The first week of the 2022-23 NBA season continues on Saturday and one of the marquee matchups of the day will receive a big boost with the return of an injured star. The Bulls and Cavaliers are both playoff hopefuls in the Eastern Conference and Zach LaVine is expected to make his debut for Chicago after missing the first two games of the season with a knee injury. LaVine averaged 24.4 points per game while shooting 47.6% from the floor and 38.9% from the 3-point line last season but can you trust him to produce similarly for NBA daily Fantasy purposes in his first game of the year?
LaVine is priced at $8,200 on DraftKings and $7,300 on FanDuel, making him a relatively affordable star for your Saturday NBA DFS lineups. However, with the potential for his minutes to be limited and the knee to be bothersome, there are also many options in the NBA DFS player pool that carry less risk. Before making any NBA DFS picks for 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 over $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, he highlighted Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton as one of his top NBA DFS picks on both DraftKings and FanDuel. The result: Haliburton produced 27 points, 12 assists, three rebounds and a steal to return 50.75 points on DraftKings and 47.6 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 NBA action on Saturday and locked in his top daily Fantasy basketball picks. You can only see them by heading to SportsLine.
Top NBA DFS picks for Saturday, October 22
For Saturday, one of McClure’s top NBA DFS picks is Haliburton again, who is listed at $8,000 on DraftKings and $8,200 on FanDuel. The Iowa State product was acquired from the Kings last year before the NBA trade deadline and has produced like a high-level point guard since arriving in Indiana.
In 26 games last season, Haliburton averaged 17.5 points, 9.6 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game while shooting 50.2% from the floor and 41.6% from the 3-point line. And in two games this season, Haliburton is averaging 26.5 points and 9.5 assists while shooting 52.8% from the floor and 36.4% from the 3-point line. Now he’ll take on a Pistons defense that gave up 130 points to the Knicks on Friday night.
Another part of McClure’s optimal NBA DFS strategy includes rostering Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo ($11,000 on DraftKings, $11,500 on FanDuel). Antetokounmpo is a two-time NBA MVP who has averaged 28.8 points, 12.2 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game over the last four seasons while shooting 56.3% from the floor.
Antetokounmpo began his season on Thursday night by shooting 9-for-16 from the floor and producing 21 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists and three blocks in an upset win over the 76ers. On Saturday, he’ll take on a Rockets squad that has given up 123.0 points per game over their first two contests.
How to set your NBA DFS lineups for Saturday, October 22
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.
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.