A pair of series that are at 2-1 continue with Game 4 matchups on Monday’s NBA schedule. Jayson Tatum and Boston will visit Karl-Anthony Towns and New York at 7:30 p.m. ET, followed by Anthony Edwards and Minnesota visiting Jimmy Butler and Golden State at 10 p.m. ET. The aforementioned are just some of the stars in the NBA DFS player pool, but a winning NBA DFS strategy often hinges on role players. Payton Pritchard dropped 23 points off the bench in his last outing, while Jaden McDaniels of the Wolves is averaging over four more points in the 2025 NBA playoffs compared to the regular season. Can one expect similar outputs on Monday?
That’s the key to optimizing your NBA DFS lineups — pairing high-cost superstars with more affordable daily Fantasy basketball picks. However, it’s the latter that many Fantasy managers struggle with as they simply aren’t that aware of those who aren’t necessarily household names. Who should you target in NBA daily Fantasy for Monday’s action? Before making any 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 on sites like DraftKings and FanDuel and create optimal lineups that he shares only over at SportsLine. They’re a must-see for any NBA DFS player.
On Friday (when he last made picks), McClure identified Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell as one of his top NBA DFS picks on both sites. The result: Mitchell had 43 points, nine rebounds and five assists, returning 65.2 points on DraftKings and 62.3 points on FanDuel to provide strong value for NBA DFS lineups. Anybody who included him in their lineups could have been well on the way to a profitable day.
McClure has turned his attention to NBA action on Monday and locked in his top daily Fantasy basketball picks. You can only see them by heading to SportsLine.
Top NBA DFS picks for Monday, May 12
For Monday, one of McClure’s top NBA DFS picks is Celtics small forward Jaylen Brown, who is listed at $9,700 on DraftKings and $7,600 on FanDuel. While his shot has been off in this Knicks series, Brown is still supplying a high Fantasy floor for NBA DFS lineups. He has at least 19 points and six rebounds in each game of this series, while also dropping five assists in two of the three games.
Considering Tatum is shooting just 32% in this series, and Kristaps Porzingis (illness) is averaging only 4.3 points in limited action, Boston may heavily lean on Brown in Game 4. He’s someone who will clearly relish playing in front of a hostile crowd again, as the Cal product is averaging 23 points over his last nine road postseason games. He’s also putting up 24 points over his last eight games at Madison Square Garden, excluding his regular-season finale in which he played limited minutes.
Another part of McClure’s optimal NBA DFS strategy includes Warriors power forward Jonathan Kuminga ($5,200 on DraftKings and $5,100 on FanDuel). After receiving inconsistent playing time this postseason, Kuminga finally got an opportunity in Game 3 and did not disappoint. He scored 30 points off the bench — which is a postseason career-high — to go along with six rebounds, three assists and two blocks. This came after Kuminga had tied his previous postseason career-high with 18 points in Game 2 as he’s shot 66% from the field over the last two games.
With Curry out, the Warriors are in desperate need of offense, and Kuminga is one of the few left on the roster who can create his own shot. He had lots of success versus the Wolves in the regular season, scoring in double-figures in all three matchups, averaging 14.7 points in under 30 minutes per night. Kuminga logged 36 minutes in Game 3, which was his most since December, and should see a similar workload tonight. You want to jump on Kuminga at his current NBA DFS price tags before they continue to rise as long as Curry is out. See McClure’s other NBA DFS picks right here.
How to set your NBA DFS lineups for Monday, May 12
McClure is also targeting a player who could go off for massive numbers on Monday 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 Monday? 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.
