NBA DFS: Joel Embiid and best FanDuel, DraftKings daily Fantasy basketball picks for April 16, 2022

The 2022 NBA playoffs are underway and it appears that Stephen Curry will make his return to the Warriors after missing the final 12 games of the season with a foot injury. Curry is listed as probable for Game 1 against the Nuggets on Saturday night, and with 112 games of experience in the NBA postseason under his belt, he’ll be a popular option for NBA DFS lineups. But is it a sound NBA DFS strategy to plug Curry right back into your roster after the extended layoff, or should you wait to see how his foot holds up to game action?

There aren’t a ton of upper-echelon options at guard in the NBA DFS player pool if you’re avoiding Curry, but you could go bargain-bin to free up money for an impressive forward pool. So what the best way to spend your NBA DFS salary cap space for the first night of NBA playoff action? Before making any NBA DFS picks on Saturday, 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 nearly $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 and create optimal lineups that he shares only over at SportsLine. They’re a must-see for any NBA DFS player.

On Friday, McClure listed Clippers point guard Reggie Jackson in his top NBA DFS lineup pool on both DraftKings and FanDuel. The result: Jackson had 27 points, eight assists, seven rebounds, two steals and a block. His performance returned 53.75 points on DraftKings and 54.4 points on FanDuel. Anybody that included him in their lineups was well on the way to a profitable day.

Now, McClure has turned his attention to the Saturday, April 16, NBA DFS slate and locked in his top daily Fantasy basketball picks. You can only see them by heading to SportsLine.

Top NBA DFS picks for Saturday, April 16

For Saturday, one of McClure’s top NBA DFS picks is Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, who is listed at $10,600 on DraftKings and $12,000 on FanDuel. Jokic won the MVP last season because he put up incredible numbers but he arguably showed even more value this season without Jamal Murray (knee) and Michael Porter Jr. (back) all season.

Jokic posted 19 triple-doubles this season and set new career-highs in scoring (27.1 ppg), rebounding (13.8 rpg) and shooting percentage (58.3). And since the start of March, Jokic has averaged 31.6 points, 13.7 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game while shooting 62.3 percent from the floor. Even as the most expensive option available in NBA DFS on Saturday night, Jokic’s floor is high enough to warrant the spend as he closed out the season with seven consecutive games of 70 points or more on DraftKings.

Another part of McClure’s optimal NBA DFS strategy includes rostering 76ers center Joel Embiid ($10,400 on DraftKings and $11,300 on FanDuel). It was a historic season for the five-time NBA all-star as he became the first center since Moses Malone in 1982 to average at least 30 points per game (30.6) and the first center since Shaquille O’Neal in 2000 to win the NBA scoring title.

But while Malone and O’Neal did the bulk of their scoring on the block as traditional big men, Embiid is one of the crowning achievements of a game that has evolved to have centers stretching the floor and even handling the ball. Over his last four games of the regular season, Embiid averaged 40.0 points, 15.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.0 blocks per game.

How to set your NBA DFS lineups for Saturday, April 16

McClure is also targeting a player who could go off for massive numbers on Saturday 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.

So who is DFS pro Mike McClure putting in his optimal NBA DFS lineups for Saturday? Visit SportsLine now to see optimal NBA DFS picks, rankings, advice, and stacks, all from a professional DFS player who has almost $2 million in career winnings, and find out.