Few people would have expected that Cade Cunningham and the Pistons would have more victories than the Bucks through roughly 10% of the 2024-25 NBA season, but there's no debating the Bucks haven't played their best ball to open the year. Milwaukee snapped a six-game losing streak with a victory over the Jazz on Thursday and travel to play the Knicks on Friday for the second half of a back-to-back. The Knicks are also off to a slower start at 3-4 and New York is coming off back-to-back losses, so should the surprising struggles affect how daily Fantasy basketball players form an NBA DFS strategy?
Both teams are filled with stars in the NBA DFS player pool who are often popular picks for NBA DFS lineups, such as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns. With 13 games on the Friday NBA schedule, should daily Fantasy basketball players target this contest when making NBA DFS lineups? 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 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 on sites like DraftKings and FanDuel 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 Nuggets point guard Russell Westbrook as one of his top picks in his NBA DFS player pool on both sites. The result: Westbrook had 29 points, six rebounds and six assists, returning 47 points on DraftKings and 44.2 points on FanDuel for NBA DFS lineups. 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 Friday and locked in his top daily Fantasy basketball picks. You can only see them by heading to SportsLine.
Top NBA DFS picks Friday, November 8
For Friday, one of McClure's top NBA DFS picks is Mavericks point guard Luka Doncic, who is listed at $11,600 on DraftKings and $11,500 on FanDuel. Doncic is fifth in the NBA in scoring (28.6 points per game) and assists (8.1 per game) while also adding 8.1 rebounds. He's had a double-double in back-to-back games with 27 points and 13 assists on Wednesday after posting 34 points and 15 assists on Monday. He added seven rebounds in each of those contests as one of the top scorers for NBA DFS lineups this week.
The Mavericks play the Suns on Friday, and Doncic has had many strong performances against Phoenix lately. He scored at least 40 points in three of their four meetings with it, including a 50-point outburst on Christmas Day. Doncic has averaged 41.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 9.8 assists over his last four games against the Suns. Doncic had 40 points, 10 rebounds and four assists against the Suns earlier this season, and McClure expects another huge performance in their second meeting of the 2024-25 NBA season.
Another part of McClure's optimal NBA DFS strategy includes rostering Grizzlies point guard Scotty Pippen Jr. ($6,500 on DraftKings and $6,000 on FanDuel). Pippen is averaging 11.7 points, 3.6 rebounds and 6.4 assists on 50% shooting from the field as a key contributor off the bench. He's averaging 25.8 minutes per game, his most in his three NBA seasons, and the Grizzlies are yet again one of the most injury-plagued teams in the NBA.
Ja Morant (hip), Desmond Bane (oblique), Marcus Smart (ankle) and Gregory Jackson II (foot) are four of the six Grizzlies out on Friday. McClure expects a significant increase in minutes and usage from Pippen as the Grizzlies are desperate for offense ahead of their matchup against the Wizards. Washington allowed the most points in the NBA last season and is allowing the second-most this year (123.2 ppg) as this matchup, usage and price all signal strong things for Pippen in Friday NBA DFS lineups. See McClure's other NBA DFS picks right here.
How to set your NBA DFS lineups for Friday, November 8
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.
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 over $2 million in career winnings, and find out.
