FanDuel Daily Fantasy Basketball Helper: Tuesday 11/1/22

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

A couple of guards expected to play headline Tuesday's injury report.

The Bulls are visiting the Nets, and they should have Zach LaVine (knee) for this one. He's likely to play today and sit tomorrow. Ben Simmons (back) rested Monday against Indiana to suit up tonight for Brooklyn. Ayo Dosunmu (chest), Coby White (quad), and Seth Curry (ankle) are also all questionable.

Elsewhere, the Magic will still be without Cole Anthony (oblique), but they could get back Jalen Suggs (ankle). They're in Oklahoma City, and the Thunder will still be without Josh Giddey (ankle).

In the nightcap, the Suns will be sans Deandre Ayton (ankle), and the Timberwolves will have to wait and see on Kyle Anderson (back) and Jordan McLaughlin (heel).

Guards

At the slate's ugliest positional grouping, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ($10,800) isn't a bad headliner.

SGA has dropped a steamy 1.53 FanDuel points per minute on a 33.3% usage rate during floor situations without Josh Giddey this year. He's needed steals to realize 60-FanDuel-point upside so far, but that's something we can reasonably project (2.39 steals per 36 minutes) for him.

Stephen Curry ($10,000) is also up here in an above-average matchup with Miami. His role (31.4% usage rate) has been better than in previous years in terms of taking more of the scoring pie.

Kyle Lowry ($6,500) should project well all day, but he's shown a history of scoring lulls to be risks at their salary. The best proposition in the mid-range might be Jalen Suggs ($5,000) if he can play. He'll have a clear path to a full role with no Anthony or Markelle Fultz.

I discuss just guard-eligible-only players here, and the reality is a bulk of shooting guard spots should be occupied by wings on this slate. Other guards I'd tolerate at salary include Chris Paul ($7,400), Alex Caruso ($5,000), and Jalen Williams ($4,200), the latter of whom returned for OKC over the weekend.

It's tough sledding at this spot today.

Wings

Brooklyn's defensive rating (119.1) is second-worst in the NBA, so both DeMar DeRozan ($8,200) and Zach LaVine ($7,300) are fine considerations -- even together. They've played enough together that salaries are suppressed there.

I'm once again into Kevin Durant ($10,400), who added nine rebounds and seven assists last night to another 30-point scoring effort. If he contributes on the glass, he'll smash his salary every time. It's hard to ignore that he and Kyrie Irving ($9,700) are already approaching 40 minutes a night to keep the Nets afloat.

On the other hand, Ben Simmons ($6,800) has reached a salary where I'm comfortable leaving him behind given his putrid 13.0% usage rate. Value wings exist elsewhere in this game, including Royce O'Neale ($4,800) and Patrick Williams ($4,100).

Another good spot to turn is in Miami. Jimmy Butler ($8,600) still has a fair salary for his do-it-all role and is rating well in our projections. The same could be said for Andrew Wiggins ($7,300) on the Golden State side. The Heat also have wings Max Strus ($4,700) and Caleb Martin ($4,500) seeing consistent minutes.

However, O'Neale and Cameron Johnson ($4,800) are my two favorite value plugs on the slate. Johnson's role is no longer in danger with Ayton sidelined.

Bigs

Phoenix went to a full platoon with Bismack Biyombo ($5,000) and Jock Landale ($4,800) without Ayton. I'm out on that mess for two moderately productive bigs.

On the other side, though, Karl-Anthony Towns ($9,300) and Rudy Gobert ($8,700) are interesting darts given the Suns' lack of quality size. These two have massively disappointed thus far, though. The Wolves are ninth from the bottom in estimated rebounding rate (49.1%).

Draymond Green ($5,700) has posted 31.4 FanDuel points in the three games in which he's seen at least 29 minutes. He's a top value option in an expected competitive game with the Heat. On the other side, Bam Adebayo ($7,900) still has a low enough salary to consider on this four-game slate.

I can't say no to Nikola Vucevic ($8,300) given the Nets' defensive woes. The decision between him and Nicolas Claxton ($5,900) in a game stack is brutal, though.

Per usual, Wendell Carter Jr. ($6,400) heads our projections in his full role and modest salary, but he's continued to underperform his per-minute fantasy pace (1.12 FanDuel points) from last season. Other top-projected values on this slate include high-upside OKC teammates Darius Bazley ($4,700) and Aleksej Pokusevski ($4,400).