FanDuel Daily Fantasy Basketball Helper: Sunday 2/23/20

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 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 bunch of other great resources to help give you an edge.

Daily fantasy NBA is very reliant on opportunity, so you'll need to make sure that you're up-to-date with key injuries. Our projections update up until tip-off to reflect current news, we have player news updates, and the FanDuel Scout app will send push notifications for pressing updates regarding your players.

We'll also be coming at you with this primer every day, breaking down a few of the day's top plays at each position.

Let's break down today's main slate:

The Slate

All totals are on the board for this six-game slate, but we do still await injury news on several key players, including Oklahoma City Thunder sixth man Dennis Schroder and Indiana Pacers guard Victor Oladipo.

Point Guard

Chris Paul ($7,500): CP3 is starting to assert himself in the Oklahoma City offense, as he has scored more than 20 points in four of his last five contests and has taken at least 12 shots in all of those games. He dropped 31 in a loss to San Antonio just before the All-Star Break, adding seven dimes in that one, which explains the price up here. Paul is a stable option on a slate with several mid-tier, boom-or-bust spots at point guard, where the most expensive player is $7,600.

Tomas Satoransky ($5,500): It's a revenge game again for "Sato," who has been mostly playing as a forward in front of Zach LaVine and Coby White, but he finds himself as a point guard in the player pool. Like Paul, we have a recent game log against his opponent, and Satoransky did not disappoint, posting a season-high 19 points and 8 boards against his former Washington Wizards squad. He is a versatile player who can accrue stats in multiple ways, which will be useful against a Wizards squad that allows top-10 production in points, assists, rebounds, and steals.

Other Notable Picks: Jamal Murray ($7,600), Lonzo Ball ($6,200), Dejounte Murray ($6,000),

Shooting Guard

Malik Beasley ($5,200): With Karl-Anthony Towns still sidelined for the Minnesota Timberwolves, their trade deadline acquisition Beasley has been a focal point of the offense, and he has soared to the tune of 34.2 FanDuel points per game in his first four outings since coming to Minnesota. Beasley was a near-minimum priced player in a bench role with the Denver Nuggets, so his price may still be adjusting to his new role, where he has a 24.3% usage with the 'Wolves. The time to buy Beasley is now, and he gets to attack in yet another revenge matchup in Denver. He should be adjusted to altitude better than his Wolves teammates.

Bruce Brown Jr. ($4,700): Bruce Brown's role has been up and down this season, but after trading Andre Drummond, the Detroit Pistons seem to be all-in on investing in their young talent. With Derrick Rose dropping to 17.7 minutes per game in February, and Luke Kennard still out, they have leaned on Brown to initiate from the one or two guard spot. Brown never seems to lead the offense -- still below 20% usage without Drummond -- but he is a versatile stat stuffer, averaging 34.3 minutes in February, alternating between starting and coming off the bench.

Other Notable Picks: Jrue Holiday ($8,200), C.J. McCollum ($7,000), Damion Lee ($4,900)

Small Forward

Pascal Siakam ($8,400): The Toronto Raptors' All-Star is returning to form. Without Marc Gasol, Siakam still sees most of his minutes from the power forward position and has scored more than 30 points in two of his last three games, adding 8.6 rebounds per game in the last three, as well. He is averaging a hefty 37.6 minutes in those contests, which may be the most positive news of all. Siakam will attack a stingy Indiana defense, but his minutes and heavy 29.6% usage rate from the four spot warrant consideration for the expensive slots in your lineup.

Carmelo Anthony ($5,000): The biggest injury news of the slate happened before the All Star break, when Damian Lillard went down with a groin injury. That leaves 'Melo as the clear number-two scoring option for the Portland Trail Blazers, and he's priced at $5000. That would be a great thing on its own, but it's even better considering he will face a tanking Pistons squad. 'Melo will be popular at a small forward position with plenty of intriguing options at his price tag, but he seems like a near lock to score well into double figures -- as he did Friday against the New Orleans Pelicans, when he dropped 20 points.

Other Notable Picks: T.J. Warren ($6,600), Danilo Gallinari ($5,800), Will Barton ($5,600)

Power Forward

Zion Williamson ($7,700): Speaking of the Pelicans, their number-one overall pick and rookie sensation is starting to play like one. He has missed most of 2019-20 with a knee injury, but Zion is officially off his minutes cap, which means great things for the athletic power forward. He has scored at least 25 points in each of his last three games, but surprisingly enough, he is averaging only 4.0 rebounds per game in that span. Facing a Golden State Warriors team that plays small quite often, Zion should improve his rebound total playing more at the five, with Derrick Favors likely heading to the bench.

Rui Hachimura ($5,500): The Washington Wizards have a lottery pick of their own at the four, and Rui Hachimura is becoming a staple in the rotation at that spot. Hachimura is averaging 14.2 points and 6.8 rebounds in February, seeing 27.2 minutes per game in that time for a Washington team that will get blown out often. He will attack a Chicago Bulls team giving up the 10th-most boards and third-most blocks in the NBA, which should help him hit value at this price.

Other Notable Picks: Christian Wood ($7,300), Davis Bertans ($5,100), Paul Millsap ($5,100)

Center

Hassan Whiteside ($9,000): Whiteside may not be the first Portland player who comes to mind when considering Lillard's absence, but he escalated from his February average of 10.3 shots per game to 16 Friday versus New Orleans. As a result, he scored 19 points with 12 rebounds in that one. Whiteside will have a tremendous opportunity again against a weak Pistons squad that has surrendered the third-most FanDuel points to opposing centers -- and that was before Drummond was removed from the equation defensively.

Other Notable Picks: Nikola Jokic ($10,500), Steven Adams ($6,300)

Austin Swaim is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Austin Swaim also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username ASwaim3. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.