The 2024-25 NBA season continues on Friday after the San Antonio Spurs took the court Thursday less than 12 hours after learning that phenom Victor Wembanyama would miss the remainder of the season with a blood clot in his shoulder. Wembanyama averaged 24.3 points and 11 rebounds per game this season, leaving significant opportunities to other San Antonio players in the NBA DFS player pool.
The Spurs play the Pistons on Friday in the second half of a back-to-back for San Antonio. After players like Julian Champagnie and Stephon Castle broke through with double-digit scoring on Thursday, could they return value to NBA DFS lineups on Friday while leaving money in your NBA DFS strategy for some of the most expensive players like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander? 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 Thursday, McClure highlighted Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns as one of his top NBA DFS picks from the NBA DFS player pool on both sites. The result: Towns had 32 points, 18 rebounds, two assists and two steals, returning 62.5 points on DraftKings and 59.6 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 Friday and locked in his top daily Fantasy basketball picks. You can only see them by heading to SportsLine.
Top NBA DFS picks for Friday, February 21
For Friday, one of McClure’s top NBA DFS picks is Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson, who is listed at $8,800 on DraftKings and $9,100 on FanDuel. The 28-year-old had 22 points and 12 assists in a 113-111 victory over the Bulls on Thursday coming off his second straight All-Star appearance. Brunson is averaging 26 points and a career-high 7.6 assists per game this season after averaging career bests in scoring (28.7 ppg) and assists (6.7 per game) last year.
The Knicks play the Cavaliers on Friday, and Brunson had 21 points and seven assists against Cleveland earlier this year. Brunson had a 48-point performance in one of his eight career regular-season games against Cleveland with the Knicks. Friday night could be a statement game for the Knicks against the top seed in the Eastern Conference, and McClure expects a strong performance from Brunson.
Another part of McClure’s optimal NBA DFS strategy includes rostering Magic forward Paolo Banchero ($8,300 on DraftKings and $8,700 on FanDuel). The No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft had 36 points, 10 rebounds and five assists on Thursday in a 114-108 win over the Hawks in Orlando’s first game out of the NBA All-Star Break. The 22-year-old is averaging career highs in points (23.1 ppg) and rebounds (7.3 per game) in his third NBA season.
The Magic play the Grizzlies, who are coming off a 127-113 loss to the Pacers on Thursday. Memphis has allowed at least 125 points in three of its last four games and ranks 23rd in the league in scoring defense (116 ppg). Banchero averages 22 points, 8.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists over five career games against the Grizzlies. See McClure’s other NBA DFS picks right here.
How to set your NBA DFS lineups for Friday, February 21
McClure is also targeting a player who could go off for massive numbers on Friday 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 Friday? 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.
