Like two ships passing in the night, for a brief period of time both Dillon Brooks and Ja Morant were healthy at the same time for the Memphis Grizzlies. During those games, Brooks had actually commanded the highest offensive usage rate on the roster, but now Morant is out indefinitely with a knee injury. Brooks’ efficiency has been up-and-down, as he’s only played in eight games due to hand and hamstring injuries. However, he has a great opportunity to lead Memphis and NBA DFS lineups on Thursday.
Memphis plays Oklahoma City on Thursday, which has allowed the most Fantasy points to opposing small forwards on DraftKings and the second-most on FanDuel. Brooks is gradually increasing his time on the floor and field goal attempts each game, and his defensive matchup, Luguentz Dort, grades out as one of the Thunder’s most ineffective defenders. What other mismatches can you take advantage of in Thursday’s NBA DFS player pool? Before making any NBA DFS picks, be sure to check out 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 Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo as one of his top NBA DFS picks on FanDuel and DraftKings. The result: In addition to finishing with 12 rebounds and nine assists, Antetokounmpo had his third 40-point game of the season to return 69.5 points on DraftKings and 64.9 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, December 2 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, December 2
One of McClure’s top NBA DFS picks for Thursday includes Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum ($8,000 on FanDuel and $8,500 on DraftKings). Damian Lillard missed his first game with an abdomen injury against the Pistons on Tuesday, and McCollum took the lead on offense. He finished with 28 points and six assists with four rebounds and two steals against Detroit.
Portland plays San Antonio on Thursday, who McCollum played well against last season. In two games, he averaged 28 points and four assists. For the season, McCollum has had a usage rate of 26.1, but that mark has been over 32 percent in each of the two games that Lillard has missed this year. He’ll be the top option again tonight with Lillard out and going up against a Spurs team that has allowed 109 points per game.
Another part of McClure’s optimal NBA DFS strategy includes stacking McCollum with Portland center Jusuf Nurkic ($7,000 on DraftKings and $6,700 on FanDuel). San Antonio has given up the fourth-most points in the paint this season on average, with 48.2 per game. On Monday, in a tough matchup against Utah, Nurkic scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a losing effort.
One of the more surprising trends in the games that Nurkic played against the Spurs last season was that he became more of a facilitator. In his two starts against San Antonio, he averaged 4.5 assists, which was his second-highest average against all opponents. When a star goes down, other guys have to step up, and Nurkic is one of Portland’s top options.
How to set NBA DFS lineups for Thursday, December 2
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.
