Draftkings NBA Showdown Picks: Thunder vs. Magic 12/19/24
Draftkings picks and predictions for tonight's Thunder vs. Magic matchup.
Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Orlando Magic
December 19, 2024 7:00 pm EDT
On Friday night, the NBA presents Draftkings basketball fans with a regular season matchup featuring the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Orlando Magic. Let’s take a look at this game from a Draftkings perspective.
Before we dive into the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Orlando Magic 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. Orlando Magic matchup.
Draftkings NBA Showdown Picks
Captain-Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Point Guard, Oklahoma City Thunder $13,000
Talented point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has emerged as the leader in the backcourt that the Oklahoma City Thunder have needed to win games 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 26 games that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has played for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2024 NBA regular season, Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 29.9 points, 545 rebounds, 6.1 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 eight days 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
Jalen Williams, Power Forward, Oklahoma City Thunder $11,200
In addition to point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, power forward Jalen Williams has been an essential part of the Oklahoma City Thunder lineup this season. Having stated that, how has Jalen Williams performed from a statistical perspective? Let’s review Williams recent game data from the 2024 NBA regular season to answer that question.
In the 25 games that power forward Jalen Williams has played for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2024 NBA regular season, Williams is averaging a robust 21.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 1.1 blocks, and 2.1 steals a game.
Additional flex plays I like to play well this evening (Draftkings price noted): Jalen Suggs, Point Guard (Orlando Magic) $10,800: Goga Bitadze, Center (Orlando Magic) $8,000.
