NBA Daily Fantasy Helper: Thursday 10/18/18

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

LeBron James ($11,700): It doesn't matter that he's wearing new colors this year, The King stays the king. No player had more games with 50-plus (56) or 60-plus (28) FanDuel points last season, and his 54.1 per game ranked third in the NBA. LeBron hasn't posted a usage rate below 30% since his second season in the NBA, and an assist rate below 35.0% since the 2013-14 season. He has finished with a rebound rate below 11.0% once in the last 10 seasons. As a Los Angeles Laker we can expect him to continue showing off that ability to fill up every area of the stats sheet. This game against the Portland Trail Blazers has a slate-high 222.0 over/under, so there should be plenty of fantasy goodness to go around. Expect LeBron's fingerprints to be all over that.