NBA Finals: 4 Sneaky Fantasy Plays for Thunder-Pacers, Game 1—No Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Tyrese Haliburton Here
If you claim that before the NBA season, you had both the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder heading to the Finals, I want proof.
Like, show me a screenshot with the date of your prognostication—and don’t try to cheat with an AI-generated image. Because I can tell.
The good news is that the Pacers and the Thunder are two of the league’s most entertaining teams—I’m super-psyched to watch Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Tyrese Haliburton throw down for the next week or three—and it shapes up to be one helluva ride.
So TBH, nobody cares if you predicted it. We’re all just glad we’re here.
For our part, we fantasy players are well aware that SGA and HIMaburton are no-brainers, but the two studs will be high-owned in any kind of FanDuel or DraftKings tournament situation, so we'll need to look to the back-end of the starting lineups or front-end of the benches for options who’ll make our rosters stand out.
Here are four players—two from each squad—who might get you across the fantasy finish line.
OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER
Lu Dort
Confession: Lu Dort drives me nuts.
Not as a person or a player. He seems like a good dude, he’s a defensive menace, and he’s been known to get on heaters from beyond the arc. Great stuff, for sure.
Thing is, whenever I put him into my fantasy lineup, he gets four first-half fouls and shoots 2-for-10.
But that hasn’t dissuaded me from rostering the Canadian, nor will it stop me in the Finals—especially since whenever he plays the Pacers, he eats.
- 01/28/2022 – 27 PTS, 8 REB, 4 AST
- 01/18/2023 – 22 PTS, 11 REB, 1 AST
- 03/31/2023 – 12 PTS, 10 REB, 1 AST
- 03/12/2024 – 18 PTS, 2 REB, 3 AST
- 04/05/2024 – 22 PTS, 2 REB, 1 AST
- 12/26/2024 – 13 PTS, 7 REB, 0 AST
- 03/29/2025 – 22 PTS, 5 REB, 0 AST
Numbers don’t lie, so Lu is all but a must-play.
Alex Caruso
Don’t sleep on hustle stats, y’all.
Arguably the Finals’ best defender, A.C. will be tasked with slowing down Tyrese Haliburton. And Aaron Nesmith. And Andrew Nembhard. And potentially Rick Carlisle.
These kinds of assignments lead to additional burn, and with additional burn comes additional hustle digits for the former Laker and Bull. In OKC’s Game Three win in the Western Finals against Minnesota, for instance, Caruso was on the court for 33 minutes, during which time he compiled ten points, two boards, and two steals, modest numbers in the real world, but a solid performance in fantasyland.
If Haliburton keeps doing Haliburton things—which I think we can all agree he will—look for A.C. to rack up the run.
INDIANA PACERS
Obi Toppin
Second-year Pacers forward Jarace Walker—who’s averaged just under ten minutes in the 2025 postseason—looks like he’ll miss time with a jacked-up ankle, and while those ten minutes constitute a small-ish number, somebody will have to pick up the slack, and that somebody will be the exceedingly bouncy Mr. Toppin.
Toppin’s per-36 numbers in the 2025 postseason are nothing short of spectacular:
- Points: 18.3
- Rebounds: 7.0
- Assists: 2.9
- Steals: 1.3
He’s averaged 17.1 minutes in the ’25 playoffs, so if you add even half of Walker’s court time into the mix, we’re looking at 22-ish minutes, which’ll have us looking at some nice fantasy digits.
T.J. McConnell
T-Mac is a fantasy beast, an Andre Kirilenko lite who, on any given night, can stuff a box score, big-time.
In the 2024-25 season, the pesky guard topped 30 DraftKings points on seven occasions, the most notable being his December 8 masterpiece against the Charlotte when he racked up 30 points, six assists, two blocks, and two steals, all of which shook out to 48.2 DK points.
Those, ladies and gents, are some Haliburton-level stats, and if Tyrese gets into foul trouble, McConnell might be your tourney-winner.
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-82121a1351894b8089c555f4b4b69420-1d609352940036e7455770363a74a2e9.png "Alan Goldsher")
Alan Goldsher has written about sports for Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Apple, Playboy, NFL.com, and NBA.com, and he’s the creator of the Chicago Sports Stuff Substack. He’s the bestselling author of 15 books, and the founder/CEO of Gold Note Records. Alan lives in Chicago, where he writes, makes music, and consumes and creates way too much Bears content. You can visit him at http://www.AlanGoldsher.com and http://x.com/AlanGoldsher.