After missing his last seven games to comply with NBA health and safety protocols, Chicago center Nikola Vucevic returned to action on Wednesday against Houston. Vucevic looked a bit rusty, and fouled out of the game after just 26 minutes of action in a loss to the Rockets. He managed to score 14 points and grab 13 rebounds, but he made just six of his 16 shot attempts. After a day off for Thanksgiving, he faces off against his former team, the Orlando Magic, on Friday.
In his lone game against Orlando last season after being traded away, he scored 29 points with 11 rebounds and two blocks. Deciding if Vucevic is more likely to have a repeat of Wednesday, or his last performance against Orlando, can be crucial when building your Friday NBA DFS lineups on sites like FanDuel or DraftKings. Before making any NBA DFS picks for Friday, 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 Orlando F/C Wendell Carter Jr. as part of his top NBA DFS selections on FanDuel and DraftKings. The result: In a loss to the Hornets, Carter scored 14 points and had 11 rebounds to return 36.75 points on DraftKings and 36.2 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 Friday, November 26 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 Friday, November 26
Carter leads McClure’s top NBA DFS picks for Friday as well, at $5,600 on DraftKings and $5,500 on FanDuel. With Orlando often playing both Carter and center Mo Bamba in the same lineups, Carter has taken more 3-pointers this season. Carter actually has more 3-point attempts (72) than he does shots around the basket (59) this season, and he’s shot 40.3 percent from beyond the arc.
On Friday, the Magic play Carter’s former team, the Chicago Bulls, who have allowed opponents to hit 39.4 percent of their 3-point attempts over the last three games. In the one game that he played against the Bulls last season, he scored 19 points with 12 rebounds and four assists. Carter is averaging a career-high 12.3 points per game this season, and is matching his career-best 9.4 rebounds per game.
Another key in McClure’s optimal NBA DFS strategy includes rostering Oklahoma City guard Josh Giddey ($6,500 on DraftKings and $6,200 on FanDuel). In a tough matchup against Utah on Wednesday, Giddey put up 19 points and had eight assists with seven rebounds. Over his last five starts, he’s averaged 15.4 points, nine rebounds and five assists per game.
The Thunder have a tough matchup at home against the Washington on Friday, but the Wizards have lost four of their last five games. Washington lost its last game on Wednesday to the New Orleans Pelicans, 127-102. New Orleans shooting guard Brandon Ingram finished with 26 points, five rebounds and three assists. Giddey is a more assertive player on the boards and a better facilitator than Ingram, so he should be heading for another big performance on Friday.
How to set NBA DFS lineups for Friday, November 26
McClure is also targeting a player who could go off for massive numbers on Friday 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 Friday? 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.
