FanDuel Daily Fantasy Basketball Helper: Wednesday 11/9/22

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

Well, as a result, NBA daily fantasy is extremely reliant on a player's opportunity, so you'll need to make sure 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 out. 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 every day, 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 back off the Election Day holiday with 13 games in action -- and a crazy busy injury report.

We'll watch the primary absence on Monday once again to start. Trae Young (shin) missed that one, and he's listed as questionable for tonight's tilt with Utah. Jarred Vanderbilt (groin) is questionable for the Jazz.

Rookie Paolo Banchero (ankle) is questionable to miss his first career game against Dallas. The Mavs enter Orlando down Christian Wood (knee), and Tim Hardaway Jr. (hip) could also be out of the lineup.

Jrue Holiday is doubtful for the Bucks with an ankle injury. That's of note in Oklahoma City, where the spread is tighter than normal. Aleksej Pokusevski (shoulder) is questionable for the Thunder.

Chris Paul (heel) is questionable for the Suns, who are in Minnesota tonight. The T-Wolves are back at full strength after their illness bug earlier this week.

The Grizzlies could be without starting center Steven Adams due to an ankle issue.

In Chicago, the Pelicans might be missing Larry Nance Jr. (knee). The Bulls have Andre Drummond (shoulder) listed as questionable off their bench, as well.

Yuta Watanabe (ankle) might once again sit for Brooklyn's rotation in flux.

Finally, the Lakers will get back LeBron James for tonight's showdown with the Clippers. However, Lonnie Walker (illness) is still a question mark.

**Editor's Note: Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo was ruled out due to injury after the publishing of this article. Check numberFire's projections for the best alternatives -- and value created -- on the slate.**

Guards

The supreme floor of Luka Doncic ($11,800) almost isn't even worth discussing at this stage.

Despite a season-high five turnovers and fewer rebounds than normal, Doncic turned in 56.3 FanDuel points again on Monday with another 30-point scoring effort. The Mavs are without Christian Wood and likely Tim Hardaway Jr. tonight, so the seven-point spread over the lowly Magic is even less scary.

Behind him, Dejounte Murray ($9,900) is on the table again if Trae sits. Murray is averaging a sporty 1.42 FanDuel points per minute with him off the floor. Easy pivots to both Ja Morant ($9,800) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ($9,800) are solid and available if we get late news Young is playing, too.

Terry Rozier ($8,000) had a cold Monday, shooting 9-for-23 from the field. His 31.0% usage rate is still massive for a Charlotte squad still missing LaMelo Ball and Gordon Hayward.

Grayson Allen ($4,200) and Jevon Carter ($3,800) should see plenty of run in Jrue Holiday's stead as value plays here.

Surprisingly, Bennedict Mathurin ($5,700) was stiffed from a starting spot for the Pacers on Monday. Instead, Andrew Nembhard ($3,500) got the draw and played 34 minutes. That's way too many for Nembhard's salary. Jamal Murray ($5,900) is a solid mini-stack on the other side with three of his past four over 30 FanDuel points.

Nembhard leads numberFire's guard projections on Wednesday, but Josh Giddey ($6,100), Tre Jones ($5,700), Marcus Smart ($5,600), and Patrick Beverley ($4,300) -- returning from illness -- aren't too far behind.

Wings

During floor situations without Jrue Holiday this year, Giannis Antetokounmpo ($11,600) has averaged an absurd 1.86 FanDuel points per minute.

Against Oklahoma City's eighth-highest pace, Giannis woke up on watch for a 70-burger given the injury to his point guard. He's well clear of Kevin Durant ($11,200) and Jayson Tatum ($10,300) in this top tier of wings. Both are scoring well at the moment, but without stable contributions in other categories, they've disappointed at salary lately.

Brandon Ingram ($7,700) is the next-best down from Giannis. He and Zach LaVine ($7,000) seem like phenomenal budget ways to tackle a 234-point total in Chicago.

Ben Simmons returned to just 15 minutes on Monday, so Brooklyn wings Royce O'Neale ($4,800) and Joe Harris ($3,800) are popping in our projections once more.

We've hit a wall with Toronto's options in Pascal Siakam's continued absence. OG Anunoby ($8,300) and Scottie Barnes ($7,800) have supremely high salaries for a mixed usage tree. Gary Trent Jr. ($6,000) is the lone salary-effective way to attack this scoring hierarchy.

Surprisingly, Marcus Morris ($5,300) has prevailed from the Clippers' gaggle of wings. He's played at least 34 minutes in six straight games. Terance Mann ($5,000) and Norman Powell ($4,200) were also over 28 minutes last game.

Morris leads numberFire's projections at wing ahead of Dillon Brooks ($5,400), Dorian Finney-Smith ($4,300), Jeremy Sochan ($4,200), and Patrick Williams ($4,100). I'd steer clear of Harrison Barnes, who is projecting well, but he dropped to 22 minutes last contest as his frigid shooting spell continues.

Bigs

Really, Nikola Jokic ($10,700) -- someone who I've sold all year with teammates back in the fold -- isn't a bad option today compared to his alternatives.

The 235-point total in Indiana is the highest of the day, and on Monday, Jokic broke 60 FanDuel points for the first time this year with both Murray and Michael Porter Jr. ($6,700) in the lineup. The days of "if you fade him, he might drop 80 FanDuel points on your dome" are over, but he's viable at this low of a salary.

Behind him is a car crash. Anthony Davis ($10,500) is wildly oversalaried, and Karl-Anthony Towns ($9,600) is likely in that same boat with Rudy Gobert ($8,100) returning. Domantas Sabonis ($9,200) is fine, but averaging just 1.29 FanDuel points per minute, he's at the maximum salary you'd want to pay in a tough matchup with Cleveland.

The $7,000 range is where the slate picks up steam again. Julius Randle ($7,200) remains the defacto center for the Knicks with Mitchell Robinson sidelined. Forward Obi Toppin ($3,700) played the most minutes next to Randle in New York's frontcourt on Monday.

On the other side of Sabonis, Jarrett Allen ($7,100) is projecting well in our model. You can say the same about Ivica Zubac ($7,000). Zubac chewed up these same Lakers for 45.9 FanDuel points in October.

Myles Turner ($6,600) ballooned for 60.9 FanDuel points on Monday, and it's at least likely bought him full minutes again tonight. Jalen Smith ($5,500) isn't a bad value plug from those same Pacers opposite Jokic, either.

Al Horford ($5,100) should have a higher salary as Boston's full-time center at present, and he once again tops our projections for big men today. Those behind him include Jakob Poeltl ($6,500), Evan Mobley ($6,400), Kelly Olynyk ($5,600), and Maxi Kleber ($3,700), who should see additional burn in Christian Wood's place.