Draftkings NBA Showdown Picks: Knicks vs. Cavaliers 4/2/25
New York Knicks vs. Cleveland Cavaliers
April 2, 2025 7:00 pm EDT
The NBA presents Draftkings basketball fans with a 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 New York Knicks vs. Cleveland Cavaliers matchup.
Draftkings NBA Showdown Picks
Captain-Donovan Mitchell, Guard, Cleveland Cavaliers $9,800
Guard Donovan Mitchell has been the driving force behind the Cleveland Cavaliers overall team achievements this season. With that said, how has the talented guard performed from a statistical perspective? Let’s examine Mitchell’s relevant game data from this season to answer that question.
In the 68 games that Donovan Mitchell played for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2024 NBA regular season, Mitchell has averaged a whopping 40.8 Draftkings points a game.
Looking at the data just presented more closely, in the 68 games that Donovan Mitchell has played this season, Mitchell has compiled a 44.2% field goal percentage, a 36.6% three-point percentage, and an 82.9% free throw percentage.
More recently, in the Cleveland Cavaliers 127-122 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers three days ago, Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell certainly played at a high level. In the Cavaliers win over the Clippers just mentioned, Mitchell amassed 24 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and four steals.
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, Donovan Mitchell is the player most likely to accumulate the highest number of DraftKings points in this NBA regular season game. Having stated that, I am rolling with Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell at the captain position for this one game DraftKings NBA Showdown contest slate.
Flex Plays
Josh Hart, Forward, New York Knicks $9,600
Veteran forward Josh Hart has been a standout performer for the New York Knicks this season. Unfortunately for the Knicks, the team has had to navigate injuries to key players all year. Josh Hart has been a stabilizing force for the team.
In the 72 games that forward Josh Hart has played for the New York Knicks in the 2024 NBA regular season, Hart is averaging a rather impressive 13.8 points, 9.6 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.5 blocks a game.
Additional flex plays I like to play well in tonight’s game (Draftkings price noted): Darius Garland, Point Guard (Cleveland Cavaliers) $9,000: Mikal Bridges, Guard (New York Knicks) $8,400.
