After getting a night off against Philadelphia in the second game of a back-to-back set on November 11, Pascal Siakam came back to score 25 points against Detroit on Saturday and 20 points against Portland on Monday. Siakam missed the first ten games of the season while recovering from shoulder surgery, but could get a heavy workload on Thursday against the Utah Jazz. Raps forwards OG Anunoby and Chris Boucher are both questionable to play, as is center Precious Achiuwa (shoulder).
Siakam has had two days off since playing 39 minutes against the Blazers. Should his perceived opportunity and volume on Thursday make him a lock for your Thursday NBA DFS lineups? Utah held Miami’s Bam Adebayo to 13 points and seven rebounds on Saturday and Philadelphia’s Tobias Harris to 12 points on Tuesday, so are there better options than Siakam? Before making any 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 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 Wednesday, McClure listed Mavericks guard Jalen Brunson as one of his top NBA DFS picks on FanDuel and DraftKings. The result: Brunson finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and nine assists to return 42.25 points on DraftKings and 39.3 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 Thursday, November 18 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 Thursday, November 18
One of McClure’s top NBA DFS picks for Thursday is Denver center Nikola Jokic at $12,000 on DraftKings and $11,600 on FanDuel. Jokic is coming off of his biggest offensive night of the season on Monday, when he scored 35 points with 16 rebounds against Dallas.
Jokic’s numbers this season have been remarkably close to the ones that he put up last season en route to winning MVP honors. He actually comes into Thursday with a higher field goal percentage and more total rebounds per game than in 2020-21. He should have another nice showing tonight against a Philadelphia side that will be without Embiid for the sixth consecutive game.
Another part of McClure’s optimal NBA DFS strategy includes rostering Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Patrick Beverley ($4,700 on FanDuel and $4,200 on DraftKings). The journeyman point guard has been starting since November 3, and is coming off his best game of the season on Wednesday against the Kings. In the 107-97 win, Beverley finished with 14 points, seven assists and four rebounds.
Minnesota takes on San Antonio in the second game of a back-to-back, but the Spurs have been a bottom-five Fantasy defense against point guards this season. Throughout his career, Beverley has hit 40 percent of his three-point attempts when he’s played a game the night before, and Minnesota takes more three-point shots than any other team in the league.
How to set NBA DFS lineups for Thursday, November 18
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.
So 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 almost $2 million in career winnings, and find out.
