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

I wish the Oklahoma City Thunder could be banned from the main slates.

They're beginning the tanking for Victor Wenbenyama early. Both Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (hip) and Josh Giddey (ankle) will miss Tuesday's game against the Clippers, per the official injury report.

The visiting Clips will also be without a couple of wings as Paul George (illness) and Marcus Morris (personal) are away from the team.

In New Orleans, Brandon Ingram will be out Tuesday in the league's concussion protocol. Zion Williamson (hip) and Herbert Jones (knee) are questionable to play, too.

Thankfully, there isn't much other significant news. The lone other fresh name is Donte DiVincenzo (hamstring) out for the Warriors as they travel to Phoenix.

Guards

Last year, we saw Tre Mann ($4,800) fill in admirably (0.77 FanDuel points per minute) when Giddey and/or Gilgeous-Alexander would sit for OKC. He's the cornerstone gem of the slate, and teammate Aaron Wiggins ($3,600) should also start.

When spending salary here, Luka Doncic ($11,200) and C.J. McCollum ($8,300) are an easy mini-stack given the Pels' injuries. Doncic has been his absurd self so far with a pair of games over 53 FanDuel points, but McCollum is the much better value if Zion sits. He held a gaudy 32.5% usage rate with Zion and Ingram both off the floor last season.

With salary to spend, it's hard to not like Devin Booker ($8,500), as well. He's been over 42 FanDuel points with a team-best usage rate (29.5%) to start the year.

Both Cade Cunningham and Bradley Beal have yet to pass over 40 FanDuel points, and it's because of their new backcourt mates I'd prefer to roster. That's Jaden Ivey ($6,500) for the Pistons, and the even better value is Monte Morris ($4,900) for the Wizards, who could be a sneaky pivot off of Mann.

There's work to be had for both John Wall ($5,700) and Reggie Jackson ($4,500) with PG13 out, but who benefits is a total guess. Wall (1.10 FanDuel points per minute) has been the more productive player, but he'll start on the bench, and a hot Jackson start could staple him there. The two haven't shared the court at all this season.

Our model also likes Spencer Dinwiddie ($5,000) from the Dallas side, but his unchanged role feels like a waste on this slate with injury value, personally.

Wings

The Clippers seem set on limiting Kawhi Leonard, so Norman Powell ($3,900) should start and get a ton of run in place of George. My hunch is Terance Mann ($3,700) starts for Morris. Luke Kennard ($3,600) and Nicolas Batum ($3,600) could also see expanded roles.

On the other side, Luguentz Dort ($6,200) had some monstrous outings last season when his backcourt was inactive. He posted a 28.2% usage rate without Giddey and SGA last season. Darius Bazley ($4,300) and Kenrich Williams ($3,600) are a couple of high-upside OKC wings, too.

There are no active wings above $8,000 today, and Andrew Wiggins and Kyle Kuzma could both easily be fourth options on a given night in the $7,000 range. It's an ugly slate when trying to spend up here.

However, if you (for whatever reason) feel compelled to fade the Clippers' chalk in this space, the value wings elsewhere are pretty solid.

Cameron Johnson ($4,300) still has a great salary in a full-time role. That game's 226.0-point total is the best of the day, so we want pieces.

Dorian Finney-Smith ($4,300) is also always a dart on small slates given his hefty minutes load (38 in the opener) for the Mavs.

Bigs

A bulk of your salary needs to be spent in the backcourt. There's just not a lot going on here, either.

Christian Wood is a trap. He's averaging 1.71 FanDuel points per minute, which seems like a steal for $8,200. However, he's not getting minutes off the bench (at most 25 so far), and he's not going to shoot 50.0% from three all season, either.

I'm more interested in Kristaps Porzingis ($7,400) from the Wiz. It's the opposite case where Porzingis played 37 minutes last game, so his work is there, but he's only posted 1.05 FanDuel points per minute thus far. A return closer to last season's mark (1.49) could nuke this four-game slate.

Draymond Green has yet to pass over 28 minutes this year, so Deandre Ayton ($7,000) should have a decent outlook in a game we want to target. He's yet to have that monstrous rebounding effort.

There's a reason only Porzingis and the underwhelming Maxi Kleber ($3,900) have a value score at center above 5.00 in numberFire's projections. This position is ugly on the small slate, so it's incredibly tempting in a single-entry lineup to just plug Ayton, Porzingis, and Pistons' full-time center Isaiah Stewart ($6,000) into the frontcourt and work from there.