2023 NBA playoffs: Odds, picks, betting tips for Saturday

ESPN's fantasy basketball and basketball betting tips cheat sheet is your pregame destination for basketball betting predictions and our best intel and data, featuring ESPN's proprietary Basketball Power Index (BPI) to help you make smart fantasy and wagering decisions. NBA game odds for Saturday are provided by Caesars Sportsbook.

Injuries have felt inescapable in the 2023 playoffs. The LA Clippers won't have either Paul George or Kawhi Leonard on the floor for today's game against the Phoenix Suns due to respective knee injuries. The betting favorite for the MVP, Joel Embiid, has been ruled out with a knee sprain for this afternoon's tilt between the Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets. The Miami Heat's Tyler Herro just had hand surgery that will sideline him for more than a month.

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The rare good news on this front is superstars Ja Morant and Giannis Antetokounmpo are both listed as questionable to compete for their teams today, which would be a welcome boon for competition and for a richer player pool in DFS tournaments. It also helps that today is the rare four-game playoff slate, affording us eight rosters to invest in.

The fantasy fallout of these missing stars drives the day in that we are tasked with identifying which teammates benefit statistically. For the Clippers, it's clear that Norman Powell and Russell Westbrook are due for sizable workloads. For the Sixers, it's revealing that James Harden sees the highest leap on the team in usage rate sans Embiid from the floor, while rising star Tyrese Maxey leaps by nearly seven DraftKings points per 36 minutes without the league's