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NBA Daily Fantasy Helper: Saturday 5/26/18

Chris Paul’s injury makes James Harden the top choice for NBA DFS in Game 6. Who else is worth a look?

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 in our new Single Game Boost format for the Conference Finals.

For these contests, you'll fill out a five-man roster with a $60,000 salary cap. Those five players include an MVP, a Star, a Pro, and two utility players. The MVP will have his FanDuel points doubled. The Star will have his fantasy points multiplied by 1.5. The Pro gets a multiplier of 1.2. The two utility players will return the standard FanDuel points.

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

Let's take a look at who you should target on today's one-game slate.

James Harden (FanDuel Price: $16,500)

During the regular season, Harden carried a league-high usage rate of 36.1%. Through 15 postseason games, he has maintained that same heavy workload as he continues to lead all NBA players with a 36.4% usage rate.

With Chris Paul ruled out for Game 6, Harden will be even busier as the Houston Rockets try to close out the Golden State Warriors. According to NBAWowy.com, when Paul was off the court this season, Harden saw his usage rate rise to 38.3% and his assist percentage jumped up to 53.7%. That's compared to a 32.0% usage rate and 31.6% assist percentage with CP3 on the floor.

Running the Rockets' offense solo will certainly boost the Beard's fantasy value as his FanDuel points per minute went from 1.34 with CP3 in the regular season to 1.58 sans Paul. Even with a win Saturday looking like an impossible task -- the Rockets are 12-point underdogs -- you can count on Harden being out there, making him the top choice for your MVP slot.

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