While many basketball fans will be glued to the NCAA Tournament playing all night long, there is still a five-game NBA slate filled with the players those in March Madness dream of becoming one day. Warriors point guard Stephen Curry‘s rise to becoming a household name started in the 2008 NCAA Tournament when he led a No. 10 seed Davidson seed to the Elite Eight. Curry has built a future NBA Hall of Fame career from there, and with the Warriors in action against the Raptors on Thursday night, should daily Fantasy basketball players include Curry in NBA DFS lineups?
Curry is averaging 24.3 points and 6.1 assists at 37 years old as he’s still an elite offensive player. Knicks guard/forward Mikal Bridges has fond NCAA Tournament memories with his former college and now professional running mate Jalen Brunson, who is still out with an ankle injury. Bridges has become an offensive focal point in New York with Brunson out, so how should he factor into your NBA DFS strategy? Before making any NBA DFS picks, 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 more than $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 on sites like DraftKings and FanDuel and create optimal lineups that he shares only over at SportsLine. They’re a must-see for any NBA DFS player.
On Tuesday (when McClure last made NBA DFS picks), McClure highlighted Hawks point guard Trae Young as one of his top NBA DFS picks from the NBA DFS player pool on both sites. The result: Young had 31 points, two rebounds, eight assists and three steals, returning 52 points on DraftKings and 50.4 points on FanDuel. Anybody who included him in their lineups could have been well on the way to a profitable day.
McClure has turned his attention to NBA action on Thursday and locked in his top daily Fantasy basketball picks. You can only see them by heading to SportsLine.
Top NBA DFS picks for Thursday, March 20
For Thursday, one of McClure’s top NBA DFS picks is Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns, who is listed at $9,700 on both DraftKings and FanDuel. The 29-year-old had 32 points and nine rebounds in a 120-105 loss to the Spurs on Wednesday as Towns has become an even more important scorer with Brunson out. Towns is averaging 24.4 points and 13 rebounds per game and has scored more than 20 points in six straight games.
The Knicks play the Hornets, who at 17-51 have one of the worst records in the league. Charlotte is coming off a 134-102 loss to the Hawks on Tuesday and has allowed at least 123 points in four straight games. Towns is averaging 23 points and 14 rebounds in two games against the Hornets this season.
Another part of McClure’s optimal NBA DFS strategy includes rostering Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma (5,400 on DraftKings and $5,500 on FanDuel). Kuzma is averaging 13.7 points and 6.4 rebounds over 19 games with the Bucks since being traded from the Wizards. The 29-year-old had 22 points against the Warriors on Tuesday on 16 shots, his third-most with the Bucks as he becomes more comfortable with his new teammates.
Bobby Portis (suspension) remains out, which should mean a continued expanded role for Kuzma against the Lakers, who are playing the second half of a back-to-back. The Lakers will be shorthanded with Luka Doncic potentially out as he’s been battling ankle soreness and LeBron James (groin) likely out. McClure expects Kuzma to provide value and depth to Thursday NBA DFS lineups against his original team. See McClure’s other NBA DFS picks right here.
How to set your NBA DFS lineups for Thursday, March 20
McClure is also targeting a player who could go off for massive numbers on Thursday 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.
Who is DFS pro Mike McClure putting in his optimal NBA DFS lineups for Thursday? Visit SportsLine now to see optimal NBA DFS picks, rankings, advice, and stacks, all from a professional DFS player who has over $2 million in career winnings, and find out.
