FanDuel Daily Fantasy Basketball Helper: Wednesday 4/12/23

Since it's much simpler to predict than baseball or football, daily fantasy basketball would get plenty of votes as the best sport to play on FanDuel. Players usually stick to the same minutes and produce at roughly the same rate. Sounds easy, right?

As a result, NBA daily fantasy is highly reliant on a player's opportunity, so you'll need to ensure 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.

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

We'll also come at you with this primer daily, 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 and Key Injuries

Now Wednesday's injury report looks like one from a playoff slate!

In the Eastern Conference affair, Chicago and Toronto don't have a singular regular rotation piece listed on the report.

Out west, the Pelicans have just one key question mark -- Larry Nance Jr. (ankle). Of course, New Orleans is still without Zion Williamson (hamstring) and Jose Alvarado (leg) from injuries suffered months ago, and the same can be said for Oklahoma City with Aleksej Pokusevski (knee).

Nance's minutes are limited as is, so we can really play things straight up tonight.

Guards

In the better environment between the two games, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ($10,800) has a reduced salary and ridiculous floor. He's posted 30 real-life points in all but two games since the break.

True value is tough to come by on this slate, though. That could point us toward a potential Josh Giddey ($7,900) night, but the concern for both he and SGA? New Orleans is a bottom-10 team in FanDuel points allowed to combo guards. Chicago also fits that description for those interested in Fred VanVleet ($8,800).

The Thunder are the most forgiving defensive matchup on the slate for guards, so C.J. McCollum ($8,600) is projecting well for good reason. He's just struggled to produce, failing to eclipse 40 FanDuel points in six of his past seven games with heavy minutes.

Chicago's rotation is only eight deep already, and Patrick Beverley ($5,000) and Coby White ($4,700) are two of those eight, making them superb value plays on the slate. Beverley's intensity netted him 11 rebounds, a block, and a steal in last year's play-in, so don't cross him off right away due to his offensive shortcomings.

Isaiah Joe ($4,600) and Alex Caruso ($4,200) are the two others with a path to playing time. If you've been checked out of NBA DFS before the playoffs, Gary Trent Jr. just doesn't have a full role for the Raptors and hasn't since the deadline.

Wings

I've discussed ad nauseam how Brandon Ingram ($10,300) has developed into a five-digit star with increased playmaking, but let's budget realistically on this slate.

Ingram and DeMar DeRozan, who has eclipsed 45 FanDuel points only once in his last eight games, aren't that far separated from a loaded tier of wings with upside in the mid-range. That starts with DeRozan's Robin-turned-Batman, Zach LaVine ($8,200).

Since the trade deadline, LaVine actually has the Bulls' highest usage rate (30.3%) by over six percentage points. On the other side, Scottie Barnes ($7,600) and OG Anunoby ($6,800) both topped 30 real-life points in March as Toronto's muddy usage outlook tends to produce big games from a variety of spots.

Because the Pels have been so tough on guards, Jalen Williams ($7,200) and Lu Dort ($5,500) could have a bit more room to roam. Williams has failed to eclipse 30 FanDuel points in five straight since SGA came back, though. Dort has one of the lowest salaries for a full role on the slate.

Trey Murphy III ($6,500) and Herbert Jones ($6,000) have the 40-minute roles on the wing for NOLA.

Bigs

The Bulls and Raptors were both bottom-seven matchups for bigs in the regular season, so it's not ideal that the best bigs are in those matchups.

As mentioned with Barnes and Anunoby, Toronto's scoring can come from anywhere. While Pascal Siakam has eclipsed 50 FanDuel points in three of his last seven, he's also failed to eclipse 40 FanDuel points three times in that same stretch. I couldn't imagine spending nearly as much salary on him as Ingram.

Nikola Vucevic ($8,500) and Jakob Poeltl ($6,700) are projected as the best two best point-per-dollar bigs, and Vucevic has the most stable role of any center on these four squads. Poeltl has been held below 23 minutes in four straight games.

Jonas Valanciunas ($7,500) is the lone play of the night where we'll need news first as we await word on Nance's status. I still will get here even if Nance plays, but there's some risk that JV is matched off the floor. OKC allowed the 13th-most FanDuel points per game to centers this season, which is by far the best positional matchup on the slate, so if he gets his minutes, Valanciunas could pop.

The low-floor candidates to see action in OKC's frontcourt are Jaylin Williams ($4,600) and veteran Dario Saric ($4,100), but if they downsize as they've tried to do in most games, a hobbled Larry Nance Jr. ($4,100) might be the most optimal value play at a positional group largely lacking them.