FanDuel Daily Fantasy Basketball Helper: Friday 2/10/23

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 come 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

We are packed with 11 games and a boatload of injury report traffic on Friday.

Most notably, Luka Doncic (heel) got the upgrade to questionable on Dallas' report, so we could see Doncic and Kyrie Irving far earlier than expected tonight in Sacramento.

Joel Embiid (foot) has his usual questionable status tonight, and we'll also see if the 76ers or Knicks have their new pieces. Jalen McDaniels was acquired by Philly, and Josh Hart was dealt to New York on Wednesday.

With Jaylen Brown (face) now out for a while, the Celtics could be significantly shorthanded if Jayson Tatum (illness) can't go. We'll also see if Mike Muscala is available for his Boston debut against Charlotte.

The Clippers are resting Kawhi Leonard tonight, and they're not likely to have Mason Plumlee, Eric Gordon, or Nah'Shon Hyland from yesterday's deals, either. We'll wait this afternoon for word on the Bucks since they're on a back-to-back.

Phoenix will likely get back Devin Booker (groin) from yesterday's rest day, which quells their value a bit. On a back-to-back, we'll see if the Suns rest anyone else in Indiana.

Rudy Gobert (groin) and Kyle Anderson (back) are questionable for the Timberwolves, who will also wait to see if Mike Conley or Nickeil Alexander-Walker make their team debut. Luke Kennard is a question mark to make his Memphis debut on the other side.

The Spurs are the messiest team on the slate. Keldon Johnson (ankle), Tre Jones (foot), Jeremy Sochan (back), and Romeo Langford (hip) are all questionable to play, and Devonte' Graham and Khem Birch are uncertain to make their San Antonio debut. James Wiseman may or may not debut for the Pistons in this one.

Toronto is another squad unsure to get new center Jakob Poeltl into the lineup on short notice. The Jazz are also quite shorthanded following the myriad of deals they've made in the past two days.

Luguentz Dort (hamstring) is questionable for the Thunder, and they've also got new pieces that likely won't make their debut on Friday. They're facing a Portland squad unsure to get Cam Reddish or Matisse Thybulle into the lineup from their recent dealings.

The Pelicans aren't sure they'll get new guard Josh Richardson into the fold for tonight's game against the Cavaliers. Cleveland is resting Ricky Rubio on the other side.

Finally, Miami will still be down Kyle Lowry (knee) and Victor Oladipo (ankle) on Friday, and they're in Houston to battle a Rockets squad that shipped off a few pieces yesterday, as well.

Guards

All of these trade consequences and replacements will lend themselves to a stars-and-scrubs approach just like yesterday.

At the top, Damian Lillard ($10,400) should be considered the top guy on the slate with Luka's uncertainty -- including a reduced role with Kyrie. There's no uncertainty with Dame, who will operate tonight without Josh Hart and Jusuf Nurkic. In that floor condition, Dolla has an absurd 40.3% usage rate that he's turned into 56.4 FanDuel points per 36 minutes.

Another high-scoring game should be in Sacramento, and De'Aaron Fox ($9,000) just continues to produce. He's exceeded 47 FanDuel points in four of his past five with a manageable salary. Tyrese Haliburton ($8,800) is still below his median salary for the year, and our projections also like Donovan Mitchell ($8,300) as the Cavs (30th in pace) should see a huge uptick in possessions against the Pels (12th).

Chris Paul ($8,100) dropped 47.0 FanDuel points last night without Devin Booker, but the 230.5-point total tonight against Indiana has kept his projection solid should he play.

Overall, this looks like the best positional group to target value. Jordan Clarkson ($6,200), Collin Sexton ($5,200), and Ochai Agbaji ($3,700) should all see expanded roles with Mike Conley now departing Utah. Gabe Vincent ($4,800) will remain in a 30-plus minute role for Miami, and Derrick White ($6,100) and Malcolm Brogdon ($5,900) should shoulder plenty of the offensive load versus Charlotte -- especially if Tatum sits.

Others projecting well include Anfernee Simons ($6,200), Jaden Ivey ($5,600), Tre Jones ($5,600), and Andrew Nembhard ($4,700).

Wings

With plenty of salary to spend, Giannis Antetokounmpo ($12,200) is a must should he play back-to-back. Giannis has eclipsed 63 FanDuel points in five of his last seven, including a 54-real-life-point outing against these same Clippers last week. It's no lock he plays, though.

Of course, I'd love Jayson Tatum ($10,800) against the porous Charlotte defense, and at the very least, Tatum's illness listing yesterday could give him the chance to feel better today. The Hornets cede the sixth-most FanDuel points per game to small forwards, and Tatum sees a 2.9 percentage-point uptick in usage with J.B. off the floor.

Anthony Edwards ($9,100) exploded for 53.4 FanDuel points in his first game without D'Angelo Russell, and he'll still be down a point guard in a high-paced matchup with Memphis. Jimmy Butler ($8,800) is also down his point guard entering this elite matchup with the Rockets, who Butler lit up for 59.5 FanDuel points in December.

Opposite Giannis, Paul George ($8,200) is also a lone ranger with Kawhi resting. Personally, I want to spend here as much as possible with these five, but it'll likely just be four as Tatum sits.

Value isn't as great here, either. Jerami Grant ($6,600) and Nassir Little ($3,800) should get a bump for the Blazers with Hart gone, but Phoenix's value has largely been squashed by Booker's return and higher salaries across the board.

We're largely looking at standard, role-based value, which does include Tyler Herro ($7,300), Harrison Barnes ($5,800), Gordon Hayward ($5,200), Dillon Brooks ($5,100), Marcus Morris ($4,800), and Quentin Grimes ($4,500) in full-time positions.

Bigs

Even though the Knicks have allowed the second-fewest FanDuel points to centers, the primary reason why (Mitchell Robinson) is still out of the lineup for a while. Joel Embiid ($11,500) can absolutely chow on the backups, and there's enough value to jam Embiid and Giannis into the same lineup.

The ridiculous, unflappable floor of Julius Randle ($9,300) is like a mutual fund on the other side of that one, and coming off a huge game against a leaky defense, Pascal Siakam ($9,000) draws a Jazz squad that's allowed the second-most FanDuel points per game to centers.

Domantas Sabonis ($9,500) and Bam Adebayo ($8,900) are grading out (per dollar of salary) in our projections even better than those three, too. We've got no shortage of high-salaried options here.

Luckily, four of those five are also forward-eligible, which opens the door for two of the better value options at the pivot. Zach Collins ($5,000) has been a per-minute machine and could see the full role in San Antonio with Poeltl gone, and Mark Williams ($4,800) likely now slides into a full role for Charlotte, and it could be explosive. Williams is averaging an absurd 46.4 FanDuel points per 36 minutes this year.

Robert Williams ($6,100) and Al Horford ($4,900) also have plenty of value against Williams and a Hornets squad ceding the most FanDuel points per game to centers this year. These four make it imperative to be picky in the value tier today, so I'd really only consider full-time roles.

Those with them include PJ Washington ($5,800), Isaiah Stewart ($5,300), and Kelly Olynyk ($4,900). A timeshare just isn't likely to cut it on this post-trade-deadline slate with gobs of value.