Draftkings NBA Showdown Picks: Hornets vs. Lakers 1/9/25
Draftkings picks and predictions for tonight's Hornets vs. Lakers matchup.
Charlotte Hornets vs. Los Angeles Lakers
January 9, 2025 10:30 pm EDT
Later today, the NBA presents Draftkings basketball fans with a regular season matchup featuring the Los Angeles Lakers and the Charlotte Hornets. Let’s take a look at this game from a Draftkings perspective.
Before we dive into the Los Angeles Lakers vs. Charlotte Hornets 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 Charlotte Hornets vs. Los Angeles Lakers matchup.
Draftkings NBA Showdown Picks
Captain-LaMelo Ball, Point Guard, Charlotte Hornets $10,600
In my opinion, Charlotte point guard LaMelo Ball has been the driving force behind the Charlotte Hornets success on the offensive side of the basketball this season. Having stated that, how has the talented young point guard performed from a statistical perspective? Let’s review Ball’s recent game data to answer that question.
In the 24 games that LaMelo Ball has played for the Charlotte Hornets in the 2024 NBA regular season, Ball has averaged a robust 29.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 7.3 assists, and 1.4 steals a game.
Upon closer examination of the data just presented, in the 24 games that point guard LaMelo Ball has played for the Charlotte Hornets this season, Ball is averaging an impressive 51.4 DraftKings points.
More recently, in the Charlotte Hornets 115-104 win over the Phoenix Suns four days ago, Charlotte point guard LaMelo Ball certainly played at a high level. Let me be more specific. Ball tallied 32 points, ten rebounds, seven assists and four steals in the Charlotte Hornets victory over the Phoenix Suns.
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 for this one game DFS slate.
In my view, LaMelo Ball is the most likely player to post the most Draftkings points in this NBA regular season game. With that said, I am backing Charlotte Hornets point guard LaMelo Ball at the captain position for this one game Draftkings NBA Showdown contest.
Flex Plays
LeBron James, Forward, Los Angeles Lakers $11,000
Los Angeles forward LeBron James has been the leader in the paint that the Los Angeles Lakers have needed to win games this season. Having stated that, how has James performed a statistical perspective in 2024? Let’s examine LeBron James game statistics from the 2024 NBA regular season answer this question.
In the 33 games that LeBron James has played for the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2024 NBA regular season, James is averaging a robust 23.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, 8.9 assists, 0.8 blocks and 0.8 steals a game.
Additional flex plays I like to play well in this evening’s NBA game (Draftkings price noted): Anthony Davis, Power Forward (Los Angeles Lakers) $12,000: Austin Reaves, Guard (Los Angeles Lakers) $8,600.
