After a hot November, the Minnesota Timberwolves have cooled off to start December with five consecutive losses. They look to get back on track Sunday night against a Portland Trail Blazers team that has lost each of its last four games by double-digits and is still without CJ McCollum (collapsed lung) with Damian Lillard (abdominal) questionable. Someone that could take advantage and be a sneaky player to include in your Sunday NBA DFS lineups could be Minnesota sixth-man Malik Beasley.
Beasley has been outproducing several of Minnesota's starters over the last few games, and he's averaged 17.8 points with 4.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists over his last four. D'Angelo Russell has missed the last three games for Minnesota with an ankle injury and is questionable to return on Sunday. Even if Russell is able to go, he should play in a reduced role, keeping Beasley an attractive bargain target in the NBA DFS player pool. Before finalizing any of your NBA DFS picks for Sunday, 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 Saturday, McClure had Nuggets center Nikola Jokic in his core NBA DFS picks on FanDuel and DraftKings. The result: Jokic had 35 points, 17 rebounds, eight assists, and two blocks, returning 75.25 points on DraftKings and nearly 71.4 points on FanDuel. Anybody that included them in their lineups was well on the way to a profitable day.
Now, McClure has turned his attention to the Sunday, December 12 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 Sunday, December 12
One of McClure's top NBA DFS picks for Sunday is Nets superstar Kevin Durant at $11,000 on DraftKings and $10,800 on FanDuel. Durant is likely to see the biggest increase in offensive production in the absence of Harden. He was given a rest day on December 8 against Houston, and came back against Atlanta with 31 points; his most since his 39-point performance against Phoenix on November 27.
In Durant's last game against Detroit, he dropped 29 points and came away with 10 rebounds in a November 5 win. Over his last five games overall, he's averaged 28 points with 7.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks. Durant's three-point shooting has been down as of late, but the Pistons have allowed opponents to hit 38 percent of their three-point attempts this season, which is the second-highest rate in the league.
Another part of McClure's optimal NBA DFS strategy includes rostering Mavericks guard Jalen Brunson ($5,300 on DraftKings and $5,800 on FanDuel). Dallas superstar Luka Doncic is a scratch for the game tonight as the team monitors an ankle injury that he has been playing through. In a three-game stretch earlier this season in which Doncic was out, Brunson averaged 18.7 points and nine assists.
The Mavericks play Oklahoma City on Sunday, who allowed point guard Fred VanVleet to score 19 points with nine assists on December 8. Brunson started two of three games against OKC last season, and showed well for himself. He scored 15.3 points and shot 51.4 percent from the field against the Thunder in those games, and should see a heavy uptick in usage tonight with Doncic not in the lineup.
How to set NBA DFS lineups for Sunday, December 12
McClure is also targeting a player who could go off for massive numbers on Sunday 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 Sunday? 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.
