Brian Tulloch 
Happy Sunday my NBA DFS friends – while the majority of the sports world will be focused on Week 17 in the NFL, why not double-dip and get some daytime football followed by some NBA winnings this evening?
We have a solid 7 game NBA DFS slate that kicks off at 6PM EST and my advice – reserve your spots early as the contests are smaller and as people tilt NFL DFS, they will start chucking more money in hopes to chase their early day losses – a tale as old as time!
Building our Sunday NBA DFS Core
This slate frankly, boils down to two main spots for me – one we know and one we need to wait on.
The Brooklyn/Washington game is the a game that checks all the boxes when building a core NBA DFS lineup – we have a 240+ Vegas total and the highest projected pace game on the slate with all the star power we could possibly need.
Listen, if you have been reading Picks and Pivots you know I have been all over Brooklyn early this season and that starts with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. If DraftKings just keeps pricing them at ~$9K and the industry wants to keep overlooking them – I will play them every slate and twice on Sunday, well today is Sunday so maybe that does not apply.
On Friday night against Atlanta, Kyrie was just 7% owned – and frankly, I don’t understand why this Nets duo continues to get overlooked despite the fair pricing and 30-35% usage rates in a massive pace up offense.
Tonight they face off with Washington and that means Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal. So we have a track meet game and Westbrook on the other side of this? Yeah buddy!
Stars and Scrubs may not have worked last night but it has been the winning path more often than not and with this game staring at me – I am locking in Westbrook, Kyrie and KD and simply moving on. It may seem “easy” and well, it is – but you can build around the best game on the slate with the 3 best plays, and oh, by the way, you still have $4.3K per player on DK for the rest of your build. Done AND DONE!
So now what?
Well, next step is to watch the news because the status of Luka Doncic will dictate where we go next. With Luka questionable against Chicago, if he sits – well, you already know…..
Happy THJ Day my friends!
I am sure the rest of my NBA DFS colleagues here at Win Daily are cringing but if Luka is out – Tim Hardaway Jr. and the rest of the Mavs value becomes the core building block value on this slate.
We have seen this script before last season with Luka (and KP off the court), the usage falls to guys like THJ and Trey Burke ($3.4K) and while last year that third role fell to Seth Curry, this year it would mean more Josh Richardson ($5K).
Each player put up a fantasy point per minute with Luka and KP off the court last season so let’s assume that trend continues and we get roughly 90 fantasy points with the assumption each player plays around 30 minutes. If you get that kind of production at $14.2K combined salary – you are locking in 6.3X salary above and beyond your high ceiling stars.
Honestly, mix and match or play all three – literally with no Luka on the floor, the entirety of the Dallas offense is this trio against a Bulls team that has the 4th worst defensive rating of any team in the NBA this season.
NBA DFS Picks and Pivots – The Wrap Up
The goal of Picks and Pivots has been and will always be, a way to help you think through builds and not just list off plays. Today, the slate sets up so clearly in my mind and I want to make sure you see it the same way.
Lock in the Washington/Brooklyn star trio and IF/WHEN we get news that Luka is out – you can rock THJ/Richardson/Burke and guess what – you still have $3.7K/player for the last two spots on your roster.
It is just that simple for me and I am going to start all my builds that way while we wait for news on Luka. Lock in on a core, monitor the Custom Projections, and let’s MAKE SOME MONEY!
Enjoy this slate – let’s get in Discord today and chat it up while we dig through our cheat sheets and projections here at Win Daily to set up the start of this NBA season with some big wins!
Make sure you follow me on Twitter at @2LockSports and be sure to sign up for an ALL ACCESS GOLD ACCOUNT account here at Win Daily Sports. Gain access to our Projection Models and jump into our Discord where we will have our experts talking plays across every sport and slate!
