Draftkings NBA Showdown Picks: Rockets vs. Thunder 11/8/24

The NBA presents a regular season matchup featuring the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Houston Rockets. Let’s take a look at this game from a Draftkings perspective.

Before we dive into the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Houston Rockets 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 Houston Rockets vs. Oklahoma City Thunder matchup.

Draftkings NBA Showdown Picks

Captain-Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Guard, Oklahoma City Thunder $11,800

Oklahoma City point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the in the backcourt that the Oklahoma City Thunder needed to advance to the NBA playoffs last season. Let’s take a look at Gilgeous-Alexander’s game data from the 2023 NBA regular season to better shed light on my previous statement.

In the 75 Games that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2023 NBA regular season, Gilgeous-Alexander averaged a robust 30.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 2.1 steals, and 0.9 blocks a Game.

Now that we have determined how Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played in 2023, let’s shift our attention to this season. In the eight games that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has played for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2024 NBA regular season, Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 26.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, 6.8 assists, 1.6 steals, and 1.1 blocks a game.

More recently, in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s dominating 128-104 win over the Atlanta Hawks last month, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played exceptionally. Let me be more specific. Gilgeous-Alexander compiled 35 points, 11 rebounds, nine assists, three steals, and one steal.

Looking at the data just presented more closely, in the Thunder’s victory over the Hawks just mentioned, Gilgeous-Alexander compiled a whopping 76.8 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.

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

Chet Holmgren, Forward, Oklahoma City Thunder $10,200

In addition to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City forward Chet Holmgren has been a key contributor to the Oklahoma City Thunder’s success on the offensive side of the basketball this season.

In the eight games that Chet Holmgren has played for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2024 NBA regular season, Holmgren averaged an impressive 17.7 points, 9.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 3.3 blocks, and 1.3 steals a game.

I fully expect Chet Holmgren to continue his outstanding play in tonight’s matchup with the Houston Rockets.

Additional flex plays I like to play well in this evening’s NBA Game (Draftkings price noted): Alperen Sengun, Center (Houston Rockets) $9,600: Fred VanVleet, Point Guard (Houston Rockets) $8,400.