While Monday’s NBA schedule may feature a robust lineup of games, more than half of them will be in the books before the evening slate tips off. The first matchup in those later games features Portland at Orlando, and the return of Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum, who has missed his last 17 games with a collapsed lung, which stemmed from a prior rib injury. Despite the long layoff, McCollum doesn’t come at much of a discount on sites like FanDuel and DraftKings, but is that a sign that he is worth dropping into your NBA DFS lineups on Monday?
Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard (abdomen) continues to miss time, and was out in the three games before McCollum’s turn on the injury list. In those three starts, McCollum averaged 22.7 points with 4.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game. McCollum also scored 21 points with two steals in a loss to Denver that Lillard missed on November 14. Before making your NBA DFS picks for Monday, 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 Sunday, McClure included Nuggets center Nikola Jokic as one of his top NBA DFS picks on both DraftKings and FanDuel. The result: Jokic posted his second consecutive triple-double and ninth of the season in a loss to Utah. His 25 points, 15 rebounds and 14 assists returned 72.75 points on DraftKings and 67 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 Monday, January 17, 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 Monday, January 17
One of McClure’s top NBA DFS picks for Monday is Lakers superstar LeBron James, who is listed at $10,900 on DraftKings and $11,200 on FanDuel. Monday began with James’ wife, Savannah, trending on social media for her look in a fashionable black dress, but LeBron has looked pretty good as well over his last 10 starts. During that stretch, he averaged 33.4 points, 9.1 rebounds, 6.3 assists, with 1.5 steals and blocks per game.
The Lakers close out the day’s schedule with a matchup against the Utah Jazz, who snapped a four-game losing streak on Sunday with a 125-102 win over Denver. The Lakers haven’t played Utah yet this season, and in the only game James played against the Jazz last season, he scored 19 points with four rebounds and four assists. The Lakers have listed James as their center in recent games, but he took 11 shots outside of the paint in his last game, which should force Jazz center Rudy Gobert out of his comfort zone on defense if that’s the case again tonight.
Another key in McClure’s optimal NBA DFS strategy includes rostering Suns guard Devin Booker ($8,400 on DraftKings and $8,100 on FanDuel). Booker has been exceptional over his last two starts against Indiana and Detroit, where he’s scored 65 points and hit 51.2 percent of his shots in those games. Since his return from a hamstring injury in mid-December, Booker has led the Suns in offensive usage rate in each of his last 14 starts.
Booker missed the Suns’ last game against Monday’s opponent, San Antonio, but he was in the lineup for their first meeting on November 22. In that game, he scored 23 points and had four assists in a win over the Spurs. San Antonio has suddenly been more vulnerable in its transition defense, and has given up 12 fast break points per game over its last three. Booker is tied with Anthony Edwards for the fourth-most average points in transition this season (5.6), which provides a nice boost to his Fantasy scoring.
How to set NBA DFS lineups for Monday, January 17
McClure is also targeting a player who could go off for massive numbers on Monday 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 Monday? 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.