NBA Daily Fantasy Helper: Thursday 5/16/19

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 one-game slate, which follows a different format than typical NBA contests on FanDuel. Your lineup consists of five position-less slots, with one designated "MVP" having their fantasy score multiplied by 2.0, a "STAR" multiplied by 1.5 and a "PRO" multiplied by 1.2, as well as two utility slots receiving their usual points.

Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors ($17,000)

Even though Game 1 was a blowout -- leading to both teams sitting their starters with 2.5 minutes left in the fourth quarter -- Curry notched a game-high 55.7 FanDuel points in 35.5 minutes of action.

Nobody in that game came within even 10 fantasy points of Curry's output, and if you compare results in the MVP spot with the 2-times multiplier, nobody would have given you within even 20 fantasy points of what Curry did.

That didn't come as any sort of a surprise, either. With Kevin Durant off the floor this season, Curry has averaged 1.42 FanDuel points per minute with a 37.2% usage rate. In Game 1, Curry performed slightly above expectation (1.57 FanDuel points per minute) and had a 32.3% usage rate.

KD has already been ruled out again for tonight, and with NBA odds pricing he Golden State Warriors as 7.5-point favorites with a 113.0-point implied total, Curry's scoring should once again be the class of the slate.