A season which began in October has reached its conclusion with the 2025 NBA Finals beginning on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. ET. MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is one of the many stars in the NBA DFS player pool, alongside Jalen Williams, Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam. However, any experienced daily Fantasy basketball player knows that an NBA DFS lineup must include low-cost alternatives to complement these highly-priced stars. So, who should you turn to for Game 1 of the NBA Finals 2025?
Alex Caruso provides prior Finals experience while with the Lakers, so can he parlay that into production for both Oklahoma City and for whomever uses him as one of their NBA DFS picks. There are players up and down the rosters of the Thunder and Pacers who could provide a great return on investment to start your Finals DFS experience off on the right note. Before making any NBA DFS picks for Game 1 of Pacers vs. Thunder, 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.
McClure has turned his attention to Game 1 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, June 5
For Thursday, one of McClure’s top NBA DFS picks is Thunder point guard Gilgeous-Alexander. The MVP can thank the Pacers for helping him build his resume for the award as he averaged 39 points, eight assists and seven rebounds versus the Pacers in the regular season. That was his second-highest scoring average versus any team and included a 45-point outing on 68.2% shooting from the field in one of the games.
After leading the regular season in scoring with 32.7 points, SGA is now putting up 29.8 ppg in the postseason. His 2,960 total points across both the regular and postseason are the most by any player entering the NBA Finals since Michael Jordan in 1993. But Gilgeous-Alexander is doing more than just filling up the hoop as he has 10 games in the 2025 NBA playoffs with 30-plus points and five-plus assists, making him just the fourth player in NBA history to accomplish that in a single postseason.
Another part of McClure’s optimal NBA DFS strategy includes Pacers power forward Obi Toppin. He’s coming off back-to-back double-digit point outings and is coming off his best game of the 2025 NBA playoffs. In closing out his former team in the Knicks, Toppin had 18 points, six rebounds and three blocks, with his points and rebounds being his second-most of this postseason, while the blocks set a new playoff career high.
Toppin’s reached 10-plus points in three of his last four games versus Oklahoma City, including back-to-back games at the Paycom Center. He filled up the box score in his last matchup versus OKC, despite playing just 22 minutes, as Toppin had 12 points, five assists, three rebounds and two blocks. For his career, Toppin averages more points, rebounds and steals in the postseason than the regular season. He’s the perfect economical, complementary piece that will allow you to still roster star players in a single-game NBA DFS slate. See McClure’s other NBA DFS picks right here.
How to set your NBA DFS lineups for Thursday, June 5
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.
