Draftkings NBA Showdown Picks: Knicks vs. Thunder 1/3/25
Draftkings picks and predictions for tonight's Knicks vs. Thunder matchup.
New York Knicks vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
January 3, 2025 8:00 pm EDT
Later today, the NBA presents Draftkings basketball fans with a regular season matchup featuring the Oklahoma City Thunder and the New York Knicks. Let’s take a look at this game from a DFS perspective.
Before we dive into the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. New York Knicks 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 New York Knicks vs. Oklahoma City Thunder matchup.
Draftkings NBA Showdown Picks
Captain-Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Guard, Oklahoma City Thunder $12,000
Point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has clearly illustrated that he is the leader of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s offense in 2024. Having stated that, what do the statistics say about Gilgeous-Alexander’s performance this season.? To answer this question, let’s examine Gilgeous-Alexander game data from the 2024 NBA regular season.
In the 33 games that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has played for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2024 NBA regular season, Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 31.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 1.9 steals, and 1.2 blocks a game.
More recently, in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s impressive 123-105 win over the Washington Wizards earlier this month, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played exceptionally well. More specifically, Gilgeous-Alexander compiled a massive 41 points, nine rebounds, three assists, three steals, and three blocks in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s victory over the Washington Wizards.
Examining the data just presented more closely, in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s victory over the Washington Wizards, Gilgeous-Alexander tallied 68.8 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. Keep that in mind as you construct your lineups for this one game DFS contest.
In my view, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the most likely player to post the most Draftkings points in this evening’s NBA regular season game. With that said, 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
Karl Anthony Towns, Center, New York Knicks $10,800
In the 32 games that center Karl Anthony Towns played for the New York Knicks in the 2024 NBA regular season, Anthony Towns is averaging an impressive 24.9 points, 13.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.9 blocks a game.
Two days ago, In the New York Knicks dominating 119-103 win over the Utah Jazz on New Year’s Day, Karl Anthony Towns played at a high level. Towns tallied 31 points, 21 rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block in the New York Knicks victory over the Utah Jazz.
Additional flex plays I like in this matchup (Draftkings price noted): Jalen Brunson, Point Guard (New York Knicks) $10,200: Jalen Williams, Power Forward (Oklahoma City Thunder) $9,600.
