NBA Daily Fantasy Helper: Monday 12/18/17

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 slate.

Best of the Best

Kevin Durant (FanDuel Price: $12,000): Durant's workload when Stephen Curry is out makes him a fantasy monster. Looking at his splits without Curry on the floor, he boasts a 33.4% usage rate and 30.7% assist rate, averaging 1.50 FanDuel points per minute, compared to a 28.4% usage rate, 19.0% assist rate and 1.29 FanDuel points per minute with Curry on the floor. He's also averaging 58.4 FanDuel points per game without Curry, compared to 44.6 with him this year. Adding in his increase in rebound rate (from 8.8% to 14.1%) with Draymond Green (shoulder) off the floor makes him even more appealing tonight. The matchup is great, too, as KD takes on a Los Angeles Lakers team that allows the league's sixth-most rebounds and fifth-most points per game to opponents while leading the league in pace.