Several options in Thursday's NBA DFS player pool, who are off to inauspicious starts to the 2024 NBA playoffs, will get another shot at redemption tonight. Tobias Harris, OG Anunoby, Austin Reaves and Jalen Suggs are all averaging 11 points or fewer in the postseason, thus disappointing both their teams and those daily Fantasy basketball players that rostered them in NBA DFS lineups. Harris has been the biggest disappointment as he came into this year with a 17.1 ppg postseason average but is putting up just 8.5 ppg so far on 39% shooting.
His price tags on NBA DFS sites like FanDuel and DraftKings have dropped, which means he could be a value pick for Thursday. However, it would be beneficial to your NBA daily Fantasy strategy to know that Harris was locked down by the Knicks in the regular season, averaging just 6.3 points across four games. What other trends should you be aware of before setting your daily Fantasy basketball lineups for Thursday? Before making your NBA DFS picks, 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 more than $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 Wednesday, McClure highlighted Heat forward Nikola Jovic as one of his top picks in his NBA DFS player pool on both sites. The result: Jovic had 11 points, nine rebounds, six assists, three steals and a block, returning 38.25 points on DraftKings and 37.8 points on FanDuel. Anybody who included him in their lineups was well on the way to a profitable day.
McClure has turned his attention to NBA action on Thursday and locked in his top daily Fantasy basketball picks. You can only see them by heading to SportsLine.
Top NBA DFS picks for Thursday, April 24
For Thursday, one of McClure's top NBA DFS picks is rostering Lakers forward LeBron James who is listed at $9,500 on DraftKings and $10,500 on FanDuel. The Lakers being in a 2-0 hole isn't the fault of James, who is averaging 26.5 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.5 steals in the series. Despite L.A. suffering 10 straight defeats to Denver, James has still scored at least 21 points in each of his last 11 games against the Nuggets, with five double-doubles over that stretch.
James gets a two-day rest between Games 2 and 3, and he's been at his best this season when having two days off. James averages his most points (27.1), rebounds (8.4) and assists (9.1) with two days of rest compared to any other rest interval. He's also been on an incredibly efficient shooting run as of late as over his last nine games, counting both the regular and postseason, James is converting on 61.1% of his field goal attempts and 52.5% of his 3-point attempts.
Another part of McClure's optimal NBA DFS strategy includes rostering Magic forward Jonathan Isaac ($4,800 on DraftKings and $5,700 on FanDuel). In part due to injuries, Isaac started just two regular season games over the last four years. However, he started in each of the first two games of Orlando's series versus Cleveland, getting the nod ahead of Wendell Carter Jr. and Moe Wagner at center.
Isaac is a defensive ace who contributes across the board, doing so on a very affordable NBA DFS price point. Over his last six games versus Cleveland, he's averaging 8.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 1.5 steals. Like many young players, Isaac performs notably better at home as the series shifts to Orlando for Game 3 tonight. He averaged more points, rebounds, assists and blocks at home than on the road this season, while also shooting better percentages from the floor, the free throw line and from beyond the arc. See McClure's other NBA DFS picks right here.
How to set your NBA DFS lineups for Thursday, April 25
McClure is also targeting a player who could go off for massive numbers on Thursday 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.
Who is DFS pro Mike McClure putting in his optimal NBA DFS lineups for Thursday? Visit SportsLine now to see optimal NBA DFS picks, rankings, advice, and stacks, all from a professional DFS player who has over $2 million in career winnings, and find out.
