NBA DFS: Top DraftKings, FanDuel daily Fantasy basketball picks for Thursday, May 9 include Jayson Tatum

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The Oklahoma City Thunder and Boston Celtics will both be looking to take commanding 2-0 leads in their respective conference semifinal series on Thursday night. Oklahoma City cruised to a 117-95 win over Dallas in Game 1 on Tuesday, as star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 29 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. The Thunder were also able to limit Mavericks point guard Luka Doncic to just 19 points. How should you approach those two superstars with your NBA DFS strategy on Thursday?

There is plenty of additional star power in Thursday's NBA DFS player pool, including Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Mitchell is averaging 29.3 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.5 assists in the 2024 NBA playoffs, which is why he has been a popular player to include in NBA DFS lineups. Before making your NBA DFS picks, be sure to check out the NBA DFS advice, player rankings, stacks, and top daily Fantasy basketball picks from SportsLine's Mike McClure.

McClure is a DFS professional with more than $2 million in career winnings. He's also a predictive data engineer at SportsLine who uses a powerful prediction model that simulates every minute of every game 10,000 times, taking factors like matchups, statistical trends and injuries into account.

This allows him to find the best NBA DFS values and create optimal lineups that he shares only over at SportsLine. They're a must-see for any NBA DFS player.

On Tuesday, McClure highlighted Thunder guard Gilgeous-Alexander as one of his top picks in his NBA DFS player pool on both sites. The result: Gilgeous-Alexander had 29 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, returning 59.8 points on DraftKings and 60.3 points on FanDuel. Anybody who included him in their lineups was well on the way to a profitable day.  

McClure 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 9

For Thursday, one of McClure's top NBA DFS picks is rostering Celtics forward Tatum, who is listed at $9,400 on DraftKings and $9,600 on FanDuel. Boston has not had to rely too much on Tatum during what has been a fairly straightforward postseason thus far, but he is still averaging a double-double with 21.2 points, 10.5 rebounds and 5.3 assists. He has finished with at least 16 points and eight rebounds in every playoff game, including a triple-double against Miami to open the playoffs. 

Tatum only played 32 minutes in Game 5 against the Heat and 35 minutes in Game 1 against Cleveland, so he is fresh coming into this contest. He shot just 7 of 19 from the floor against the Cavaliers on Tuesday, but he still posted a double-double and came close to the 20-point mark. Tatum averaged 26 points and 11.3 rebounds in three meetings with Cleveland during the regular season. 

Another part of McClure's optimal NBA DFS strategy includes rostering Mavericks point guard Doncic ($11,600 on DraftKings and $11,800 on FanDuel). Doncic continues to play through a right knee sprain, finishing with 19 points on 6 of 19 shooting in Game 1. The Mavericks cannot afford to rest their superstar on Thursday, so there will be plenty of opportunities for him to post big numbers. 

He is shooting less than 40% from the floor in the playoffs, but he remains productive with 28.3 points, 9.4 assists, 8.4 rebounds and 1.1 steals. Doncic averaged 33.9 points, 9.8 assists and 9.2 rebounds during the regular season, finishing among the league's leaders in all three categories. The 25-year-old has not posted back-to-back sub-20-point games all season, so DFS players can expect a quality showing from Doncic on Thursday. See McClure's other NBA DFS picks right here.

How to set your NBA DFS lineups for Thursday, May 9

McClure 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 here.

Who is DFS pro Mike McClure 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 over $2 million in career winnings, and find out.