FanDuel Daily Fantasy Basketball Helper: Thursday 12/29/22

Since it's much simpler to predict than baseball or football, daily fantasy basketball 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?

As a result, NBA daily fantasy is highly reliant on a player's opportunity, so you'll need to ensure 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. 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 daily, 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

All things considered, Thursday's injury report is quiet for six games.

The largest name on it is Tyrese Haliburton, who is questionable for Indiana with a knee bruise. They're in Cleveland.

Fred VanVleet (back) left Toronto's last game early, and he's questionable tonight as they host Memphis.

The Hornets didn't have any of Kelly Oubre (hand), Dennis Smith (ankle), or Nick Richards (ankle) last game, so we'll see if they get any troops back hosting Oklahoma City. The Thunder will be without Aleksej Pokusevski (leg).

RJ Barrett (finger) left minutes into Tuesday's game and is out Thursday for the Knicks, who are also waiting for news on the availability of Jalen Brunson (hip). They're visiting a Spurs squad that's got Devin Vassell (knee), Keldon Johnson (back), and Doug McDermott (knee) all listed as questionable.

Finally, we're waiting on word from Houston on Eric Gordon (groin). They're facing a Mavericks lineup that's still missing Dorian Finney-Smith (hip).

Guards

With a 239-point total, here's a clear game to target today in Charlotte.

As a result, LaMelo Ball ($9,000) stands out immediately in our projections. Terry Rozier did return last game, but Ball's dud was more so attributed to 7-for-25 (28.0%) shooting against Golden State. He's still averaging a solid production rate for his salary (48.7 FanDuel points per 36 minutes) so long as Oubre is off the floor.

Opposite Ball, I'm siding with the projections on Josh Giddey ($7,000) over Shai Gilgeous-Alexander per dollar of salary in this one. 61.3% of SGA's FanDuel output comes from scoring, and he's been scorching the past two games with 60.5% shooting. As we know, that will pull back closer to his season average (50.5%) in time, and his salary has crept up during the streak.

Oh, also at the top, that Luka Doncic ($12,400) guy just set a site record for FanDuel points (105.2). He's awesome; I'm just worried about the 10-point spread with the lowly Rockets in town.

Donovan Mitchell ($8,900) is also below his median salary entering a friendly matchup with Indiana. The Pacers allow the fourth-most FanDuel points to shooting guards.

Salary makers were quick to hike Immanuel Quickley ($6,000) after he dropped 41.1 FanDuel points in Barrett and Brunson's stead on Tuesday. He's still grading out well in a full-time role at that mark in our projections, followed closely by Andrew Nembhard ($4,900). Nembhard, Malachi Flynn ($4,900), and T.J. McConnell ($4,300) could all be supreme value options if VanVleet and Haliburton both sit.

Wings

The Clippers and Celtics have two of the best seven defensive ratings in the league at middle-of-the-road paces, so Jayson Tatum seems like a psychotic investment at $11,000. Watch him drop 50.

I'd rather turn to Paul George ($9,100), Jaylen Brown ($8,800), and Kawhi Leonard ($8,200) there. All three have recently outperformed their salary with a value score of 6.00 or better, so the upside is there for them. Importantly and predictably, George and Leonard have squashed their teammates on the floor together; no other Clipper averages north of 0.82 FanDuel points per minute with them.

Keldon Johnson ($6,800) is incredibly appealing if he can suit up. Right now, he only trails teammate Malaki Branham ($4,100) in our projections, and both could be in for huge roles if Devin Vassell sits.

Another beneficiary of Haliburton's absence would be Buddy Hield ($6,200). He sees a lift of 5.05 FanDuel points per 36 minutes with Tyrese off the floor.

I'm also incredibly into Desmond Bane ($6,100) after his salary decrease. He was up to 27 minutes in a blowout last game but has just struggled with 26.3% shooting since returning. Bane is also grading out well in the projections, followed by OG Anunoby ($7,200), Jeremy Sochan ($5,900), and Tim Hardaway Jr. ($5,800).

Bigs

With VanVleet at guard and Pascal Siakam ($10,500) at center, it's odd to imagine Siakam as the primary beneficiary when FVV sits, but he is.

Spicy P sees a team-best increase of 5.94 FanDuel points per 36 minutes with Fred off the floor, so it's no shocker Siakam nearly dropped 60 FanDuel points on Tuesday after he left on Tuesday.

As the Knicks are down bodies, Julius Randle ($9,500) isn't an automatic pass despite the elevated salary. He's eclipsed 49 FanDuel points in seven of his last nine games.

Christian Wood ($8,300) is also intriguing in a revenge spot versus Houston. He's responded with 53.5 FanDuel points per game in two contests since being released into a role where he's gotten at least 36 minutes.

Similar to Siakam, Myles Turner ($7,800) sees giant bumps in usage rate (4.8 percentage points) and FanDuel points per 36 minutes (+7.13) with his guard, Haliburton, off the floor. This is a loaded tier of bigs to save salary for.

But, for those inclined to look at value options, our projections are also shining favorably on Evan Mobley ($6,900), Jakob Poeltl ($6,700), PJ Washington ($6,100), and Dwight Powell ($3,800).