NBA Daily Fantasy Helper: Monday 4/22/19

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

James Harden ($11,800): This slate is an ugly one for DFS purposes. We've got only two games, and they're each the potentially decisive game in a 3-0 series. We've got just two players priced above even $10,000, and while there's certainly something to be said for taking $800 of savings with Giannis Antetokounmpo ($11,000), Harden is the safer high-priced option. Neither series has been close, but Harden and the Houston Rockets are only 2.5-point favorites over the Utah Jazz tonight, while Giannis and the Milwaukee Bucks are favored by 12.5 versus the Detroit Pistons. The Jazz make for a tougher fantasy matchup than the Pistons do, but Harden has still averaged 56.7 FanDuel points per game in the series -- ranking second in the postseason so far. He's playing 35.0 minutes per game,while blowouts have limited Giannis to only 27.0 minutes (and 43.1 FanDuel points) per game.