Draftkings Best NBA Showdown Picks: Trailblazers vs. Clippers 10/30/24

The NBA presents a regular season matchup featuring the Portland Trailblazers and the Los Angeles Clippers. Let’s take a look at this game from a Draftkings perspective.

Before we dive into the Portland Trailblazers vs. Los Angeles Clippers 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 Portland Trailblazers vs. Los Angeles Clippers matchup.

Draftkings NBA Showdown Picks

Captain-James Harden, Point Guard, Los Angeles Clippers $11,200

How important was point guard James Harden to the Los Angeles Clippers success on the offensive side of the basketball last season? Let’s take a look at Harden’s game data from the 2023 NBA regular season to answer that question.

In the 72 games that James Harden played for the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2023 NBA regular season, Harden averaged 23.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.5 blocks a game.

Now that we have determined how Harden played in 2023, let’s shift our focus to this season. In the three games that James Harden has played for the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2024 NBA regular season, Harden is averaging a whopping 53.9 Draftkings points a game.

More recently, in the Los Angeles Clippers 109-104 win over the Denver Nuggets four days ago, James Harden certainly played at a high level. More specifically, Harden tallied 23 points, six rebounds, 16 assists, one block, and one steal in the Clippers victory over the Nuggets.

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.

It is noteworthy that the Los Angeles Clippers have announced that Los Angeles forward Kawhi Leonard has been ruled out of this evening’s game due to a knee injury. In my opinion, the absence of Leonard should open up more offensive opportunities for James Harden.

In summary, I think Los Angeles Clippers guard James Harden 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 James Harden at the captain position for this one game Draftkings NBA Showdown contest.

Flex Plays

Ivica Zubac, Center, Los Angeles Clippers $9,600

In addition to James Harden, center Ivica Zubac been a key contributor to the Los Angeles Clippers success on the offensive side of the basketball this season.

In the three games that center Ivica Zubac played for the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2024 NBA regular season, Zubac averaged a robust 22.7 points, 14.1 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.7 blocks a game.

Additional flex plays I like to play well in this evening’s NBA game (Draftkings price noted): Anfernee Simons, Guard (Portland Trailblazers) $8,400: Jerami Grant, Power Forward (Portland Trailblazers) $8,200.