DraftKings NBA picks: Who kills your lineup on Friday the 13th?

6 of 7

Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers celebrates in the fourth quarter (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

DraftKings NBA Centers:

Best Bets:

Joel Embiid ($9,600): After being called out by Shaq and Chuck, Embiid didn’t pout. He went out there and took it to the Celtics. He’ll do the exact same thing to the Pelicans if the Sixers let him play. I kind of feel like Philly may let him play since this game shouldn’t be close after halftime. Embiid can start and dominate for 30 minutes, then crack jokes on the bench for the fourth quarter. If he’s not resting, I’ll run Embiid at least once.

Bam Adebayo ($8,500): This is not a great matchup, but Bam still put up 34.75 DraftKings points on the Lakers the first time around. Bam has done nothing but get better since then. He has 171 DraftKings points over the last three games. That can’t be ignored no matter who he’s playing.

Honorable Mention:

Rudy Gobert ($8,300): Gobert has struggled against a lot of teams that he shouldn’t struggle against. Then he goes and abuses the Warriors twice, a team that is tough on centers. You know me. I don’t make the rules. I just follow numbers. The numbers say that Gobert has 99.25 DraftKings points in 68 minutes against the Warriors.

Jaren Jackson ($6,200): Jackson has picked it up over the last fortnight. He has at least 5x value in five straight games. The Bucks are a great team, but they haven’t been all that powerful defensively in the middle. He still plays chicken with fouls. That’s not going to change. The significant amount of damage that he does in the 25-30 minutes that he can stay on the court is what we play him for.

Dark Horses:

Cody Zeller ($4,700): I was on the Biyombo train earlier in the year, and I totally agreed when he hit the ground running after Zeller went down. It’s clear who the best center on this team is though. Zeller is putting up well over 1 DraftKings point per minute. The issue is that he’s not even playing half the game anymore. This is a great matchup against the Bulls though. I really do like Zeller as a value play tonight.

Alex Len ($4,300): Len hasn’t taken his starting job back yet, but we could argue that he’s playing better off the bench anyway. Len has at least 20 DraftKings points in five straight games. I think he keeps it up against the suddenly lost Myles Turner and the Pacers.