NBA

FanDuel Daily Fantasy Basketball Helper: Tuesday 5/10/22

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 basketball is very reliant on a player's 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 on FanDuel.

The Slate and Key Injuries

Away Home Game
Total
Away
Implied
Total
Home
Implied
Total
Away
Pace
Home
Pace
PhiladelphiaMiami209.5103106.52629
DallasPhoenix213103.5109.5309


There are really no injury concerns for Tuesday, which is a welcome sight for all.

Per the official injury report, Joel Embiid (orbital/hand) holds the same questionable status he's played through in two consecutive contests.

The Miami Heat also love to note every scratch, so Kyle Lowry (hamstring), Tyler Herro (ankle), Max Strus (hamstring), P.J. Tucker (knee), and Gabe Vincent (knee) are all listed as questionable with ailments they've played through all series.

The lone true question mark is backup big Dewayne Dedmon (illness), who missed Game 4 for Miami. He plays so little that it's hard to quantify who will particularly benefit from his absence.

Dallas and Phoenix are once again full strength as the series shifts back to "The Valley."

**Editor's Note: Kyle Lowry has been ruled out Tuesday due to the hamstring issue. Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo will be the primary beneficiaries of his absence.**

Guards

Chris Paul ($8,800): The Suns-Mavs series has been incredibly homecourt reliant. Opposing players have been in foul trouble at both venues. Paul was among them in Game 4; he posted a fine mark of 0.98 FanDuel points per minute but was limited to just 23 minutes of court time before fouling out. The large salary decrease entering a Game 5 -- at home -- where that's less likely to happen provides the best value amongst the stars in the backcourt as a result.

Victor Oladipo ($4,900): Oladipo may have been the benefactor of Dedmon's absence, logging 32 minutes as the Heat fully shifted to small ball. Here's the problem for them -- he's thoroughly outplayed the hobbled pairing of Tyler Herro and Kyle Lowry when he's been on the court. His monstrous Game 4 outing on FanDuel was a bit lucky (five blocks plus steals), but he does have a significant 19.9% usage rate in this series. There are worse places to turn for value.

Others to Consider:
Luka Doncic ($11,200): Have to feel he will be hyper-aggressive given Dallas can steal this series if they steal this game. Salary is lower, too.
Tyrese Maxey ($7,000): As his salary drops, the 42 minutes of court time becomes more appealing even with Embiid back in the fold.

Wings

Tobias Harris ($7,800): The monstrous Game 4 outings from James Harden and Jimmy Butler require a pretty penny to reach the top stars at small forward -- both with huge obstacles to a big night. Harris is one of them. His scoring has dropped from 24.0 points per game without Embiid to just 11.0 with him, but it should turn around. Harris scored at least 15 in five of the six Toronto series games with JoJo. Add in his work on the glass, and I feel comfortable rostering him and spending up elsewhere.

Mikal Bridges ($5,800): Bridges actually eclipsed value at this salary in each of the first three games of the series, but foul trouble also plagued him in Dallas. That's a possibility as Luka's primary defender, but his upside in multiple offensive categories was much higher than Dorian Finney-Smith's all season despite the salary they now share. DFS will be popular after making eight threes in Game 4, and while he's still viable, as well, Bridges is a tremendous pivot.

Others to Consider:
Reggie Bullock ($4,800): Full-time role in the $4,000 range has to be considered, and his popularity may drop after the Game 4 dud.
P.J. Tucker ($4,000): Not a great floor here, but the path to a full-time role and multiple threes is there. Salary opens up a lot at the top end.

Bigs

Deandre Ayton ($7,000): To my surprise, Ayton is numberFire's top projected point-per-dollar play on the entire slate. I've rostered Ayton heavily this entire series, but it's just been a play for floor at a position without it. The former top pick has posted at least 29 FanDuel points in 8 of his past 10 contests, which is a far safer value score than chasing up to Embiid and his myriad of injuries in this space. He correlates well with CP3 through their pick-and-roll game, so I'm more than willing to turn to both.

Maxi Kleber ($4,500): Even with Dwight Powell still starting, Kleber is the guy at center for Dallas. He's posted at least 32 minutes in back-to-back contests now. Believe it or not, Kleber's 0.79 FanDuel points per minute this season were the lowest of any qualifying center in the league, but that's the difference between regular season and postseason NBA DFS. He's someone to avoid in the regular season, but in a playoff setting, you just hope his ceiling comes via blocks and steals from just being on the floor.

Others to Consider:
Joel Embiid ($10,000): This salary is so low for an MVP candidate, but it's truly justified given his 1.05 FanDuel points per minute since his thumb injury.
Bam Adebayo ($8,200): Dreadful 0.77 FanDuel points per minute since Embiid returned, but not sure correlation is causation on that situation.