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NBA Daily Fantasy Helper: Thursday 12/13/18

Even with an increased price tag, De'Anthony Melton continues to offer big fantasy value tonight against the Mavericks.

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): We've only got four games on tonight's slate, and the matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets promises to be one of the best for fantasy purposes, with a slate-high 225.5-point implied total. The Rockets rank only 27th in defensive rating and 25th in rebound rate, making them a great matchup for someone like LeBron that can contribute all over the stat sheet. The King has seen his production fall a bit recently, but that has a lot to do with getting his minutes limited in blowouts. Only four of his last seven games have finished with single-digit margins of victory, but those four games have seen him average 61.6 FanDuel points, topping 60 in three of the four and playing no fewer than 37.4 minutes. As 5.5-point underdogs, this game projects to be a close one, and it's no surprise that our models have LeBron projected for the slate's top fantasy score. He's worth paying up for in all formats.

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