The Los Angeles Lakers received some much-needed good news when PF/C Anthony Davis was cleared to resume practicing starting next Monday. In the meantime, the Lakers are still without him in the lineup and could be in trouble down low against Pascal Siakam and the Toronto Raptors. Over their last three games, the Lakers have allowed opponents to come away with the most rebounds in the NBA, at 63 per contest, and Siakam has grabbed 23 in his last two starts.
Siakam has also scored 27.2 points on overage over his last five starts, but can daily Fantasy players count on him to keep up that production for their NBA DFS lineups on Friday? This season, Siakam is just outside the top 20 Fantasy scorers on sites like DraftKings and FanDuel. Before you make your NBA DFS picks for Friday, 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 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 Spurs point guard Dejounte Murray as one of his top NBA DFS picks on both DraftKings and FanDuel. The result: Murray scored 26 points to go with 12 assists, nine rebounds and four steals to return 65.25 points on DraftKings and 63.8 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 Friday, March 18, 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 Friday, March 18
One of McClure’s top picks on Friday is Nets superstar Kevin Durant, who is listed at $10,500 on DraftKings and $11,000 on FanDuel. Brooklyn hosts Portland on Friday, and will be without the services of point guard Kyrie Irving, who remains ineligible to play in Nets home games this season. In the last three games that Durant has played without Irving in the lineup, he averaged 35.6 points and 7.6 assists.
In Durant’s previous game against Portland this season, he scored 28 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out five assists. The Blazers shouldn’t offer too much resistance against Durant this time either, without the services of Damian Lillard (abdomen), Jusuf Nurkic (foot), or Anfernee Simons (quad). Over Durant’s last three starts, he has had no trouble seeing the basket, and has made 33 of his total 66 attempts from the field.
Another part of McClure’s optimal NBA DFS strategy includes stacking Durant with Brooklyn center Nicolas Claxton ($3,400 on DraftKings and $4,700 on FanDuel). With LaMarcus Aldridge (hip) on the shelf again for Friday’s game, Claxton continues his platoon with Andre Drummond at the center position. Although Drummond has been the starter, Claxton has been given more minutes over the last two games.
In Claxton’s last three games, he averaged 11.7 points and 6.7 rebounds. Without Nurkic down low for Portland, Claxton should be able to continue his strong play in the post. Brooklyn has averaged the fifth-most points in the paint per game over its last three, so with no Irving, head coach Steve Nash should continue to funnel offense through the paint.
How to set your NBA DFS lineups for Friday, March 18
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.
So 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 almost $2 million in career winnings, and find out.
