NBA Daily Fantasy Helper: Wednesday 12/19/18

If you're new to daily fantasy basketball -- maybe you started your DFS journey during the MLB or NFL seasons, or maybe basketball is your sport and this will be your first year giving it a shot -- you're in for a treat. The NBA scene changes hugely on a week-to-week, day-to-day, and -- depending on injury news -- even a minute-to-minute basis, making every slate a unique one that requires an ever-changing approach.

With so much changing so quickly, we're here with plenty of tools to help you out. We have daily projections, a matchup heat map, a lineup optimizer, and a ton of other great resources to help give you an edge.

We'll also be coming at you with this primer every day, breaking down a few of the day's top plays at each price point.

Let's take a look at who you should target on today's main slate.

Best of the Best

Giannis Antetokounmpo ($11,800): Ranking second in the NBA in fantasy scoring this season, Giannis has topped 70 FanDuel points 4 times in his last 12 games. For context, there are only two other players to top 70 more than twice this year. While his playing time is down this year (to 33.9 minutes per game), he's averaging 26.8 points to go with career-high marks of 13.1 rebounds and 6.0 assists, as well as a combined 2.6 blocks and steals per game. The heavy dose of offense in those numbers should be especially valuable in tonight's matchup with New Orleans. The Pels rank only 24th in defensive rating while playing at the 4th-fastest pace in the NBA, which has them allowing top-7 marks in both points and assists per game. Our models project Giannis within 1 point of Anthony Davis for the day's top fantasy score, while he's priced nearly $1,000 below the Brow.