Draftkings NBA Showdown Picks: Bucks vs. Thunder 12/17/24
Draftkings picks and predictions for tonight's Bucks vs. Thunder matchup.
Milwaukee Bucks vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
December 17, 2024 8:30 pm EDT
On Tuesday night, the NBA presents Draftkings basketball fans with a regular season matchup featuring the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Milwaukee Bucks. Let’s take a look at this game from a Draftkings perspective.
Before we dive into the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Milwaukee Bucks game let’s review the rules for 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 this evening’s Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Milwaukee Bucks matchup.
Draftkings NBA Showdown Picks
Captain-Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Point Guard, Oklahoma City Thunder $12,000
Talented Oklahoma City point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has emerged as the backcourt leader for the Oklahoma City Thunder this season. With that in mind, what do the statistics say about Gilgeous-Alexander’s performance? To answer this question, let’s examine his game data from the 2024 NBA regular season.
In the 25 games that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has played for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2024 NBA regular season, Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 30.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 1.9 steals, and 1.1 blocks a game.
More recently, in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s impressive 118-104 win over the Dallas Mavericks one week ago, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander certainly played at a high level. More specifically, Gilgeous-Alexander compiled a whopping 39 points, eight rebounds, five assists, three steals, and one block in the Thunder’s victory over the Dallas Mavericks.
Examining the data just presented more closely, in the Thunder’s victory over the Dallas Cowboys, Gilgeous-Alexander accumulated 51.7 Draftkings points.
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.
In my opinion, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the most likely player to post the most Draftkings points in this evening’s NBA regular season game. For that specific reason, I am rolling with Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at the captain position for this one game Draftkings NBA Showdown contest.
Flex Plays
Damian Lillard, Point Guard, Milwaukee Bucks $10,800
Point guard Damian Lillard has been the driving force behind the Milwaukee Bucks success on the offensive side of the basketball this season. Let’s take a look at Lillard’s game data from the 2024 NBA regular season to better shed light on my previous statement.
In the last 22 games that Lillard has played for the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2024 NBA regular season, Lillard is averaging 25.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, 7.6 assists, and 1.1 blocks a game.
Three days ago, in the Milwaukee Bucks convincing 114-109 win over the Orlando Magic, Damian Lillard played exceptionally well. Lillard compiled 28 points, two rebounds, nine assists, one steal and one block in the Bucks victory over the Orlando Magic.
Additional flex plays I like to play well this evening (Draftkings price noted): Giannis Antetokounmpo, Forward (Milwaukee Bucks) $13,000: Brook Lopez, Center (Milwaukee Bucks) $7,000: Cason Wallace, Guard (Oklahoma City Thunder) $4,800.
