Daily Fantasy DraftKings and FanDuel NBA Picks - Monday, December 5, 2022

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Point Guard/ Shooting Guard

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander FD - $10400 DK - $10300
Opponent - ATL
Proj Pts FD - 47.26 DK - 49.12

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is having some kind of season, a true breakout performance from a guy who was already ascending in this direction anyway. He’s averaging 31 points per game on 50% shooting from the field and 92% from the line where he’s getting close to ten attempts. Add in the three blocks+steals as well as the six rebounds, and five assists and you have one of the truly elite fantasy plays on a night-to-night basis. On Monday, SGA gets the Hawks in a game with the second-highest over/under of the slate (231.5). It could be a high-scoring affair and the Thunder haven’t been shy about running Shai big minutes in close games this season.

Andrew Nembhard FD - $4900 DK - $4200
Opponent - GS
Proj Pts FD - 30.31 DK - 32.74

Tyrese Haliburton sat out on Sunday and he’ll miss this game as well. The Pacers are major underdogs so we could see a big time blowout at the hands of the Warriors, but it’s still worth playing some of their backcourt in cash. Nembhard took over the point guard duties on against the Blazers and ended up playing 37 minutes in the loss. He finished with 16 points, eight assists, and six rebounds in the complete stat line. His price hasn’t climbed nearly enough for this expanded role and I do think the plan is to play him in the high-30s minutes especially if TJ McConnell were to sit again.

Bennedict Mathurin FD - $5500 DK - $5400
Opponent - GS
Proj Pts FD - 31.31 DK - 34.76

Mathurin is set to come off the bench again for the Pacers, but that hasn’t stopped Rick Carlisle and company from playing the rookie a lot of minutes regardless. He’s averaging 29 minutes a game over the last month and has topped 30 plenty of times. Mathurin is taking more than 13 shots per game in that stretch, and is coming off taking 15 against the Blazers on Sunday. They will need his scoring if they have any hope of hanging with the Warriors here and though Mathurin is struggling from the field of late, he’s still very much a play in a depleted Pacers’ backcourt.

Small Forward

Giannis Antetokounmpo FD - $11800 DK - $11900
Opponent - ORL
Proj Pts FD - 57.47 DK - 60.88

The Bucks are getting healthier which is going to be a continued problem for the rest of the league. They were good without Middleton and now the team is trending towards just being healthier across the board. Even with Middleton back in the mix, Giannis hasn’t seen a dip in production if the first game was any indication. Against the Lakers, the Greek Freak dropped 40 points to go with seven rebounds and five assists in the win. We’ve seen him pile on stats in all scenarios and that should be the case again here. The concern, more than anything, with the Bucks, now is that they just steamroll teams like the Magic and the starters see reduced fourth-quarter minutes.

Buddy Hield FD - $5900 DK - $5800
Opponent - GS
Proj Pts FD - 31.74 DK - 35.44

Hield is in a similar situation as Nembhard in that the minutes and usage will surely stay on the high side once again with Haliburton out of the lineup. On Sunday, the former took a team-high 17 shots in the loss to the Blazers. He finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds to easily pay these prices. Again, the blowout risk is real here so we might have to tread a bit lightly, but the Pacers could once again be very short on backcourt options meaning the minutes could be safe either way.

Power Forward/ Center

Brandon Clarke FD - $4600 DK - $3700
Opponent - MIA
Proj Pts FD - 29.9 DK - 31.08

Santi Aldama FD - $4600 DK - $4000
Opponent - MIA
Proj Pts FD - 28.61 DK - 29.92

Steven Adams sat out on Sunday and is now questionable here on Monday. Plus, it doesn’t look like Jaren Jackson Jr. is going to play on the second half of the back-to-back. That should leave plenty of opportunity for Brandon Clarke here who is coming off playing 30 minutes and dropping 14 points with 14 rebounds against the Pistons. The matchup against the Heat is considerably worse, but his price hasn’t been corrected at all for the role increase especially if Adams is out.

Additionally, with Jaren Jackson Jr. likely to sit, we should see Santi Aldama draw the start in his absence. Aldama had been starting earlier in the season for JJJ and has been in that spot recently as well. When he had the full-time role, Santi averaged 10 points and six rebounds in about 30 minutes per game. While not overwhelming stat lines, we can definitely consider him at a tougher power forward position in this matchup.

Draymond Green FD - $6200 DK - $6200
Opponent - IND
Proj Pts FD - 31.91 DK - 33.27

Draymond Green is still coming at a reasonable price on FanDuel at a position that’s been traditionally a bit more difficult to fill on a slate-to-slate basis. With Andrew Wiggins questionable for the game, there could be a few more minutes at the wings and in the front court for Golden State and we’ve seen Steve Kerr and company willing to push Draymond’s minutes a bit more lately in closer games. Before last game, Green had put up double-digit points in three straight and double-doubled in two of them. His middle-tier pricing works because he’s able to contribute in all areas of the game even if not being overwhelming in any of them.