Draftkings NBA Showdown Picks: Cavaliers vs. Knicks 10/22/25

On Wednesday night, the NBA presents Draftkings basketball fans with an NBA regular season matchup featuring the Cleveland Cavaliers and the New York Knicks. Let’s take a look at this game from a DFS perspective.

Before we dive into the Cleveland Cavaliers vs. New York Knicks game let’s review the rules for the Draftkings single game showdown contest.

Draftkings Single Game Showdown Contest Rules

You have $50,000 to utilize on five players from either team. However, one of those players will be designated as your team captain. The captain accumulates 1.5 times the standard fantasy points. Additionally, the captain is 1.5 times the standard cost of the flex position.

The remaining four players in your lineup will receive the standard fantasy points. Having stated that, it is highly important for you to identify the correct player for your captain position if you hope to win a large field DFS GPP (guaranteed prize pool) showdown contest.

If you have additional questions regarding the rules for the single game showdown contest, I recommend that you check out the Draftkings website for more details.

*I recommend that all readers review the starting lineups for both teams prior to setting your DFS lineup for this one game slate.

Here are my Draftkings picks for tonight’s Cavaliers vs. Knicks matchup.

Draftkings NBA Showdown Picks

Captain-Jalen Brunson, Point Guard, New York Knicks $9,200

Veteran point guard Jalen Brunson was the driving force behind the New York Knicks success on the basketball court in 2025.  With that said, how did Brunson perform from a statistical standpoint last season? Let’s review Brunson’s relevant player data from the 2024 NBA season to answer that question.

In the 65 games that point guard Jalen Brunson played for the New York Knicks in the 2024 NBA regular season season, Brunson averaged 26.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, 7.3 assists, and 0.9 steals a game.

Looking closer at the data just presented, in the 65 games that Jalen Brunson played for the New York Knicks in the 2024 NBA regular season, Brunson averaged a massive 43.5 Draftkings points a contest.

As I noted in the rules section above, selecting the correct player at the captain position for a Draftkings NBA showdown lineup is absolutely vital if you hope to win a large field GPP (guaranteed prize pool) DFS contest. Keep that in mind as you construct your lineups.

In my view, Jalen Brunson is the most likely player to post the most Draftkings points in this NBA regular season game. For that specific reason, I am backing New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson at the captain position for this one game NBA DFS Showdown slate.

Flex Plays

Karl-Anthony Towns, Forward, New York Knicks $9,000

In addition to point guard Jalen Brunson, forward Karl-Anthony Towns was a key contributor for the New York Knicks in 2025.

In the 72 games that Karl-Anthony Towns played for the New York Knicks in the 2024 NBA regular season, Towns averaged 24.4 points, 12.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.1 steals and 0.7 blocks a game.

Examining the data just presented more closely, in the 72 games that Karl-Anthony Towns played for the Knicks last season, Towns averaged a robust 47.7 Draftkings points a game.

In conclusion, I fully expect New York Knicks forward Karl-Anthony Towns to continue his outstanding play in this evening’s NBA regular season matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Additional flex plays I like to play well in this NBA regular season game (Draftkings price noted): Donovan Mitchell, Guard (Cleveland Cavaliers) $9,800: Evan Mobley, Center (Cleveland Cavaliers) $9,400: Mikal Bridges, Forward (New York Knicks) $6,400.