NBA Daily Fantasy Helper: Thursday 1/4/17

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.

Here, we'll put all of that together and take a look at who you should target on today's slate.

Best of the Best

Chris Paul (FanDuel Price: $10,400) - It's a two-game slate, and three of the four teams played last night. The Houston Rockets did play in Orlando last night but now host the Golden State Warriors, who will be without Kevin Durant. The Rockets are without James Harden. So, the remaining studs get a boost. Per NBAWowy, Paul commands a 29.8% usage rate and 1.72 FanDuel points per minute sans Harden. The Warriors' defensive rating is actually 98.6 without Durant on the court, somehow, but Paul's usage is too high to ignore entirely tonight.

Stephen Curry ($9,800) - Curry's usage rate is 38.6% when playing without Durant over 481 possessions. Curry averages 1.73 FanDuel points per minute without KD on the court, too. CP3 is a tough defender (but is just 18th in defensive real plus-minus), and you probably don't want to talk yourself out of someone with a near 40% usage rate on a team with an implied total of 118 points.