Later today, the NBA presents Draftkings basketball fans with a regular season matchup featuring the Boston Celtics and the Atlanta Hawks. Let’s take a look at this game from a DFS perspective.
Before we dive into the Boston Celtics and the Atlanta Hawks 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 Atlanta Hawks vs. Boston Celtics matchup.
Draftkings NBA Showdown Picks
Captain-Jayson Tatum, Forward, Boston Celtics $11,200
How important was forward Jayson Tatum to the Boston Celtics success on the offensive side of the basketball last season? Let’s take a look at Tatum’s game data from the 2023 NBA regular season to answer that question.
In the 74 games that Jayson Tatum played for the Boston Celtics in the 2023 NBA regular season, Tatum averaged a robust 26.5 points, 8.4 rebounds, 5.2 assists, one steal, and 0.6 blocks a game.
Now that we have determined how Tatum played in 2023, let’s shift our focus to this season. In the 11 games that Jayson Tatum has played for the Boston Celtics in the 2024 NBA regular season, Tatum is averaging an impressive 53.2 Draftkings points a game.
More recently, in the Boston Celtics 113-107 win over the Milwaukee Bucks two days ago, Jayson Tatum played exceptionally well. More specifically, Tatum accumulated 31 points, 12 rebounds, and ten assists in the Celtics victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Looking at the data just presented more closely, in the Celtics victory over the Bucks just mentioned, Tatum compiled 56.1 Draftkings points. It has to be said, those are the type of DFS numbers I need to see from a player that I select at the captain position for a Draftkings NBA Showdown contest.
It is noteworthy that the Boston Celtics have listed Jayson Tatum as questionable for tonight’s game on the team’s official injury report. Keep that in mind as you construct your lineups for this one game DFS slate.
In summary, I think Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum 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 backing Jayson Tatum at the captain position for this one game Draftkings NBA Showdown contest.
Flex Plays
Jaylen Brown, Forward, Boston Celtics $9,200
In addition to Jayson Tatum, forward Jaylen Brown was certainly a key contributor to the Boston Celtics capturing the NBA Championship last season. Having stated that, let’s review Jaylen Brown’s statistical data from last season to better shed light on my previous statement.
In the 70 games that Jaylen Brown played for the Boston Celtics in the 2023 NBA regular season, Brown averaged an impressive 23.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.6 blocks a game.
In the seven games that Jaylen Brown has played for the Celtics in the 2024 NBA regular season, Jaylen Brown is averaging 41.9 Draftkings points a game.
Additional flex plays I like to play well this evening (Draftkings price noted): Jalen Johnson, Forward (Atlanta Hawks) $9,600: Payton Pritchard, Point Guard (Boston Celtics) $5,600.