FanDuel Daily Fantasy Basketball Helper: Monday 12/19/22

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 be coming 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

While some things change, others stay the same. Look no further than today's injury report for an example.

Anthony Davis is now out Monday -- and for a while -- after injuring his foot Friday against the Nuggets. The Lakers, also potentially down Patrick Beverley (calf), are in Phoenix, and the Suns have plenty of names on their injury report, too. Devin Booker (groin) and Deandre Ayton (ankle) are questionable, and Cameron Payne (foot) and Jock Landale (concussion) are already out.

That's just the start. Dallas has both Luka Doncic (quad) and Tim Hardaway Jr. (illness) listed as questionable tonight in Minnesota. This is a T-Wolves team potentially down both Rudy Gobert (ankle) and Naz Reid (shoulder), as well.

The Thunder are also severely shorthanded. They've got all of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (back), Josh Giddey (illness), and Darius Bazley (illness) listed as out for their game against Portland. Jerami Grant (back) is questionable for the Blazers.

Although Clint Capela (calf) is still out, the Hawks have a chance to get two other starters back with John Collins (ankle) and Dejounte Murray (ankle) upgraded to questionable. The Magic played yesterday, so their report isn't in today, but they were without Wendell Carter Jr. (foot), Jalen Suggs (ankle), and Chuma Okeke (knee) yesterday.

Terry Rozier (hip) left yesterday's game in Denver early for the Hornets. He's likely out tonight in Sacramento, and Charlotte was also without Dennis Smith (ankle) yesterday.

It's a huge game to lose for the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes in Houston, and the Spurs are starting strong with Keldon Johnson (back) and Romeo Langford (illness) listed as questionable. We'll see if any ice cream headaches emerge from the Rockets later today.

Khris Middleton (knee) will sit for Milwaukee tonight. They're in New Orleans, and the Pels are likely down Larry Nance Jr. (Achilles) in this one.

The Raptors sat Gary Trent Jr. (quad) yesterday, so he's questionable at best tonight in Philadelphia.

Finally, the Jazz have Kelly Olynyk (ankle) listed as questionable tonight in Cleveland. The Cavs will be without Lamar Stevens (knee).

Guards

Devin Booker ($8,900) dropped 58 points on Saturday, so he's a whopping value at his salary if he suits up.

His usage rate (32.1%) just continues to pull away from the next-highest Phoenix starter (22.5%), but my guess is he rests against the lowly Lakers tonight.

Of those expected to play, why not turn to Donovan Mitchell ($9,000) in his revenge game? Mitchell scores 68.4% of his FanDuel production from putting the ball in the basket, and Utah is allowing the third-most points per game to opposing point guards.

The Hornets' abysmal defense has a 240.5-point total on deck in Sacramento, and LaMelo Ball ($8,000) should be wildly popular as a result -- especially with Rozier sitting. De'Aaron Fox ($8,400) might be a sharper way to access that game in tournaments.

Devin Vassell ($6,700) is already projected well by our model, and it'll only get better if Keldon Johnson sits. He's held a team-best 26.1% usage rate with him off the floor. There's also relative value in that game with Kevin Porter Jr. ($7,700) and Jalen Green having basically the same salaries, but Porter Jr. (1.03 FanDuel points per minute) has outperformed Green (0.94) all year.

In terms of value at this position today, OKC leads the way with their starting backcourt out. All three of Jalen Williams ($5,200), Isaiah Joe ($4,200), and Aaron Wiggins ($3,500) are projecting well in our model, surrounded by De'Anthony Melton ($6,300), Mike Conley ($5,500), and Malachi Flynn ($3,700).

Wings

I don't know why, but Giannis Antetokounmpo ($11,600) seems to have had a harder time in fantasy basketball with Khris Middleton.

With Middleton off the floor, Giannis averages 1.66 FanDuel points per minute. That drops to 1.54 with Khris on the floor. Middleton is out on Monday due to a knee injury, and the 1.5-point spread in New Orleans provides plenty of hope for a competitive, back-and-forth affair.

Given a lower salary, Anthony Edwards ($8,600) seemed to blossom with Gobert off the floor last night. He's seen a team-best increase of 0.15 FanDuel points per minute with Rudy off the floor. He'll be popular off of last night's perfect lineup appearance.

Gordon Hayward ($6,700) should benefit from a few extra looks without Rozier. Kelly Oubre just hasn't seen his salary ($7,900) drop to a valuable place since LaMelo returned, so he's not even a bargain despite the fact he played 35 minutes in Rozier's stead last night.

With all the other potential value, Luguentz Dort ($6,100) could be a high-upside piece lost in the shuffle. Dort's 28.3% usage rate with Giddey and SGA off the floor leads all players, and he's posted 1.06 FanDuel points per minute in that floor condition.

Dort's teammates Kenrich Williams ($3,900) and Eugene Omoruyi ($3,700) are also showing plenty of value in our projections alongside Josh Hart ($5,700), Harrison Barnes ($5,600), Herbert Jones ($5,000), and Juan Hernangomez ($4,500). Add Bogdan Bogdanovic ($6,000) to that list if Murray and Collins remain out for Atlanta.

Bigs

Given Nikola Jokic had 20 rebounds at halftime yesterday, how can I not lead with Domantas Sabonis ($9,200) here?

Charlotte allows the most FanDuel points per game to centers by a country mile, and Sabonis -- with at least 55 FanDuel points in back-to-back games -- is heating up himself. I'm swallowing the chalk in any format with him here.

Thankfully, he's power-forward eligible, so I can keep both Joel Embiid ($11,800) and Pascal Siakam ($9,400) on the table for their showdown in Philly. Embiid has surged past 55 FanDuel points in six of his past eight, but I love buying low on Siakam's cold shot for a Raptors squad still missing Gary Trent and OG Anunoby.

Christian Wood ($7,500) exploded for 26 points and 14 boards with Luka out of the lineup on Saturday, and he even had Hardaway for that one. I'll have to squeeze him next to Sabonis somehow if both are out Monday.

Due to his high production rate of 0.96 FanDuel points per minute with Giddey and SGA off the floor, Aleksej Pokusevski ($5,500) could be a stellar value play. He might have a longer leash on the court to generate offense, too.

Pokusevski and Onyeka Okongwu ($5,200) -- drawing another start for Capela -- are the standout value options at big today. I'd also toss in Jabari Smith ($5,900) and Thomas Bryant ($5,800) from our model today, but largely, this a better position to spend on -- especially with all the OKC value in the backcourt.