NBA DFS Picks: Building Blocks for Friday, April 23rd | Paul George

NBA DFS action on Friday, April 23, locks at 7:30 p.m. ET with a seven-game main slate on Yahoo, DraftKings and FanDuel. Before locking in lineups, make sure to check out Awesemo’s daily fantasy basketball picks, rankings and projections. Let’s dig into some NBA DFS picks and daily fantasy basketball, including Paul George, Nikola Jokic, Stephen Curry and more.

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NBA DFS Picks: Building Blocks, Friday, April 23rd

Yahoo Play of the Day — Paul George: Los Angeles Clippers at Houston Rockets

  • Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 41.00 | DraftKings: 48.09
  • Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 30.6% | FanDuel 29.0% | DraftKings 25.4%
  • DFS Salary: Yahoo $41 | FanDuel $9,400 | DraftKings $9,300

Kawhi Leonard will be out through the Monday while dealing with a sore foot. This is the Clippers’ only game this weekend, which should mean that Paul George plays, unless there is more chicanery and shenanigans from coach Tyrone Lue. Even if George is ruled out, there are plenty of late games tonight, so there will still be options. Enjoy the 20% discount on George’s salary tonight and don’t think twice.

Nikola Jokic: Denver Nuggets at Golden State Warriors

  • Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 56.00 | DraftKings: 56.61
    Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 15.0% | FanDuel 14.8% | DraftKings 30.2%
    DFS Salary: Yahoo $56 | FanDuel $11,300 | DraftKings $10,900

There is no shortage of NBA DFS value picks tonight, so gamers can definitely roll with several luxury plays on Friday. The loss of Jamal Murray is going to put even more of Denver’s postseason hopes on the broad shoulders of Nikola Jokic. The Nuggets are coming into Golden State as 2-point favorites in what should be a spirited affair. The Warriors have been a bottom-five rebounding team over their last 10, and Draymond Green, Kevin Looney and whomever else is tasked with defending the paint will be no match for Jokic inside.

The all-around game displayed by Jokic this season has been impressive to say the least. His 26.4 points per game rank 10th, his 11 rebounds are ninth, and his 8.7 assists are fifth, and he is shooting 56.8% from the field. These are MVP-caliber numbers, and Jokic is certainly on the short list for that award this year.

Stephen Curry: Golden State Warriors vs. Denver Nuggets

  • Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 50.00 | DraftKings: 49.34
  • Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 7.0% | FanDuel 16.2% | DraftKings 16.6%
  • DFS Salary: Yahoo $50 | FanDuel $10,000 | DraftKings $10,300

It seems that the Wizards lucked into a poor Stephen Curry performance in which he went only 7-for-25 from the field in Washington on Wednesday night in a 118-114 loss to the hosts. That snapped an 11-game streak of at least 32 points for Curry. He still leads the NBA with 12.1 3-point attempts per game, making them at a 42.5% clip. That is tops among anyone taking at least 7.5 attempts from behind the arc each game. During his torrid streak, he also took the scoring lead from Bradley Beal. Just 10 days ago, Curry dropped 53 points on Denver on his way to topping 60 fantasy points. Pair him with Jokic for some in-game synergy or roll with him solo – either way, get him on some rosters.

Good Value

Washington Wizards at Oklahoma City Thunder

These two squads are wrapping up their home-and-home series, with Oklahoma City looking to even the score after succumbing to the Wizards 119-107 in Washington on Monday. Rui Hachimura remains out with his knee injury, and rookie Deni Avdija is out for the remainder of the season with after suffering a horrific ankle injury on Wednesday. This puts even more pressure on Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal, who are both among the top eight in the league for usage.

These injuries also secure minutes and opportunity for Davis Bertans, who has a chance to redeem himself for what was shaping up to be a lost season. It remains to be seen if he will start or if coach Scott Brooks keeps him coming off the bench, so there is at least one offensive threat among the reserves. Raul Neto could also start in place of Avdija, which would secure 25 to 30 minutes at a near-minimum salary. The trickledown of opportunity should also impact recent acquisition Daniel Gafford, who has helped improve the Washington defense and is just $3,800 on DraftKings. Ish Smith is also worthy of consideration, as both he and Neto could make the closing lineup. Whoever is coming off the bench will have less popularity in tournaments.

Oklahoma City will be without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is recovering from plantar fasciitis, and Al Horford has been shut down for the season. Mike Muscala and Josh Hall are also still sidelined, though Aleksej Pokusevski is available to play. It seems that every game one of Darius Bazley or Luguentz Dort is out, but whoever draws the start is worthy of being in lineups. Finally, guards Theo Maledon and Ty Jerome are fine discount dandies. Frontcourt options Moses Brown and Kenrich Williams will provide some differentiation, though their salaries vary depending on the DFS site of choice.

Risky Value

Atlanta Hawks vs. Miami Heat

Trae Young is out with a sprained ankle, but this is a difficult matchup against the Heat, who are now 5-point favorites in Atlanta. Both Clint Capela and Danilo Gallinari are questionable, and if either is out, that should help John Collins approach 30-plus minutes. Bojan Bogdanovic, Kevin Huerter, Brandon Goodwin and Lou Williams will be tasked with filling the void left by Young. However, it seems best to set a limit at one or perhaps two Hawks for each roster in this matchup where they are projected for 102.5 points, which is 11.2 shy of their season average.

Yahoo Daily Fantasy Basketball Discount Dandies

  1. Payton Pritchard: BOS at BKN – $10
  2. Facundo Campazzo: DEN at GSW – $10
  3. Kevon Looney: GSW vs. DEN – $10

Final Thoughts on the Friday, April 23rd NBA DFS Slate

With all of the injuries and teams mailing it in, there should be plenty of value options, which in turn will make this a high-scoring night. Keep in mind that salaries and scoring formats differ across the various fantasy sites, and a slam-dunk play on Yahoo may be a below-average NBA DFS pick on DraftKings or FanDuel.

Eric "EMac" MacPherson won the 2007 Fantasy Baseball grand prize (trip for two to the MLB All-Star game) in the Roto format on ESPN. He won again in 2008, this time in the H2H format. As one of the early adopters of daily fantasy sports, EMac has been providing content for baseball and basketball as well as both professional and college football since 2012 for a variety of websites including DraftKings Playbook, FanVice, RotoWorld, Daily Fantasy Bootcamp, and RotoGrinders. He is well into his third decade of fantasy sports and has a wealth of knowledge and experience. Follow him on Twitter @EMacDFS or contact EMac by emailing [email protected].

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