On Wednesday, Jayson Tatum was named to his third straight All-NBA First Team, while Tyrese Haliburton earned a nod on the Third Team. They are clearly the stars of their respective teams in the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals and the stars of Thursday’s NBA DFS player pool. But there could be values from lesser-profile players to use as daily Fantasy basketball picks such as Obi Toppin and T.J. McConnell of Indiana. They rank first and third, respectively, in bench scoring in the 2024 NBA playoffs and could be a cheap NBA DFS stack.
For Boston, Jrue Holiday is coming off postseason highs in points (28), assists (eight) and steals (three) in Game 1. He has at least 17 points, five rebounds and four assists in each of his last three games versus Indiana. He’s also played over 40 minutes in his last three playoff games, so more court time means more opportunities to rack up NBA DFS points on sites like FanDuel and DraftKings. Before making your NBA DFS picks for Pacers vs. Celtics, be sure to check out the NBA DFS advice, player rankings, stacks, and top daily Fantasy basketball picks from SportsLine’s Jimmie Kaylor.
Kaylor is a DFS and betting expert for SportsLine, who won a DraftKings Millionaire Maker contest in 2022. He uses a combination of his background as a former college and professional athlete and his keen eye for statistical trends when making his picks and locking in his DFS lineups. Kaylor enters the 2024 calendar year with multiple five-figure tournament cashes on his DFS resume.
Kaylor’s approach allows him to find the best NBA DFS values and create optimal lineups that he only shares on SportsLine. They’re a must-see for any NBA DFS player.
On Wednesday, Kaylor highlighted Mavericks guard Luka Doncic as one of his top picks in his NBA DFS player pool on both sites. The result: Doncic had 33 points, eight assists, six rebounds, three steals and a block, returning 60 points on DraftKings and 60.2 points on FanDuel as the top scorer from the NBA DFS player pool. Anybody who included him in their lineups was well on the way to a profitable day.
Kaylor has turned his attention to NBA action on Thursday and locked in his top daily Fantasy basketball picks. You can only see them by heading to SportsLine.
Top NBA DFS picks for Thursday, May 23
For Thursday, one of Kaylor’s top NBA DFS picks is Celtics forward Jaylen Brown. It was Brown’s clutch 3-pointer with five seconds left in regulation that knotted Game 1 up, sent it into overtime, and allowed Boston to escape with a win. But that was just three of his 26 points for the night, and Brown also filled up the stat sheet with seven rebounds, five assists, three steals and a block. The assists, steals and blocks totals all either set or tied postseason-highs for Brown in the 2024 NBA playoffs.
Brown has picked apart the Pacers defense all season, so one should expect more stat lines like what we saw on Tuesday. Brown has scored at least 25 points in each of his last five games versus Indiana, averaging 30.4 points over this stretch. The Pacers have the No. 27 scoring defense, and Brown has exploited it both in the regular and the postseason. He dropped 40 points on Indiana in a January game, which is one off his high for the 2023-24 season.
Another part of Kaylor’s optimal NBA DFS strategy includes rostering Pacers forward Toppin. Amongst bench players in the 2024 NBA playoffs, Toppin ranks first in both total points and points per game, while ranking second in both total rebounds and rebounds per game. With Pascal Siakam (42 minutes) and Myles Turner (39 minutes) each coming off heavy workloads in Game 1’s overtime contest, Toppin could see more court time in Game 2 to give the two Indiana bigs a breather.
That would certainly be beneficial to Indiana as a whole, considering how much success Toppin’s had against Boston. He scored 15 points in Game 1 and has now hit double-figures in each of his six matchups versus Boston this season. He’s also shooting 60.9% against the league’s No. 3-rated defense across these contests. Toppin would provide efficient scoring to your Thursday NBA DFS lineups, and as a role player, his low price tags would also allow you to splurge on higher-end options. See Kaylor’s other NBA DFS picks right here.
How to set your NBA DFS lineups for Thursday, May 23
Kaylor is also targeting a player who could go off for massive numbers on Thursday because of a dream matchup. This pick could be the difference between winning your tournaments and cash games or going home with nothing. You can only see who it is, and get the rest of Kaylor’s picks, here.
Who is DFS pro Jimmie Kaylor putting in his optimal NBA DFS lineups for Thursday? Visit SportsLine now to see optimal NBA DFS picks, rankings, advice, and stacks, all from a professional DFS player who has a Millionaire Maker win on his resume, and find out.
