NBA DFS Picks for January 5th Feature Keyonte George and 4 Other Must-Starts

These are the best NBA DFS Picks on the January 5th slate of games.

Dec 22, 2025; Denver, Colorado, USA; Utah Jazz guard Keyonte George (3) dribbles the ball up court in the first quarter against the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

It's a new year, and a new us. As the NFL Regular Season has wrapped itself up, we now turn our focus to the National Basketball Association. NBA DFS is one of my favorite ways to partake in Fantasy Sports. Every single night, we have a slate of games that will surely bring entertainment. What it will also bring is a DFS Slate to expose and win within. These will be our best plays for January 5th.

Keyonte George, PG/SG — $8,900 (FanDuel) | $8,600 (DraftKings)

Keyonte is the first player in Jazz history with 70+ assists and 40+ made threes in a 10-game span 🔑

vote Key for #NBAAllStar ⭐️ https://t.co/X4WJXzIrma#TakeNote pic.twitter.com/rSuQlaZVMn

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) January 5, 2026

George is the lead guard on this Utah Jazz team and this game should favor a high-scoring affair. The Over/Under is set at (242.5), and deservingly so as both teams are Top-6 in Pace of Play. As for George, he gets a Trail Blazers team that is 21st versus Points Guards.

George and Lauri Markannen are the only two Jazz players with over 21% of Points While On the Court. George also has an Assist Rate >31% and he leads the team in Usage Rate (27.7%). He is also averaging a stellar (29.5) Points per Game over his last four games.

Shaedon Sharpe, SG/PG — $7,100 (FanDuel) | $7,000 (DraftKings)

In a high-scoring affair, we can look to both sides. In fact, Portland is the favored team here by (6.5) Points. Sharpe leads the Trail Blazers in Usage Rate (30.3%) and %Pts (29.8%). Sharpe has had volatile minutes being played, but in a high-scoring game without Jrue Holiday and Mattias Thybulle, this should highly favor Sharpe to have well over 30 Minutes. The Jazz are 30th versus Guards.

VJ Edgecombe, SF/SG — $7,200 (FanDuel) | $6,700 (DraftKings)

The upside with Edgecombe is tremendous. Whether the 76ers lead big, or not, Edgecombe plays heavy minutes. He has no less than (33) Minutes in any game since December 5th. Edgecombe, in this game, gets a Nuggets team that is 22nd versus Forwards.

With the 76ers playing at home, and favored by (11.5) Points, this should only favor a minutes and usage increase for Edgecombe. He is averaging 4.7x of tonight's salary, and I would be quite confident that he exceeds his average output. Edgecombe has (47.9) FanDuel Points per Game over his last 3 games.

Deni Avdija, SF/PF — $10,200 (FanDuel) | $9,500 (DraftKings)

Avdija, like Edgecombe, favors heavily on DraftKings with a much cheaper salary. Nonetheless, it is a good play. Avdija is on an absolute tear in the midst of team injuries. Four of his last five games have seen Avdija score no less than (51.4) FanDuel Points. In the last month of basketball, Avdija has only twice scored less than (40) FanDuel Points, once being (39.2). He is ultra consistent and, though without 7x upside, he is safe to get you 4x at the minimum.

Donovan Clingan, C — $6,500 (FanDuel) | $6,400 (DraftKings)

KLING KONG ‼️

Donovan Clingan put up a career-best 24 points in our win over the Spurs last night. pic.twitter.com/nkOTQoq3cp

— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) January 4, 2026

Clingan is an absolute rebound machine, standing at 7'2" . He has a 39.0% Rebound Rate While on the Court. He is averaging (10.6) Rebounds per Game on (26.7) Minutes per Game, ranking 7th in Rebounds per Game across the NBA. Clingan will benefit tremendously tonight with Jusuf Nurkic Questionable (Toe), and the Jazz standing 27th versus Centers as it is. I can see 15+ Rebounds for Clingan's upside.