the Orlando Magic and the Los Angeles Clippers face the Sacramento Kings in an NBA TV doubleheader:
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Kevin Love, Cleveland Cavaliers (vs. Boston Celtics) – $5,700
The Cavaliers are one of the best stories in basketball this season and the resurgence of Kevin Love has helped this team take things to another level. On the year, Love is averaging 12.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, and he’s shooting a ridiculous 40.2 percent from the three-point line.
The veteran forward has been even better for the Cavaliers as of late, though. Over the last five games, Love is averaging 16.4 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. He has also hit a total of 16 threes over those five games, and he has had at least 25 DraftKings points in three of those five contests. The first of those five games had Love turning in 46.25 fantasy points against the Minnesota Timberwolves and Love most recently had 32.75 DraftKings points against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday.
With Cleveland still dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak, the Cavaliers are going to need to continue to rely on Love to produce. He has shown that he still has a lot left in the tank and this matchup with the Celtics is a good one. Boston isn’t anything special on the defensive end this season and the Celtics could also be thin in the frontcourt. They’re dealing with their own COVID-19 issues, which can really be said for nearly every team in the NBA at the moment.
Bones Hyland, Denver Nuggets (vs. Oklahoma City Thunder) – $3,800
Bones Hyland is coming off one of his best games of the year, as the rookie had 37 fantasy points on DraftKings against the Atlanta Hawks. Hyland had 24 points, four rebounds, two assists and two blocks in that game, and he was just shooting the ball extremely well for the Nuggets. Hyland can’t be counted on for that type of production on a nightly basis, but he’s a pretty good option if you’re looking for a cheap player in tonight’s slate. A lot of teams are completely depleted by injuries and illness, so you can do a lot worse than getting a bench scorer that has a solidified role and generally gets 20 or so minutes each night.
The Nuggets don’t have a lot of other players that can give them minutes in the backcourt, with Markus Howard, PJ Dozier and Jamal Murray all either out for the season or just out indefinitely. With that in mind, it’ll be hard for Denver to keep the ball out of Hyland’s hands if the team needs somebody to go out there and get them some buckets.
Gary Harris, Orlando Magic (vs. Atlanta Hawks) – $5,100
People might not remember it all that well, but Gary Harris signed a four-year, $84 million deal with the Denver Nuggets just four years ago. He was once considered to be a big part of the core of one of the best young teams in the NBA, but shoulder injuries really impacted his career and led to some of these darker days as a member of the Magic.
Harris has, however, started to look like the player he was in Denver over the last month or so. In the month of December, Harris is averaging 14.0 points per game on 49.4 percent shooting from the floor and 43.2 percent shooting from deep. Also, over the last two games, Harris is averaging 18.5 points, 5.0 assists, 4.0 rebounds, 1.0 steal and 1.0 block per game.
The two-way guard has played at least 31 minutes in 10 of the last 12 games, showing that he’s a big part of this Orlando rotation. The 27-year-old never lost his ability to be an impactful defender, but his jumper has abandoned him in recent seasons. Now that Harris is beginning to find his stroke again, he’s starting to look like an excellent rotation player for the Magic.
Look for him to continue to play at a high level moving forward, as he has clearly regained his confidence. Harris has scored a total of 69.50 fantasy points on DraftKings over the last two games, and another 30-point fantasy performance isn’t out of the question.
Darius Bazley, Oklahoma City Thunder (vs. Denver Nuggets) – $4,100
Darius Bazley can be a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to daily fantasy, as he had 26.75 points on DraftKings in a meeting with the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday but also had just 6.5 fantasy points against the New Orleans Pelicans two games ago. The 21-year-old usually gets a good number of minutes for the Thunder, as the lefty has played at least 23 minutes in each of the past seven games. The only problem is that his jumper hasn’t been all that consistent, and he can make some infuriating mistakes at times.
Still, Bazley plays for a team that gives him a lot of opportunities to make plays with the basketball in his hands — especially for a guy that spends a lot of time at the power forward position. He’s also facing a Denver team that is just 21st in the league in defensive rating this season. And over the last five games, the Nuggets are just 27th in the league in that category.
For what it’s worth, Bazley scored 22 points and also chipped in four rebounds and a block the last time he faced Denver. That game was back on February 27 of the 2020-21 season, but it’s not impossible that the confidence will carry over.
