FanDuel Daily Fantasy Basketball Helper: Saturday 12/26/20

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 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 bunch of other great resources to help give you an edge.

Daily fantasy NBA is very reliant on opportunity, so you'll need to make sure that you're up-to-date with key injuries. Our projections update up until tip-off to reflect current news, we have player news updates, and the FanDuel Scout app will send push notifications for pressing updates regarding your players.

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

Let's break down today's main slate on FanDuel:

The Slate

The only missing spread is related to the Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers, as the Rockets continue to navigate their battle with COVID-19 protocol that postponed their season opener on Wednesday. By all accounts, the Rockets will make their season debut against Portland, but they will be missing several key pieces, including DeMarcus Cousins, John Wall, and Eric Gordon.

The most notable potential injury concern is related to the rest strategy of Russell Westbrook, as the Washington Wizards are going to rest Westbrook in one of two games in their back-to-back set this weekend. If it is Saturday, it opens up additional usage in the Washington backcourt against a weaker Orlando Magic squad that Washington should be able to hang around against even without Russ.

Point Guard

Damian Lillard ($9,000): Wednesday was not a great night to roster the Blazers' point guard, as Lillard had one of his lowest offensive outputs in several years with just 9 points in 34 minutes. Given that the Portland rotation has not greatly changed, Lillard's 17.6% usage rate on Wednesday was likely a one-off oddity versus a trend away from his team-high 30.1% usage from last season. Even with no total posted due to the Rockets' situation, this game is likely to have the highest or second-highest total on the slate to the Atlanta Hawks/Memphis Grizzlies game. Portland's top scorer -- maybe with reduced popularity due to his opening night dud -- is a great building block to stack this game, as Houston's high pace ceded the seventh-most field goals in the NBA last year.

Markelle Fultz ($5,900): The Orlando point guard situation remains a platoon, albeit a far less dramatic one than last season, when D.J. Augustin would periodically take large chunks of time away from Fultz. Now with Augustin joining the Milwaukee Bucks, it is rookie Cole Anthony who will compete with the former top pick for playing time, but Fultz is likely to see much larger a share of time that he did a year ago. Fultz saw 29 minutes on Wednesday but led the Magic with 15 shot attempts and a 27.4% usage rate. That merited just 15 points as Fultz shot poorly, but the peripheral usage great, and the Magic should see a huge pace increase against the Wizards on Saturday.

Other Notable Picks: Kyle Lowry ($8,000), Ricky Rubio ($5,700), Ish Smith ($3,900, if Russell Westbrook sits)

Shooting Guard

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ($7,600): With the short-handed nature of the Rockets, it is obvious that James Harden is a cornerstone for his position in one of the slate's best games. However, the question becomes what to do with other shooting guard spot as well as what to do in tournaments when pivoting off of Harden. SGA, the Oklahoma City Thunder star, is certainly an option for the latter, and this may be one of the few buy-low opportunities on him all season. Gilgeous-Alexander is going to absorb a tremendous amount of usage from the departing Chris Paul, Danilo Gallinari, and Dennis Schroder, and it is within the range of outcomes for his season trajectory that he is a player with a salary above $9,000 on FanDuel at some points this campaign. After Wednesday's contest was postponed, the starting point of his season is a positive matchup with the young Charlotte Hornets, who ceded 49 points to the Cleveland Cavaliers' starting backcourt on Wednesday despite their usual slow pace.

Buddy Hield ($5,600): With Bogdan Bogdanovic in Atlanta, Hield might finally have around 30 minutes a night to showcase his scoring ability for the Kings. He was second on the team in minutes Wednesday (41) against the Denver Nuggets and led the team in scoring with 22 points. Hield averaged 0.98 FanDuel points per minute last season and may now get the opportunity to use that production over a larger sample. The Phoenix Suns are a less desirable defensive matchup than one may guess at first glance, but the Suns did play at the 9th-fastest pace last season.

Other Notable Picks: James Harden ($11,000), Bradley Beal ($8,100; if Westbrook sits), Lonnie Walker ($4,700)

Small Forward

Tobias Harris ($6,600): There is likely to be an overreaction to Harris' poor debut for the Philadelphia 76ers, as he just shot the ball terribly (23%) on 13 tries against the Wizards. However, there is still some buy-low potential with the 76ers' forward, especially since many are expecting Philadelphia to play at a pace much closer to General Manager Daryl Morey's Rockets last season, who were second in the entire NBA in that category. In the opener, Harris was still second on the team in shots (13), third among starters in usage (20.0%), and played 31 minutes. The New York Knicks are expected to struggle in 2020-21 (shocker), and the matchup provides Harris with a bounce-back spot.

RJ Barrett ($6,300): Large leaps in production among young players from year-to-year are always a spot to target early in season both in DFS. Last year's third overall pick might be on trajectory for one of those, as he was the definitive top option for the Knicks on Wednesday. Barrett led the team in points (26) and shots (15) but was amazingly just sixth in usage (21.8%) despite finishing second on the team in assists. If Barrett continues to be both productive and efficient, his usage should rise, especially with starting point guard Elfrid Payton limited to 22 minutes on Wednesday due to a coach's decision. This offense quietly is a nice one to target in daily fantasy, as it is highly concentrated with Barrett and Julius Randle, and the Knicks are ninth in pace among teams that have debuted thus far.

Other Notable Picks: Jerami Grant ($5,100), Carmelo Anthony ($4,700), Danuel House Jr. ($3,700)

Power Forward

Domantas Sabonis ($8,500): The Indiana Pacers' starting lineup is the exact same as last year's, and the production hierarchy remained fairly similar, as well, on Wednesday. Sabonis led the team in FanDuel points per minute (1.20) last year, and he exploded again with a 54.10-FanDuel-point game in the opener with 32 points and 13 rebounds. He led the team with a 29.0% usage in the first game, and his versatility is what makes his floor so high, as he can be a playmaker offensively or rack up fantasy points rebounding on the defensive glass. Even his rotation spot -- where he usually starts the second and fourth quarters -- lowers his blowout exposure compared to a normal starter. He is not incredibly salary prohibitive for someone with upside to score more than 50 FanDuel points, and Sabonis draws a matchup against the Chicago Bulls, a team miss missing their starting power forward, Thaddeus Young, due to his recovery from a lower leg infection.

Christian Wood ($6,700): Wood may be the most popular player on the entire main slate, but it is for good reason. In what could be the game with the highest total of the night, the Rockets' offense is truly down to James Harden and Wood. There are incredibly high hopes for Wood in a brand-new Houston scheme expected to use more of his mid-range play, as Wood averaged 1.17 FanDuel points per minute last season despite being limited for much of the year sharing the frontcourt with Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin. Wood is projected for a monstrous 44.0 FanDuel points by our model for his Houston debut.

Other Notable Picks: Blake Griffin ($6,600), Robert Covington ($5,700), Bojan Bogdanovic ($4,700)

Center

Andre Drummond ($8,400): It was a strange season opener for the Cavaliers, who had a 21-point lead at halftime that the Hornets were able to cut to 7 before the final horn. That strange sequence of events led to limited playing time for their star center Drummond, who saw just 27 minutes but made the most of them with a hearty 14-point, 14-rebound double-double. With Larry Nance Jr. now appropriately salaried at $7,000, Drummond may be the better way to access the Cleveland frontcourt if Kevin Love sits again due to his calf injury. Drummond averaged 1.40 FanDuel points per minute last year but just 1.29 FanDuel points per minute in a lackluster debut, so a return to form with a normal workload should have him exceeding value in a revenge game against his former Detroit Pistons squad.

Other Notable Picks: Al Horford ($6,100), Aron Baynes ($4,600)

Austin Swaim is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Austin Swaim also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username ASwaim3. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.