NBA Daily Fantasy Helper: Monday 4/15/19

If you're new to daily fantasy basketball -- maybe you started your DFS journey during the MLB or NFL seasons, or maybe basketball is your sport and this will be your first year giving it a shot -- you're in for a treat. The NBA scene changes hugely on a week-to-week, day-to-day, and -- depending on injury news -- even a minute-to-minute basis, making every slate a unique one that requires an ever-changing approach.

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 ton 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 price point.

Let's take a look at who you should target on today's main slate.

Best of the Best

Kevin Durant ($9,600): There's no way to get around the fact that every high-priced option on the slate carries some risk. Neither game has a spread closer than eight points, so both come with plenty of blowout potential. One way to mitigate this risk is to avoid paying up too high -- Joel Embiid is efficient, but getting his minutes limited at $11,000 hurts a lot more than getting a player limited for under $10,000. Another way is to look for efficiency. If a game's going to be a blowout, you want it to come with a ton of scoring, and that's exactly what the Golden State Warriors' 122.75-point implied total offers. KD was tied for a team-high with 16 field goal attempts in Game 1. His fantasy production paled in comparison to Stephen Curry, but we also saw Durant run well below expectation on peripheral stats, tallying only four boards and three assists, compared to his season-average of 6.4 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game. Our models have him projected to bounce back with a slate-high 48.2 FanDuel points tonight.