NBA Daily Fantasy Helper: Thursday 5/31/18

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 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.

LeBron James (FanDuel Price: $18,800)

LeBron's 61.5 FanDuel points per night in the postseason are a league-leading clip, while nobody else in this series is within even 10 points of that mark (the next-highest sits at 46.1). His 1.47 FanDuel points per minute on the season is also the most efficient mark of anyone in this series, and combining that with the 41.3 minutes per game he's averaging in the playoffs gives him both the best ceiling and best floor on the board.

Kevin Love's status is uncertain for Cleveland tonight, and if he can't go, then LeBron's fantasy value climbs even higher. He averaged 3.0 more fantasy points per game in contests without Love than he did with Love in the regular season, thanks in part to a jump of 2.3 percentage points in usage rate. He also has managed a 15.6% rebound rate in minutes with Love off the court, compared to an 11.5% with Love.

Out-producing everyone at such a high clip makes the King a great pick for your MVP spot regardless of Love's status.