DraftKings NBA picks December 19: This is Freaking Harden!

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Donovan Mitchell #45 of the Utah Jazz reacts to a play (Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images) /

DraftKings NBA Shooting Guards:

Best Bets:

James Harden ($12,400): Harden has 142.5 DraftKings points in just two games against the Clippers so far. This is a stout defensive team, but they haven’t solved Harden yet. His usage rate remains abnormally high even with Russ around. That’s not stopping anytime soon. Harden remains the safest of the elite to build with. His floor is much higher than anyone else’s.

Donovan Mitchell ($8,000): You pretty much know what you’re getting with Mitchell. He has at least 37 DraftKings points in every game with Conley out. Mitchell isn’t running the point as much with Conley out this time around and it has actually served to make him more consistent. I’m not sure how that makes sense, but you can write his 40 in with a Sharpie. It’s that much of a given.

Honorable Mention:

DeMar DeRozan ($7,000): DeRozan was off against Houston in a matchup that was very favorable to him. That’s disappointing, and kind of makes running DeRozan out there feel risky even when the matchup is right. Still, his floor seems to be at least 4x value, so he’s not going to kill your lineup on his own. That said, there are so many better options out there that DeRozan seems like a waste of money.

Lou Williams ($5,900): LouWill is ridiculously cheap. He is still priced based on being hurt. He made his return on Tuesday against the Suns and put up 34 DraftKings points. In a paced-up matchup against Houston in which LouWill has 78 DraftKings points over two meeting already, he could approach 7x value. Williams will be in every build tonight.

Dark Horses:

Ben McLemore ($4,500): McLemore still sees plenty of shots in this offense, but he came up a dud in both games against the Clippers so far. The volume of McLemore gives him a lot of upside, but the inconsistency is disturbing and makes him hard to rely on.

Landry Shamet ($3,800): The good new is that Shamet hasn’t shown any ill effects after missing just over a month. The bad news is that even though he has seen solid minutes in his two games back, he really hasn’t done much with them. Shamet has played 47 minutes, but has just 29.5 DraftKings points. It’s nice that the minutes are there, but what does it matter if he’s not giving you anything?