FanDuel Daily Fantasy Basketball Helper: Wednesday 3/15/23

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

There are more stars on Wednesday's injury report than you'd hope, but it does leave plenty of value on this slate.

With this being one of the few sensible spots left to rest him this year, Anthony Davis (foot) will sit for the Lakers tonight for the second leg of the back-to-back in Houston. Alperen Sengun (groin) is questionable for the Rockets.

The Mavericks will be without Luka Doncic (thigh) again on Wednesday, and Kyrie Irving (foot) and Christian Wood (foot) are also questionable after missing Monday's contest. Tim Hardaway Jr. (calf) left early Monday and didn't return; he's questionable for Dallas, too.

On the other side, the Spurs' tank train was missing Keldon Johnson (foot), Tre Jones (illness), Malaki Branham (shoulder), and Romeo Langford (thigh) on Tuesday. Unfortunately, Charles Bassey (knee) also suffered a season-ending injury yesterday. San Antonio might rest new faces on the back-to-back, too. Eugh.

Donovan Mitchell (finger) should return tonight in Philadelphia from yesterday's day of rest in Charlotte, but the Cavaliers might still be without Jarrett Allen (eye), who has now missed two games. Jalen McDaniels (hip) is questionable for the host Sixers.

We'll play roulette with the Timberwolves' center duo again. Rudy Gobert (ankle) played Monday, and Naz Reid (calf) didn't. Both are questionable, and any outcome there wouldn't surprise me.

Kyle Lowry (knee) was downgraded to questionable on Wednesday, so Miami could have a few minutes open when hosting Memphis.

Finally, Jonathan Kuminga (ankle) got the upgrade to probable for Wednesday's game with the Clippers, who are still down just Norman Powell (shoulder).

Guards

For as poor as guard has been to start the week, that changes in a large way on Wednesday.

Stephen Curry ($9,800) at a four-digit salary is easy to like. The 236.0-point total in Los Angeles is justly high when the Clippers have a 118.2 defensive rating since the trade deadline, and the Warriors' road struggles are well documented at this stage. Steph's 31.5% usage rate since coming back is six full percentage points ahead of Klay Thompson's despite Thompson's outburst on Monday.

The Kings and Bulls also have a massive total at 236.5, so De'Aaron Fox ($9,400) is on the menu. We'll see if Kyrie Irving ($9,500) can join these two and torch a Spurs' defense that's struggled all season. My guess is Irving sits, though, which would turn us back to Jaden Hardy ($6,200) and Josh Green ($6,000) as possibilities -- but not musts -- at their elevated salaries.

With A.D. out, D'Angelo Russell ($8,200) is projecting phenomenally if you can get past the sticker shock. With a floor of 36.5 FanDuel points since returning, Russell's ball-dominant role (28.4% usage) in L.A. has been well worth it.

Mike Conley ($6,000) and Marcus Smart ($5,800) are interesting full-time roles to pivot away from the Dallas chalk (if Kyrie sits), and Malik Beasley ($4,900) is another streaky shooter who should get looks in Davis' absence.

Those guys lead our projections at guard today, but Patrick Beverley ($4,700) and Blake Wesley ($3,800) aren't far behind.

Wings

If talking about Steph didn't give it away, Dubs-Clips is my favorite stack on the slate, and the Clips' duo is rounding into playoff form.

Kawhi Leonard ($9,900) and Paul George ($9,100) have both eclipsed 48 FanDuel points in three of their past four, which would give the nod to George at salary. Golden State's defensive rating with Andrew Wiggins off the floor is 115.7, and Wiggins is their best defender for either Leonard or George.

Kings-Bulls delivers another pair of scorers with Zach LaVine ($8,500) and DeMar DeRozan ($8,300). Both are projecting well in numberFire's model, but since the trade deadline, LaVine (30.9% usage rate) has continued to gap DeRozan (26.3%). If chalk appears to land on the one with the lower salary (as it usually does), I'll happily turn to Zach.

The Spurs deserve attention. Keldon Johnson ($7,300) and Jeremy Sochan ($6,300) would both be priorities if either plays, but Sochan -- who is helping them win -- is a rest candidate. Devin Vassell ($5,900) has struggled, so he might play without both, lofting him into consideration at a reduced mark.

This positional group presents value options who pair nicely with our studs.

Harrison Barnes ($5,300) appears to have won the minutes struggle over Keegan Murray, eclipsing 30 minutes in 10 straight. He's a modest performer but will be on the court plenty in an excellent fantasy environment. If Sengun sits, Tari Eason ($5,700) and Kenyon Martin Jr. ($5,600) should also see full work as nice compliments to the Lakers' value plugs.

Donte DiVincenzo ($5,800) and Reggie Bullock ($4,200) are two others projected favorably by our model as of this morning.

Bigs

In a rare turn of events, Joel Embiid is on this slate without Nikola Jokic, but I'll still probably pass on the big man facing a Cavs squad allowing the eighth-fewest FanDuel points to centers.

The 222.0-point game total is poor there, too, so Evan Mobley ($8,000) is far from a lock if Allen sits once more. Mobley averages 41.7 FanDuel points per 36 minutes without J.A. on the floor, but this is a below-average environment. That doesn't really matter for Lamar Stevens ($4,400) if he gets a full role, though.

Domantas Sabonis ($10,100) is an obvious consideration in one of the games of the day, but his matchup is a bit tricky, too. Chicago actually allows fewer FanDuel points per game to centers than Cleveland does.

My favorite spot for bigs is mini-stacking the Memphis-Miami affair. Jaren Jackson Jr. ($8,200) and Bam Adebayo ($7,900) are significantly under-salaried for their potential current floor conditions. Triple J averages 49.6 FanDuel points per 36 with Ja Morant and Steven Adams off the floor, and Adebayo averages 44.1 with Kyle Lowry off the floor.

Value is available from injury at power forward and center, too. Jarred Vanderbilt ($5,500), Rui Hachimura ($4,700), and Wenyen Gabriel ($4,200) should see plenty of frontcourt work with Davis sitting for the Lakers. Also, Zach Collins ($7,000) and Sandro Mamukelashvili ($3,900) are the two lone remaining bodies in the Spurs' frontcourt. They'll have to play.

Al Horford ($6,200), Xavier Tillman ($5,800), and Maxi Kleber ($4,400) are three other names to consider, but on healthier units, they're just tournament pivots should the obvious chalk fizzle.