Tonight, two teams led by veteran stars will clash under the bright lights of the Footprint Center, as Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal’s Phoenix Suns welcome Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, Norman Powell, and the LA Clippers for a 9:30 p.m. ET clash.
With so many high-profile players in action, DraftKings is offering a showdown contest for the big game, and DFS players will have no shortage of options as they fill out their lineups.
Set your DraftKings fantasy basketball lineups here: NBA Showdown $80K Fadeaway [$20K to 1st] (LAC @ PHX).
In the Single-Game Showdown format, players will have the opportunity to pick a Captain, costing 1.5x the price but returning 1.5x the fantasy points, as well as five FLEX players of any position.
While there are many appealing options for Captain, I’d go with Booker ($16,800 CP) or Clippers center Ivica Zubac ($13,500 CP).
Devin Booker as Captain
While Booker is the third-most expensive player on tonight’s featured slate, he averages as many fantasy points per dollar (0.0039) as Harden ($17,400 CP) and has a more favorable matchup than his teammate Durant ($17,100 CP). He’s been in a slight shooting slump over his last five games, but he’s still averaged 27.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 5.0 assists (42.7 FPTS) per game across that span. In his most recent game against LA, a 125-119 win on October 31, Booker dropped 40 points, five rebounds, and eight assists (65.75 FPTS), his best fantasy performance of the season.
Also, while the Clippers have the league’s second-best defensive rating, they are better against opposing wings than guards, allowing just the 10th-fewest fantasy points to opposing shooting guards. While Powell ($14,400 CP) has graded out as a positive defender for the first time since 2019-20, Leonard ($12,900 CP), who’s likely to draw the primary Durant matchup, is obviously better. This season, opponents have shot 3.8 percentage points worse when guarded by Leonard and 3.1 percentage points better when guarded by Powell.
Ivica Zubac as Captain
Meanwhile, while Powell has the second-shortest odds to win Most Improved Player, Zubac shouldn’t be far behind. The ninth-year Croatian center has averaged a career-high 14.9 points and 12.5 rebounds per game, the latter of which ranks fourth in the league. His average shot is just 4.3 feet, but that shouldn’t take away from the fact that his career 61.2% field goal percentage is the seventh-best in NBA history.
Zubac is incredibly consistent, having recorded 27 double-doubles this season, tied for the seventh-most in the league, and he is one of seven players to have recorded a 20-point, 20-rebound game in 2024-25. He has scored fewer than 30 FPTS just 11 times this season, and in two games against the Suns, he has averaged 21.5 points and 10.5 rebounds (38.15 FPTS) per game.
Phoenix has really struggled with paint defense this season, allowing the 11th-most fantasy points to opposing centers and the ninth-most rebounds overall. The Suns’ interior woes were so bad that they traded for former Charlotte Hornets big Nick Richards ($9,900 CP) to take over the starting role. While Richards has been much better than expected in his first four games with Phoenix, averaging 13.3 points and 12.3 rebounds per game (31.6 FPTS), the Suns have still allowed the eighth-most rebounds per game across that span.
Lineup Construction for Clippers at Suns
Here’s a sample lineup built around Booker as Captain:
A lineup built around Booker still leaves room for Richards, who has provided star-level production without a star-level salary, dropping a 20-point, 19-rebound (47.8-FPT) performance in his most recent game. Powell — who has scored 20 or more points in all but nine of his games this season and ranks ninth in three-point percentage among 180 players who have played at least 30 games and attempted at least three three-pointers per game — is always a potent threat, even though his shot has been a bit off in his last four games.
For a more budget option, Kevin Porter Jr. ($4,000) dropped eight points, eight rebounds, three assists, and three steals (28.5 FPTS) in his most recent game and should see some action tonight amid Kris Dunn ($3,800)‘s continued absence. Plus, Beal ($7,000) has been better since being relegated to the bench, averaging an efficient 15.4 points (28.4 FPTS) per game across that span, and Tyus Jones ($5,200) has two 10-assist performances in his last five games.
Meanwhile, building around Zubac could allow players to pair him with multiple stars.
Note that, in this case, the core FLEX pieces of Richards, Jones, and Porter remain intact, but instead of having Beal, who’s inconsistent, and Powell, who has a tough matchup in a Suns defense that has allowed the third-fewest fantasy points to opposing small forwards, players can go for the higher-upside play of Harden ($11,600) and Leonard ($8,600). Harden has an extremely friendly matchup, given that Phoenix allows the eighth-most fantasy points to point guards, and he has also scored at least 40 fantasy points in each of his last four games. Leonard, meanwhile, provides the ultimate consistency, having scored between 26.25 and 28.75 FPTS in each of his past four games despite being limited to 24 minutes in each game.
