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NBA Daily Fantasy Helper: Monday 4/29/19

Nikola Jokic averaged over 37 minutes per game in his first round series against the Spurs. Does he remain an elite DFS play against Portland in Game 1?

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

Nikola Jokic ($11,300): After closing out last week with one-game slates on Thursday and Friday, we're back to a typical two-game slate. It's Game 1 between the Denver Nuggets and Portland Trail Blazers, so we have a little bit less to go on than we have for the last few slates, but that's okay. One thing we can count on is big minutes for Jokic, and that makes him a really tough fade. Jokic's 1.50 FanDuel points per minute ranked sixth in the NBA in the regular season, but because he played only 31.3 minutes per game he finished only ninth in FanDuel points per game. Playoff Jokic has been a different story, and in the first round he averaged 37.3 minutes per game, playing 36 minutes or more in five of the seven games. He only played fewer than that in two blowouts, and with a 4-point spread we don't need to be worried about a blowout today. He's expensive, yes, but with both the highest floor and highest ceiling on the slate, he's well worth making room for.

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