NBA DFS Picks, Projections, Lineups, Injuries & More Today: Saturday Playbook
Published: Jan 04, 2025
Happy Saturday, January 4th! We have a nice seven-game NBA DFS main slate on DraftKings and an eight-gamer on FanDuel as they're including the 10:30pm ET island game.
We get a re-match of the thrilling Nikola Jokic-Victor Wembanyama duel that came down to the final shot on Friday evening. The Jimmy Butler saga is seemingly coming to an end in Miami. Kawhi Leonard is expected to make his season debut for the Clippers, and of course we will have plenty of other injury situations to sort through.
Fun slate indeed! Let's dive in.
Before actually diving into the meat and potatoes, welcome to the NBA DFS season. If this is your first time reading our column on NBA DFS picks, I just want to welcome you and give you a few tips and tricks on what you should be looking for each night.
- News outlets: reliable sources that give us injury news & starting lineups
- Pace of play: who's playing fast vs. who's playing slow. Which teams get a pace-up spot (more possessions) vs. pace-down (fewer possessions)
- Usage rates: is a percentage of how many plays that player is being used in
- NBA DFS Projections
- Lineup Generator
- NBA Ownership
NBA DFS Picks & Daily Fantasy Playbook Today, January 4th
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Pre-Lock Update
This section will be used for anything that changes from the morning until right up to roster lock.
Injury updates, players we’re higher on than we were in the morning and so much more.
The Nuggets, Knicks, Grizzlies, and Hawks have yet to submit an injury report as they are each on back-to-backs.
UPDATE 3:30 PM ET
- Nuggets list Aaron Gordon OUT
- Knicks list Miles McBride QUESTIONABLE
UPDATE 4:45 PM ET
- Grizzlies Injury Report
- OUT - Ja Morant, Santi Aldama, Marcus Smart
- DOUBTFUL - Luke Kennard
- QUESTIONABLE - Desmond Bane, John Konchar
- Hawks Injury Report (FD slate)
- OUT - Larry Nance
- QUESTIONABLE - Trae Young, Jalen Johnson, Bogdan Bogdanovic
- Tyus Jones and Oso Ighodaro downgraded to QUESTIONABLE
UPDATE 6:15 PM ET
- Bradley Beal is AVAILABLE
- Tyus Jones and Oso Ighodaro downgraded to OUT
- Monte Morris is a viable punt option if he starts
UPDATE 6:40 PM ET
- Ryan Dunn will start for Tyus Jones
NBA Injuries, News & Updates Today, 1/4
- Jaden Ivey - OUT
- Simone Fontecchio - Questionable
- Jusuf Nurkic - OUT
- Bradley Beal - Questionable
- Miles McBride - Questionable
- Ayo Dosunmu - OUT
- Aaron Gordon - OUT
- Jeremy Sochan - Questionable
- Jerami Grant - OUT
- Jimmy Butler - OUT
- Stephen Curry - OUT
- Brandin Podziemski - OUT
- Kawhi Leonard - Questionable
NBA DFS Slate & Game Overviews
With the NBA season just kicking off we don't have data yet for teams regarding pace of play and defensive matchups. In the section below, I’m listing the most notable things we need to look at in Las Vegas, including notable O/U and spreads.
Phoenix Suns vs. Indiana Pacers
- Total: 235
- Spread: IND -2.5
New York Knicks vs. Chicago Bulls
- Total: 238
- Spread: NYK -5.5
Denver Nuggets vs. San Antonio Spurs
- Total: 236
- Spread: DEN -3.5
Memphis Grizzlies vs. Golden State Warriors
- Total: 231.5
- Spread: GSW -2.5
NBA DFS Core Player Pool & Lineup Picks
Here are the core players I’m looking at for my NBA DFS picks tonight. You can see the full analysis of tonight’s NBA DFS projections and player pool below or skip ahead to building the best lineups possible by locking these into the aforementioned lineup generator now.
High
Mid
- Jaren Jackson (FD), Jalen Brunson, Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo, Ivica Zubac (FD), Jonathan Kuminga, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins, Dennis Schroder, Trayce Jackson-Davis
Value
Stacks
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