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

It's Thursday, December 11th, and we have a 4-game NBA DFS main slate on DraftKings and FanDuel.

These eight teams are taking the court after the last two days of the NBA Cup quarterfinals took place. They've all had multiple days off and should come into tonight fresh as they've been since the start of the year. Two of the games featured tonight have 240-plus implied points and two sit at 224 or less. Nikola Jokic, Jaylen Brown, Deni Avdija, and Alperen Sengun are all slated to take the floor.

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 11th

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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

• UPDATE – 4:00 pm ET
• Nique Clifford will start in place of Zach LaVine. That does not take me off Malik Monk, but it definitely hurts Keon Ellis. I think projecting Nique Clifford anywhere from 24-26 minutes is safe.
• UPDATE – 7:15 pm ET
• Robert Williams & Yang Hansen are OUT
• Duop Reath could be the starter or they could go small as we've seen previously, they have used Kris Murray in a small-ball starting lineup.
• AJ Green is OUT. Kyle Kuzma should start & has mid-30s minutes upside.
• Kris Murray IS in fact starting at center. Duop Reath off the bench. Still in play off bench. Murray is VERY low FP/min, but he did play 35 mins the last time he started as small-ball five.

NBA Injuries, News & Updates Today, 12/11

• Giannis Antetokounmpo - OUT
• Domantas Sabonis - OUT
• Zion Williamson - OUT
• Jrue Holiday - OUT
• Zach LaVine - OUT
• Aaron Gordon - OUT
• Jordan Poole - IN
• Donovan Clingan - OUT
• Dennis Schroder - DOUBT
• AJ Green - OUT
• Robert Williams - OUT
• Tari Eason - OUT
• Derrick Jones - OUT
• Julian Strawther - OUT
• Yang Hansen - 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, Jaylen Brown, Deni Avdija

Mid

• Jamal Murray, Trey Murphy, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Porter, Derik Queen (GPP), Shaedon Sharpe, Jerami Grant, DeMar DeRozan

Value

• Neemias Queta, Bobby Portis, Kyle Kuzma, Herbert Jones, Nique Clifford, Cameron Johnson, Duop Reath

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