FanDuel Daily Fantasy Basketball Helper: Tuesday 11/15/22

Since it's much simpler to predict than baseball or football, basketball daily fantasy would get plenty of votes as the best sport to play on FanDuel. Players usually stick to the same minutes and produce at roughly the same rate. Sounds easy, right?

Well, as a result, NBA daily fantasy is extremely 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.

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.

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

As has been the case for most of his career, we're watching Zion Williamson's status on Tuesday's official injury report.

Williamson is questionable to play with a foot injury as the Pelicans host the Grizzlies. Memphis will likely be without Desmond Bane (toe), who is listed as doubtful.

The next-most impacted game is in Portland. The Blazers have Jusuf Nurkic (adductor) and Justise Winslow (ankle) listed as questionable, and we'll see if Tre Jones is able to return from the illness he was scratched with on Monday.

Mitchell Robinson (knee) is nearing a return for the Knicks, but he's questionable for Tuesday's game with Utah.

The Nets' rotation could also be a bit thinner in Tuesday's nightcap with both Ben Simmons (knee) and Yuta Watanabe (back) listed as questionable.

Guards

With the Clippers and Mavericks tied for 25th in the NBA in pace, Luka Doncic ($12,400) is a tough sell at his salary. He's failed to eclipse 60 FanDuel points in three of his past four.

I'd rather turn to Ja Morant ($10,000) off a day of rest for Memphis since Des Bane will likely sit. Morant's 228.5-point game total blows Doncic's (212.0) out of the water, and Ja has a Luka-like 40.3% usage rate with Bane off the floor this season.

Morant clearly heads an upper tier of guard with plenty of uncertainty. Damian Lillard ($9,000), De'Aaron Fox ($8,800), and C.J. McCollum ($8,400) are salaried towards recent ceiling outcomes with disastrous floor performances mixed in. The graphs on their FanDuel player pages look like roller coasters.

As a result, I'll likely turn to value options here. Tre Jones ($5,800) is an excellent one if he suits up, but if he doesn't, Devin Vassell ($6,800) has averaged 1.10 FanDuel points per minute with him off the floor.

I prefer Mike Conley ($5,600) -- and his more stable minutes -- to Jordan Clarkson ($6,200), but both Jazz guards rate out towards the top of numberFire's guard projections today, followed by Malik Monk ($4,400), John Konchar ($4,000), and sharpshooter Joe Harris ($3,800).

Wings

Wing is much stronger -- and deeper -- on this slate.

Certainly, we can look at Kevin Durant ($11,300) in the nightcap. He's taken a do-it-all role for Brooklyn with Kyrie Irving still sidelined. Durant's 32.6% usage rate and 1.46 FanDuel points per minute with Irving off the floor this year are just fine on this small slate.

Brandon Ingram ($8,000) is my favorite way to access the Pels if Zion sits. Ingram leads the team in usage rate with Zion off the floor (31.8%), and he's second in FanDuel points per minute. McCollum takes on a more passive scoring role than Ingram in that event.

Like last night, Keldon Johnson ($7,100) has a tremendous 28.2% usage rate for his salary. The Spurs were blown off the floor by the Warriors in just a few minutes, but the lack of wear on the starters likely lessens tonight's back-to-back impact in Portland.

With Bane sitting, Dillon Brooks ($5,200) is a core play on this slate. Brooks has dropped at least 19 points in both recent games without Bane, but a total of just 8 rebounds and 2 assists has kept his FanDuel score low. That'll regress favorably.

Brooks heads a pretty strong group of value wings on this slate, which also includes Royce O'Neale ($5,100), Herbert Jones ($4,600), Jeremy Sochan ($4,200), and Dorian Finney-Smith ($4,000).

Bigs

Coming off a 26-point, 22-rebound effort in San Francisco, Domantas Sabonis ($9,600) can't be totally crossed off, but he's a risk at salary averaging just 1.33 FanDuel points per minute in that same role.

I prefer to get to Julius Randle ($7,500) up here if Robinson sits again for New York. Randle's averaged 1.15 FanDuel points per minute with Robinson off the floor this year, and he's facing a Utah team that did just give up the single-game FanDuel points record to a center.

Last night's stinker gave Jakob Poeltl ($6,700) a bit of a discount. He's a solid choice averaging 1.17 FanDuel points per minute this year, as well.

Center has two other plays -- plus Poeltl -- with monstrous upside. Ivica Zubac ($6,400) is one, facing a Dallas team that's 11th-worst in both paint points and second-chance points allowed. Jonas Valanciunas ($6,200) is the other; if Zion sits, he's in line for expanded work while averaging 1.33 FanDuel points per minute with Big Z off the floor.

To no one's surprise, model favorite Kelly Olynyk ($5,300) is once again shining in our projections in a near full-time role. He's followed by teammate Jarred Vanderbilt ($5,200) and Isaiah Hartenstein ($4,800) as value big men rating out in today's projections.