NBA DFS Picks: The SuperDraft Starting Five | Aug. 24

Happy Monday! I’m here to give you my starting five picks for your lineups on SuperDraft — two guards, two forwards, and a center — for today’s NBA DFS main slate.

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SuperDraft Starting Five

MALCOLM BROGDON (1.55X MULTIPLIER)

Before the bubble, I did some digging to find some of the Pacers’ rates on the year with Jeremy Lamb and Domantas Sabonis off the floor and was shocked to see Brogdon putting up nearly 46 fantasy points per 36 minutes at a 27% usage rate. I’ve been in on him early and often in these playoffs as a result, and it paid off in a major way in Game 3 with a monster 68.75-SuperDraft-point performance. I’m not asking for a repeat, but if Brogdon continues distributing like he has (9+ assists every game this series), there’s an outrageous upside at this multiplier. He’s my favorite play on SuperDraft today.

ERIC GORDON (1.75X MULTIPLIER)

Multi-positional eligibility is tough to come by on SuperDraft, but that’s exactly what we get with Gordon’s G/F label. Gordon is always scoring-dependent, but he has has the ultra-green light in the Mike D’Antoni offense, and I don’t see that changing Monday. Plus, any time James Harden rests in Game 4 (6-8 minutes presumably), expect Gordon to eat up all of that usage as the only other shot creator on this team in Russell Westbrook‘s absence. Gordon has made two of his last 20 from 3 in this series, so if we can get him to turn that around, he could torch this slate at that multiplier with a hot shooting night.

JIMMY BUTLER (1.4X MULTIPLIER)

It wouldn’t be one of my write-ups if it didn’t include Jimmy Butler. One of my favorite things in a NBA DFS play is the ability to fill up a box score independent of shooting. In Game 3, Butler shot a woeful 5-for-16 and still put up 48.5 SuperDraft points, thanks in large part to him getting to the line 20 times. Butler’s also seen a nice 4.5% usage increase on the year with Kendrick Nunn off the court, who’s been a DNP-CD the first three games of the series. Butler can also spike a defensive stat upside at any moment. At a 1.4x multiplier, there’s a number of ways that Butler can get there for you. And if the shot does start to fall, he could easily be the best forward play of the day.

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SHAI GILGEOUS-ALEXANDER (1.45X MULTIPLIER)

The Thunder finally won a game off of the Rockets, and young Gilgeous-Alexander is a lot of the reason why. After some lackluster performances at the beginning of the bubble, he came on strong in Game 2 and Game 3 of the first round, putting up 44.5 and 51.75 FantasyDraft points, respectively. Going into this series, I said that the smaller interior of the Rockets would have issues stopping Gilgeous-Alexander’s incredible ability to finish at the rim, and he hasn’t disappointed. But not only is he penetrating incredibly well right now, he is 6-for-14 from 3 his last two, which is nothing to scoff at. You can see his confidence growing as this series has gone on, and I have a feeling his fantasy production will continue to follow.

JUSUF NURKIC (1.4X MULTIPLIER)

Nurkic looked gassed in Games 2 and 3, and his putrid stat lines prove it, averaging only 22.25 SuperDraft points. Playing along Hassan Whiteside surely caps his rebounding upside, but I’m still holding out hope for an offensive performance similar to the Memphis play-in game where Nurkic was involved in the pick-and-roll with Damian Lillard repeatedly, opening up easy scoring opportunities. If Nurkic is going to be chalk, there are certainly some viable pivots on the board (including his own teammate, the aforementioned Whiteside). But if the masses start to get off here, I’ll take one more shot on the talent of Nurkic at an inflated multiplier.

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Author

Eric Lindquist

Eric Lindquist hails from Sioux Falls, South Dakota (yes, that’s the one with Mount Rushmore). A steady diet of three SportsCenters a day at an early age led to his obsession with sports, one that 30 years later is paying dividends for him as a successful DFS player and sports bettor. Despite over half a million dollars in net career earnings, he’s most passionate about helping others achieve their financial goals, an energy you can witness on the daily in his current role as a host and analyst at Stokastic. He’s a former Division I golfer at Iowa State, wishes he was a former Minnesota sports fan, and is a proud father to a 100-pound Bernese Mountain dog named Duke that wishes he could just eat people food instead of the crap he and his wife feed him on the daily.