Tonight’s NBA slate features seven thrilling matchups, including some of the league's most anticipated showdowns. Headlining the action is a clash of titans as the Boston Celtics take on the Denver Nuggets in a battle of MVP contenders. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Hawks travel to face the Utah Jazz in what promises to be a high-scoring affair. Rounding out the marquee matchups, the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks square off.

With star power on display and key opportunities for value plays, this DFS Playbook breaks down top targets, potential sleepers, and strategies to help you build a winning lineup. Let’s dive into the action-packed slate and uncover the best picks for January 7th!

 

 

 

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 Tuesday, January 7th

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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.

4:40 PM ET

  • Tyler Herro - Questionable

5:50 PM ET

  • Nikola Jokic - Probable (Illness)
    • Be sure to build lineups with ways to pivot IF Jokic ends up ruled out. 10pm ET game.

5:55 PM ET

  • Bub Carrington & Bilal Coulibaly both ACTIVE
  • Jordan Poole OUT

6:33 PM ET

  • Jalen Green - ACTIVE
  • Nikola Jokic - DOWNGRADED to QUESTIONABLE
  • Kyshawn George Starting for Wizards
  • Derrick White - OUT

NBA Injuries, News & Updates Today, 1/7

 

 

 

NBA DFS Slate & Game Overviews

We've got a lot of games with either lower game totals or spreads suggesting blowout for tonight's matchups. That said we do have a handful of games where we are expecting close, competitive and high scoring which is where the majority of the ownership tonight is going when building out our DFS lineups and those games are below.

Phoenix Suns vs Charlotte Hornets

  • Total: 225.5
  • Spread: PHO -4.5

Los Angeles Lakers vs Dallas Mavericks

  • Total: 218.5
  • Spread: LAL -6.5

Minnesota Timberwolves vs New Orleans Pelicans

  • Total: 222.5
  • Spread: MIN -4.5

Atlanta Hawks vs Utah Jazz

  • Total: 238.5
  • Spread: ATL -6.5

Miami Heat vs Golden State Warriors

  • Total: 216.5
  • Spread: GSW -9.5

Boston Celtics vs Denver Nuggets

  • Total: 236.5
  • Spread: BOS -5.5
 

 

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

Value

 

 

 

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