FanDuel Daily Fantasy Basketball Helper: Tuesday 4/25/23

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

It's do or die for three teams on this slate, and all will be missing a key contributor -- or multiple -- per today's injury report.

The Hawks have lost Dejounte Murray due to a suspension for Game 5 in Boston.

Minnesota will be without Kyle Anderson (eye) for tonight's game in Denver. Jaylen Nowell (knee) could replace some of his minutes but is also questionable due to injury.

Then, in the nightcap, the Clippers are -- of course -- still down Kawhi Leonard (knee) and Paul George (knee). On the other side, Phoenix might be planning ahead for Round 2, which could mean working Cameron Payne (back) into a bench role. He's probable.

Guards

The lone remaining stars on their respective teams make this an easy place to spend.

Trae Young ($9,900) and Russell Westbrook ($9,700) should gobble up plenty of usage tonight. Westbrook has held a 33.9% usage rate in the previous two games for L.A. without Kawhi, and Young had a 38.1% usage rate during floor situations without Murray this year. Those are excellent packages at four-digit salaries.

I'd add Jamal Murray ($8,900), who failed to eclipse 44 FanDuel points for the first time in the series on Sunday, to that mix. Murray's issue has been playing time all season, but those concerns are gone with 38-plus minutes in three straight.

The return of Cam Payne has me a bit down on Chris Paul, who shouldn't continue to log such heavy minutes with his backup in the fold. Devin Booker ($10,300) likely stays north of 40, though.

We've got plenty of value plays here today, too. Derrick White ($6,400) has tumbled in salary and is now at a realistic mark, and teammate Malcolm Brogdon ($5,200) is heading that way, too.

Mike Conley ($5,800) still has the best role below $6,000, as he did last week. He logged 42 minutes in Game 4. Other low-salary players seeing a significant amount of time (above 25 minutes) on the court include Eric Gordon ($4,800), Terance Mann ($4,700), and Denver's Kentavious Caldwell-Pope ($4,300).

Wings

So far in this series, Jayson Tatum ($10,800) hasn't yet shown a ceiling worth this salary, but that's a bit of the scary part for a guy who topped 60 FanDuel points on 16 different occasions this season.

Rather, it's been Anthony Edwards ($10,700) flying up the player pool with the T-Wolves on his back. Edwards' last two games have featured a 33.0% usage rate and 70 total real-life points. I'm worried that his three-point efficiency (40.5% this series) drops soon, which likely creates a blowout if no other Wolves step up around him. Just build with that in mind.

Shooting is also why I prefer Kevin Durant ($10,000) to Devin Booker today -- and moving forward. Booker's 57.1% field-goal percentage for his shot diet is absurd. Durant (51.5%) has shot at a far more reasonable rate and is less likely to feel the return of Payne. Phoenix needs KD's size.

Obviously, Norman Powell ($6,900) would be a tremendous value if he were to replicate his 42-point performance from Game 3, but he settled for just 15 shots (and made only 4 of them) in Game 4. It's unlikely he and Westbrook both go off in the same game.

Our projections also love Jaylen Brown ($8,300) in this tier, but there's plenty of value at wing, as well.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker ($4,100) and Taurean Prince ($3,800) aren't salaried for the roles they'll have in Anderson's stead. We should also see an expanded shot volume for Bogdan Bogdanovic ($6,300), De'Andre Hunter ($5,700), and Saddiq Bey ($4,900) with Murray out for Atlanta.

Bigs

With all of these good options at wing and guard, I can't quite prioritize Nikola Jokic ($11,400) yet again.

While his 42.4% usage rate in Game 4 was awesome, his salary followed the 57.1% shooting from three-point land. The problem with Jokic is that he's so efficient that his opportunity translates to salary increases that he can't match when the aggressiveness dials down.

That's also because opportunity lurks on the other side of him. Even amidst his struggles, Karl-Anthony Towns ($7,900) is now salaried for his last two games of FanDuel production, when he topped 37 FanDuel points in both. He'll be an issue to fade if his play-in tournament efficiency returns soon; he eclipsed 50 FanDuel points in both of those games prior to this series.

From that same game, Rudy Gobert ($7,500) has also been a positive contributor with three straight outings of more than 33 FanDuel points, and Aaron Gordon ($5,800) at a value salary is shining in our projections, creating another reason to justify leaving "The Joker" out of the mix.

Atlanta's bigs also deserve some love. Clint Capela ($5,600) won his platoon to earn 29 minutes in Game 4, but Onyeka Okongwu ($4,500) also has a crazy-low salary for someone who can realistically post four blocks in 15 minutes, and Okongwu has topped 20 minutes in three of the last five against Boston. John Collins ($4,700) should also have a more stable role with Murray sitting.

Deandre Ayton ($7,000) and Al Horford ($5,700) are two other full-time players projecting well today.