NBA DFS Picks, Projections, Lineups, Injuries & More Today: Monday Playbook

It's Monday, December 29th, and we have a 10-game NBA DFS main slate on DraftKings and FanDuel. 

This is a fantastic slate on both FanDuel and DraftKings and there is star power everywhere you turn as Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Victor Wembanyama. There are currently four games with 240-plus implied totals on the main slate.

Before actually diving into the meat and potatoes, welcome to the NBA DFS season. If this is your first time reading our column on NBA DFS picks, I just want to welcome you and give you a few tips and tricks on what you should be looking for each night.

• News outlets: reliable sources that give us injury news & starting lineups
• Pace of play: who's playing fast vs. who's playing slow. Which teams get a pace-up spot (more possessions) vs. pace-down (fewer possessions)
• Usage rates: is a percentage of how many plays that player is being used in
• NBA DFS Projections
• Lineup Generator
• NBA Ownership

NBA DFS Picks & Daily Fantasy Playbook Today, December 29th

Be sure to like and subscribe to the Fantasy Alarm YouTube channel!

Pre/Post-Lock Update Section

This section will be used for anything that changes from the morning until right up to roster lock. 

Injury updates, players we’re higher on than we were in the morning and so much more.

All status updates after contest roster lock will be made in the Fantasy Alarm Discord: https://discord.gg/2yATJxXe8G

• Interested in Zaccharie Risacher. W/o Jalen Johnson, Trae Young & Kristaps Porzingis (97 mins); 1.07 FP/min, 23.1% USG
• Here are Zaccharie Risacher's minutes in some of the Hawks blowouts this year;
• 12/19 (28 pt L) - 30 mins, 29.5 DKP // 12/12 (27 pt L) - 27 mins, 19.75 DKP // 12/3 (23 pt L) - 33 mins, 23.25 DKP // 11/25 (19 pt L) - 29.5 mins, 34.75 DKP

NBA Injuries, News & Updates Today, 12/29

• Jalen Johnson - OUT
• Alperen Sengun - OUT
• Josh Giddey - IN
• Trae Young - OUT
• Franz Wagner - OUT
• Bam Adebayo - IN
• Jalen Green - OUT
• Josh Hart - OUT
• Jalen Suggs - OUT
• Tyler Herro - OUT
• De'Aaron Fox - QUEST (went through shootaround)
• Kristaps Porzingis - OUT
• Kon Knueppel - OUT
• Kyshawn George - OUT
• Grayson Allen - OUT
• Isaiah Hartenstein - OUT
• Jay Huff - IN
• Mark Williams - OUT
• Ajay Mitchell - QUEST
• Jakob Poeltl - OUT
• RJ Barrett - OUT
• Mitchell Robinson - OUT
• Miles McBride - PROB
• Tyler Kolek - QUEST
• Herbert Jones - OUT
• Corey Kispert - OUT
• Ryan Kalkbrenner - OUT
• Khris Middleton - OUT
• Isaiah Jackson - OUT
• Al Horford - OUT
• Jose Alvarado - OUT
• T.J. McConnell - IN
• Ben Sheppard - OUT

NBA DFS Slate & Game Overviews

In the section below, I’m listing the most notable things we need to look at in Las Vegas, including notable O/U and spreads. Not every game is listed, but every game listed has the pace and defensive numbers listed.

NBA DFS Core Player Pool & Lineup Picks

Here are the core players I’m looking at for my NBA DFS picks tonight. You can see the full analysis of tonight’s NBA DFS projections and player pool below or skip ahead to building the best lineups possible by locking these into the aforementioned lineup generator now.

High

• Nikola Jokic, Jalen Brunson, Anthony Edwards

Mid

• Karl-Anthony Towns, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Jamal Murray, LaMelo Ball, Scottie Barnes (GPP), Amen Thompson, Miles Bridges, Andrew Wiggins, Collin Gillespie

Value

• Moussa Diabate, Tari Eason, Tim Hardaway, Oso Ighodaro, Steven Adams, Asa Newell, Mouhamed Gueye, Zaccharie Risacher, Tre Johnson, Jordan Goodwin

Don't Miss The NBA DFS Playbook Live Show At 5:00 PM ET

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