NBA Daily Fantasy Helper: Thursday 2/28/19

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

Russell Westbrook ($11,600): Tonight's game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Philadelphia 76ers has the highest over/under (239.0) on the slate, and the Thunder's 123.5-point implied total is also a slate-high. The Sixers will be without Joel Embiid tonight, and while they rank 12th in the NBA in defensive rating this season, their defensive rating is 6.1 points worse with Embiid off the floor than when he's on. Their 113.1 mark without him would be one of the worst in the NBA if they held up that average over the season. So for Westbrook, whose 58.6 FanDuel points per game over his last 15 are only 0.7 out of first place in the NBA in that time, this matchup goes from an unexciting one to one that gives his fantasy value a nice boost.