FanDuel Daily Fantasy Basketball Helper: Tuesday 4/18/23

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 do have some news on Tuesday's injury report. Thankfully, it's just not a lot.

In Game 2 against Cleveland, the Knicks will likely be missing Josh Hart (ankle), who was a key contributor in Game 1. He's listed as doubtful.

Cameron Payne (back) sat out Game 1 for Phoenix, shrinking their backcourt minutes around their key contributors. He's questionable for Game 2 against a Clippers team still missing Paul George (knee).

We've got no rotational injuries between the Hawks and Celtics, so let's dive in.

Guards

The Cavs have largely abandoned their bench, so I wouldn't blame anyone for turning to Donovan Mitchell ($10,200) at the top.

Beyond the odd revenge-ish narrative behind Mitchell and the Knicks, he took 30 shots and dished 8 assists in Game 1 -- both well above his season averages. It appears Cleveland is leaning on its playoff-tested star above all, but Darius Garland ($7,300) also comes at a friendly salary for a talented guy exceeding 40 minutes.

Jalen Brunson's median salary was $7,700 this year, so he's still a bit too high with Julius Randle ($8,500) returning from injury. This entire tier is a bit problematic with Dejounte Murray at $8,300 despite failing to eclipse 40 FanDuel points in seven of his last eight.

Russell Westbrook is also in that tier as the Game 1 hero for the Clips, but he's been benched for Norman Powell ($5,900) or Nah'Shon Hyland ($3,900) before. I prefer Eric Gordon ($4,600), who logged 31 minutes in the opener. Of course, Chris Paul ($7,900) will see plenty of minutes on the other side, but he took just eight shots as the Suns' fourth option in Game 1.

Boston turned to Derrick White ($6,600) and Marcus Smart ($6,500) in Game 1, limiting Malcolm Brogdon to just 21 minutes. That could change if Brogdon gets a hot hand.

Wings

The answer at the top of this superhuman tier of wings is just "yes".

In the chalk department, the great Kevin Durant ($10,600) returned with 62.3 FanDuel points in 44 minutes despite shooting just 46.7% from the field. He's a terrifying fade in a game the Suns need to win. On the other side, Kawhi Leonard ($10,300) took 24 shots and made over half of them. I'd expect that number higher when Westbrook's volume scales back from a 3-for-19 effort.

Jayson Tatum ($10,800) and Jaylen Brown ($9,200) both underperformed their marks in Game 1, but they're still facing a Hawks squad that's the squishiest matchup in the playoffs for a wing.

Luckily, we've got value behind them and a poor mid-range, so the build path is very clear. That starts with Quentin Grimes ($4,800), who should be a lock for 35-plus minutes with Hart sidelined.

Saddiq Bey ($5,000) and De'Andre Hunter ($4,800) have both held a 30-minute role in Atlanta's two "playoff-ish" games thus far. They're a candidate with John Collins ($5,500) for that on the wing, but it was often Collins that lost out in the regular season.

Torrey Craig ($4,700), Nicolas Batum ($4,000), and Landry Shamet ($3,800) also have a path to minutes in the nightcap.

Bigs

At his salary, Julius Randle is the best individual play over $8,000. Orange Julius averaged 43.8 FanDuel points per 36 minutes as a whole this year before the inevitable postseason bump in minutes and usage. He'll also likely improve upon 35.0% shooting from Sunday.

After him, we don't really have top-shelf options. Evan Mobley ($7,500) and Jarrett Allen ($7,200) were well over 40 minutes in Game 1, which is a boatload for two guys who average north of 10 boards per 36 minutes. They're both threats for a monstrous double-double.

Though the production wasn't there, Al Horford ($5,700) tallied 38 minutes to just 21 for Robert Williams. I wouldn't chase the production off the bench with Timelord.

With their injured stars back, Deandre Ayton and Mitchell Robinson will have a difficult time producing at their salaries. Robinson was even benched late for Isaiah Hartenstein ($4,500) in Game 1. That leaves Ivica Zubac ($6,100) and Clint Capela ($5,900) as potential darts at the pivot spot.

John Collins is likely the best traditional value play in this tier, but be careful to build him with Bey or Hunter in the same lineups in tournaments. They'll all eat into each other. Hartenstein's salary is also pretty small for the 21 minutes he logged in Game 1, but he's the clear fifth scoring option on the floor with a lower rebounding rate than Randle.