Looking for the best NBA DFS picks today? Friday’s slate features a ton of NBA Cup games, and it’s a great night to play daily fantasy NBA on DraftKings. Identifying the actual DFS plays that separate winning lineups from losing ones requires more than just spotting the studs. That’s where smart NBA DFS projections and DFS strategy come into play. Our NBA DFS picks for Friday are always based on data, so you know you’re working with intel that actually matters. Whether you’re stacking a specific game or exploring other GPP strategies, we’ve got the top daily fantasy NBA projections and picks broken down and ready to go.
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Best NBA DFS Picks Today & Daily Fantasy Basketball Projections – Friday, 11/21
Let’s first take a look at our NBA DFS projections for the Friday slate.
NBA DFS Projections Today – Friday, November 21st
| Rank | Player | Props Projection |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nikola Jokic | 59.7 |
| 2 | Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | 55.0 |
| 3 | Alperen Sengun | 48.9 |
| 4 | Josh Giddey | 48.0 |
| 5 | Donovan Mitchell | 47.0 |
| 6 | Devin Booker | 46.7 |
| 7 | Stephen Curry | 46.0 |
| 8 | Anthony Edwards | 44.2 |
| 9 | Deni Avdija | 44.0 |
| 10 | Scottie Barnes | 43.9 |
| 11 | Jaylen Brown | 43.7 |
| 12 | Jimmy Butler | 43.0 |
| 13 | Evan Mobley | 42.7 |
| 14 | Lauri Markkanen | 41.0 |
| 15 | Bam Adebayo | 41.0 |
| 16 | Kevin Durant | 40.6 |
| 17 | Julius Randle | 40.4 |
| 18 | Pascal Siakam | 40.3 |
| 19 | Zion Williamson | 40.1 |
| 20 | Jaime Jaquez | 40.0 |
| 21 | Michael Porter Jr. | 39.8 |
| 22 | Jamal Murray | 38.4 |
| 23 | Brandon Ingram | 38.0 |
| 24 | Trey Murphy III | 38.0 |
| 25 | Nikola Vucevic | 38.0 |
Top NBA DFS Picks Today
Who’s going to smash tonight? We’ll dive into our favorite NBA DFS picks this morning. There could be a ton of news that breaks later, but we’ll check out the best early plays on the board.
NBA DFS Pick Today – Bennedict Mathurin
We’re going back to Bennedict Mathurin of the Pacers for our NBA DFS pick today as they take on Cleveland tonight. We hit this one in a big way at minimal ownership on Wednesday – he was absolutely awesome, and I’m glad we nailed that call.
He’s projected to carry a lot more ownership tonight, but that’s okay given the production we’re expecting. I’m a little worried about blowout potential, but for playing tournaments on DraftKings and FanDuel, I’m trying not to overthink blowouts with how volatile the NBA has been this season.
Indiana has a projected team total around 112-ish, and I’m sure Mathurin will be squarely in the mix for a chunk of that scoring.
He’s now played two games back from injury after performing extremely well against Detroit earlier in the week. He played 25 minutes after being in foul trouble but still logged a crazy 42% usage rate and racked up 33 fantasy points. Then he absolutely exploded against Charlotte, scoring 46 fantasy points – but the big thing is he played a whopping 34 minutes.
So if this game is remotely close, I think Mathurin is a reason why, and we can expect big minutes out of him again.
Cleveland’s been a funny team this season, so I’m not totally expecting a blowout like I would have in previous years. This new Cavaliers offensive philosophy has them playing at the league’s fourth-highest pace, while Indiana ranks sixth in that department.
This could be an absolute track meet tonight. When both teams want to play fast, fantasy production explodes across the board.
NBA DFS Pick Today – Tristan Vukcevic
We’ll have to monitor NBA news and see if Vukcevic is one of our top NBA DFS picks by the time roster lock rolls around.
Now it’s early in the morning, and we’re talking about hypotheticals here, but this guy could totally break tonight’s slate if the cards fall his way.
Alex Sarr has been a pleasant surprise and by far the Wizards’ best player in 2025 – he’s definitely taking the leap in his sophomore season. That being said, Sarr is listed as questionable for Friday’s game after missing Washington’s previous contest, where Marvin Bagley drew the start and played a ton of minutes.
Bagley performed well against Minnesota. However, he got hurt during that game, which could open the door for Vukčević to do some serious damage.
Now, if you look at Vuk’s game log, you won’t see a lot of things that catch your attention this season. He did play 20 minutes against Minnesota and posted about 13 fantasy points. The encouraging thing is we saw a 24% usage rate, which doesn’t surprise me at all.
This guy had plenty of opportunities to play big minutes last season for Washington, and he averaged over 1.2 DraftKings points per minute. That’s massive production for a guy who’s priced at just $3,100 tonight.
If Alex Sarr is ruled out for tonight and Bagley’s already listed as doubtful, this guy could be an absolute smash on tonight’s slate against Toronto.
Editor’s Note: This article was published in the morning. These core picks could change based on more daily news and injuries
Looking for more NBA DFS News and Picks? We’ve got you covered all season:
- Fantasy Basketball News Today
- Best Player Props Today
- First Basket Predictions
- NBA Betting Hub (Game Predictions & More)
- Daily Promo Roundup
