After a single-game slate on Wednesday, the 2024 NBA playoffs return to a doubleheader format on Thursday night with Celtics vs. Cavaliers and Thunder vs. Mavericks. The home teams dominated Game 1 in both series, leaving the road teams desperate to even things up on Thursday. Celtics shooting guard Derrick White maintained his terrific postseason with 25 points and five assists in the series opener, making him a valuable addition to NBA DFS lineups. He is averaging 22.8 points overall in the playoffs after scoring 15.2 points per game in the regular season.
Finding an undervalued player is one of the keys to building a winning NBA DFS strategy. Should you target White from the NBA DFS player pool on sites like DraftKings and FanDuel? Before making your 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 and create optimal lineups that he shares only over at SportsLine. They're a must-see for any NBA DFS player.
On Tuesday, McClure highlighted Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as one of his top picks in his NBA DFS player pool on both sites. The result: Gilgeous-Alexander had 29 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, returning 59.8 points on DraftKings and 60.3 points on FanDuel. 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 Thursday and locked in his top daily Fantasy basketball picks. You can only see them by heading to SportsLine.
Top NBA DFS picks for Thursday, May 9
For Thursday, one of McClure's top NBA DFS picks is rostering Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, who is listed at $9,400 on DraftKings and $9,600 on FanDuel. Aside from a Game 2 loss in the opening round against Miami, the Celtics have been on cruise control in the playoffs. They have trailed for a total of just nine minutes across their five victories, despite Tatum failing to score 30 points in any of the six playoff games thus far.
He is shooting 40.6% from the floor and 25% from 3-point range, which are both career postseason lows. However, head coach Joe Mazzulla told reporters that he has liked Tatum's shot selection and will continue to urge his superstar to be aggressive. Tatum also adds value in other ways, grabbing at least 10 rebounds in five of six playoff games while blocking three shots against the Cavaliers in Game 1. He also has a history of stuffing the stat sheet versus Cleveland as he had at least 25 points and 10 rebounds in all three regular-season games versus the Cavs.
Another part of McClure's optimal NBA DFS strategy includes rostering Mavericks point guard Luka Doncic ($11,600 on DraftKings and $11,800 on FanDuel). Doncic continues to play through a right knee sprain, finishing with 19 points on 6 of 19 shooting in Game 1. The Mavericks cannot afford to rest their superstar on Thursday, so there will be plenty of opportunities for him to post big numbers.
He is shooting less than 40% from the floor in the playoffs, but he remains productive with 28.3 points, 9.4 assists, 8.4 rebounds and 1.1 steals. Doncic averaged 33.9 points, 9.8 assists and 9.2 rebounds during the regular season, finishing among the league's leaders in all three categories. The 25-year-old has not posted back-to-back sub-20-point games all season, so DFS players can expect a quality showing from Doncic on Thursday. See McClure's other NBA DFS picks right here.
How to set your NBA DFS lineups for Thursday, May 9
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.
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 over $2 million in career winnings, and find out.
