Thursday brings just a three-game slate of basketball, as the focus this week has been on the knockout stages of the Emirates NBA Cup. Although none of the games — Toronto Raptors at Miami Heat, Detroit Pistons at Boston Celtics and Sacramento Kings at New Orleans Pelicans — appears particularly competitive on the surface, anything can happen in the NBA.
Plus, plenty of individual stars will be shining bright, so there will be quality options available to DFS players. Here are the top three centers to consider tonight:
Set your DraftKings fantasy basketball lineups here: NBA $300K Fadeaway [$100K to 1st]
1. Domantas Sabonis, Sacramento Kings vs. New Orleans Pelicans ($9,500)
It’s been a weird season for the Sacramento Kings. They haven’t been able to get a lot of momentum going and string together high-quality performances; their longest winning streak this season is just three games. As a result, the Kings are 12-13, in 12th place in a stacked Western Conference. Individually, though, Sabonis has been tremendous, averaging 20.8 points, 12.7 rebounds, and 6.2 assists on sterling 62-43-82 shooting splits.
Frankly, I’d like any center against the banged-up New Orleans Pelicans, who dwell in the West’s basement with a 5-20 record and have a bottom-ten defense in basketball by virtually every important metric. In particular, they give up the fourth-most assists to opposing players, which is especially valuable because each assist is worth 1.5 fantasy points on DraftKings. Overall, New Orleans has conceded the ninth-most DraftKings fantasy points to opposing centers so far this season.
2. Bam Adebayo, Miami Heat vs. Toronto Raptors ($8,100)
This has been a tumultuous week for the Miami Heat, to say the least, with star forward Jimmy Butler being once again involved in trade rumors. Thursday’s contest will be the first game the team has played since the rumors hit their crescendo, but Butler says he isn’t letting the media attention bother him. Neither, surely, will his running mate Bam Adebayo, who hasn’t quite shown the All-Star form of his last two seasons but is still averaging a solid 16.0 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 5.2 assists so far.
Adebayo has an extremely favorable matchup tonight against a bad Toronto Raptors team that already has one eye on Duke forward Cooper Flagg. Far from the defensive stalwarts that they were during the Kawhi Leonard-Pascal Siakam-Marc Gasol era, the Raptors have allowed the third-most DraftKings fantasy points to opposing centers this season. Toronto has allowed opponents to rack up blocks and steals at top-ten rates, and it also fouls more than any team in the league, which should play into Adebayo’s versatility.
3. Kristaps Porzingis, Boston Celtics vs. Detroit Pistons ($7,300)
So much for a championship hangover; the Boston Celtics have hardly missed a beat this season, racing out to a 19-5 record with the third-best net rating (9.3 points per 100 possessions) in the NBA. To make matters worse for the rest of the NBA, Kristaps Porzingis — one of two 2023 offseason acquisitions that put them over the top — is back and looking healthy. The Unicorn is averaging 20.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks on 34.3% shooting from deep.
After a pitiful five-year stretch in which the Pistons haven’t even cracked 100 total wins, Detroit is finally showing signs of life, sitting at 10-15 and 11th place in the Eastern Conference. Pistons starting center Jalen Duren has become an impactful rim deterrent in his third season, and overall, Detroit is a very average defensive unit, a huge improvement from previous seasons. But the young Pistons still aren’t ready to take down the Celtics, and Porzingis torched Detroit in their previous matchup to the tune of 26 points, nine rebounds, and two blocks (43.5 FPTS).
Set your DraftKings fantasy basketball lineups here: NBA $300K Fadeaway [$100K to 1st]
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All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook, lines and odds subject to change.
II am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skills and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.
