FanDuel Daily Fantasy Basketball Helper: Monday 2/13/23

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

Monday's 11-game slate has a few servings of injury report news, so grab yourself a plate.

Joel Embiid (foot) has his usual questionable status, but it's certainly more of a risk he sits today versus the 14-43 Rockets.

The Lakers have been without LeBron James (ankle) for a pair, and he's questionable for Monday's game in Portland. The Blazers are unsure if they'll have Jerami Grant (concussion) or Kevin Knox (pending trade) available.

Tyrese Haliburton (thigh) and Myles Turner (back) are both questionable for the Pacers tonight as they host Utah.

The Nuggets might be without Jamal Murray (knee), Aaron Gordon (rib), or both as they visit the Heat. Miami has Tyler Herro (knee) listed as questionable, and Kyle Lowry (knee) and Victor Oladipo (ankle) remain out.

Washington has upgraded Kyle Kuzma (ankle) to questionable tonight, so he could face Golden State. The Warriors have Andrew Wiggins (ankle) listed as a question mark on their side.

The Pelicans aren't sure they'll have C.J. McCollum (ankle) tonight in Oklahoma City. Josh Richardson (pending trade) is also questionable.

Kyle Anderson (back) returned Saturday for Minnesota, but he and Rudy Gobert (groin) are still questionable for Monday's game in Dallas. Tim Hardaway Jr. (hamstring) could sit for the Mavs.

Atlanta could be shorthanded tonight in Charlotte. They've got all of John Collins (hip), Bogdan Bogdanovic (hip), Saddiq Bey (trade), and Bruno Fernando (trade) listed as questionable.

Tre Jones (foot) and Romeo Langford (thigh) will sit again for the Spurs, and Jeremy Sochan (back) and Doug McDermott (Achilles) could join them. We'll see if Cleveland adds a resting player or two to the report later today.

Finally, Alex Caruso (foot) is the lone notable questionable tag in Magic-Bulls.

Guards

The 240.0-point total in Charlotte tonight is the type of environment where we've seen LaMelo Ball ($9,600) explode for a triple-double. He's the top-projected guard over $9,000 for good reason.Dejounte Murray ($8,600) is also projecting well in that luscious fantasy space.

With that said, our model also approves of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ($10,600) against New Orleans. SGA's 32.4% usage rate for the season is monstrous, and his rate in February thus far (32.9%) is even higher. OKC doesn't even have its usual blowout concern as a two-point favorite.

From a matchup perspective, the Spurs cede the fifth-most FanDuel points per game to point guards, but I'm more likely to get to one of Donovan Mitchell ($8,500) or Darius Garland ($8,200) if the other rests. If Kyle Kuzma remains out, Bradley Beal ($8,500) is another matchup target with Golden State also in the bottom five.

In another top-shelf environment, Collin Sexton ($5,500) and Ochai Agbaji ($3,700) still stand out in expanded roles for Utah since the Mike Conley deal. On the other side, Andrew Nembhard ($4,500) and Bennedict Mathurin ($4,400) could be vital pieces should Haliburton sit for this one.

Others projecting well at guard include Jalen Brunson ($7,900), Jordan Clarkson ($6,200), Anfernee Simons ($6,200), and Monte Morris ($4,600).

Wings

In two games without D'Angelo Russell, we've seenAnthony Edwards ($9,000) explode for 53.1 FanDuel points against a porous Utah defense, and he was bottled up by Memphis to the tune of just 32.9. The middle point is likely somewhere between those marks against Dallas' ninth-worst defensive rating in the league (114.9), so his salary is more than fair.

The Magic allow the fifth-most FanDuel points per game to primary small forwards, so DeMar DeRozan ($8,300) or Zach LaVine ($7,600) could be set up for another ceiling game. Both dropped exactly 32 points in Orlando last month. In this same range, Brandon Ingram ($7,800) makes a ton of sense after surging past 40 FanDuel points in four straight. He pairs well with SGA, too.

Lauri Markkanen ($7,600) also randomly dropped $900 in salary from Friday despite two straight over 40 FanDuel points himself. I'd imagine he'll be enormously popular as a result.

At long last, Gordon Hayward ($5,200) has worked himself back to a full role for the Hornets, so it's no surprise he's eclipsed 24 FanDuel points in three straight seeing at least 29 minutes. He's a low-salaried way to access the best environment of the day.

Hayward and Jerami Grant ($6,600) -- if Grant clears concussion protocol -- appear to be the two best values of the day here. Grant's averaging 32.8 FanDuel points per 36 minutes for the year and has seen at least 36 minutes in five straight; he's just battled frosty 44.0% shooting in that time.

Others projecting well behind these two are Tobias Harris ($6,100), Kenyon Martin Jr. ($5,800), Kyle Anderson ($5,500), and Aaron Nesmith ($4,600).

Bigs

Should LeBron's period of rest continue through this weekend's All-Star festivities, Anthony Davis ($10,800) should rebound soon. He's averaging 61.9 FanDuel points per 36 minutes this year with LeBron off the floor in a much larger sample than his back-to-back efforts under 41 FanDuel points.

In a year with plenty of variance, it's difficult to ever say no to Julius Randle ($9,300). He's amazingly posted at least 39 FanDuel points in 16 straight games as a strong play in cash games. Kristaps Porzingis ($9,200), averaging 48.6 FanDuel points per 36, could also end up being a higher-ceiling pivot off of Randle in tournaments if news breaks his way.

At the pivot spot, Nikola Vucevic ($8,800) has a habit of crushing his former Orlando squad, and he did just that with 26 points and 13 boards in January. He's probably the highest I'll go at the spot with Nikola Jokic drawing a Heat squad allowing the second-fewest FanDuel points to centers, and Joel Embiid -- if he plays -- carrying enormous blowout risk against Houston.

The center spot will also be clogged by Mark Williams ($5,200) quite often by yours truly. Averaging 45.1 FanDuel points per 36 minutes, he could detonate the slate in a full night of work as he got Friday in Boston (31 minutes). He's facing a Hawks squad allowing the 10th-most FanDuel points per game to centers.

Outside of Williams, we're a bit short on value at the big-man spots, but some familiar faces in volatile roles might yet again emerge. Zach Collins ($6,400), Kelly Olynyk ($5,300), Isaiah Hartenstein ($4,800), and Jarred Vanderbilt ($4,800) all fit that description. If you're looking for a safer, 30-plus-minute role,Wendell Carter Jr. ($6,500) and Jabari Smith ($5,500) might be better fits.