FanDuel Daily Fantasy Basketball Helper: Monday 2/6/23

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

The marquee NBA news of the weekend has a lasting effect on daily fantasy tonight.

Kyrie Irving was traded from Brooklyn to Dallas for Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, and draft compensation. As a result, the Mavs will be incredibly shorthanded in Utah with Irving and Luka Doncic (heel) listed as out on the injury report. However, Christian Wood (thumb) was upgraded to questionable and would be a boost. Jarred Vanderbilt (back) is questionable for the Jazz.

As for the Nets, Dinwiddie and Finney-Smith won't play Monday versus the Clippers. Brooklyn's injuries make that news even tougher. They're still without Kevin Durant (knee), and Seth Curry (adductor) will sit tonight. Ben Simmons (knee) is questionable, and T.J. Warren (shin) is probable.

Of course, we've got major injury news elsewhere, too. Stephen Curry (knee) will be out through the break for Golden State. They'll host a Thunder squad down Luguentz Dort (hamstring) tonight.

Paternity duty still has De'Aaron Fox listed as a question mark to suit up in Houston. The Kings' opponent, still down Kevin Porter Jr. (foot), has him closer to doubtful in my book.

The Wizards lost Kyle Kuzma to an ankle injury over the weekend, and Bradley Beal (foot) is listed as questionable for tonight's game, too. They're hosting the Cavaliers, who have Caris LeVert (hamstring) in doubt.

San Antonio is still without Devin Vassell, Jeremy Sochan, and Romeo Langford. Keldon Johnson (ankle) and/or Tre Jones (foot) could join them on the bench tonight in Chicago. The Bulls have Alex Caruso (ankle) listed as questionable.

Finally, the Pistons could be hosting Boston without big man Isaiah Stewart (hip). He's questionable.

Guards

We'll have plenty of value to get to both Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ($10,400) and Damian Lillard ($10,200), and both have insane usage rates at the moment entering projected shootouts.

Lillard held a usage mark of 32.1% in January and has scored 40-plus real-life points in four of his past six. SGA's usage rate was a little lower (30.3%), but he's scored the ball similarly, eclipsing 35 real-life points in five of his past seven.

Donovan Mitchell ($8,100) is also projecting well at the top, but the star of the upper-mid-range is Jordan Poole ($7,400). Predictably, Poole sees the best upticks amongst starters in both usage rate (5.5 percentage points) and production (+1.26 FanDuel points per 36) with Steph off the floor.

Houston's Jalen Green ($6,800) is probably the final stop before heading to a loaded value tier with so much news.

Josh Green ($4,600), Jaden Hardy ($3,800), and Frank Ntilikina ($3,500) are the remaining members of Dallas' backcourt after the Dinwiddie deal, and all should see significant playing time. Edmond Sumner ($5,300) also will have a full role for Brooklyn, but I'll fully fade the Nets' microwave scorer Cam Thomas and his volatile bench role at $6,000 despite 44 real-life points on Saturday.

Despite the two duds over the weekend, Davion Mitchell ($4,100) might be worth another shot against a Rockets squad allowing the most FanDuel points per game to point guards. Should Beal sit for the Wiz, Monte Morris ($5,200) and Delon Wright ($4,600) can be added to this value list, too.

Wings

We're not short on stars here, either.

Giannis Antetokounmpo ($12,200) has eclipsed 68 FanDuel points in four of his last five, holding an insane 42.3% usage rate during this time. I think he's making a push at MVP, and the 242.0-point total in Portland is the best of the day.

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown ($8,600) are in Detroit, and I'd rather lean on Brown today. The Pistons allow the most FanDuel points per game to combo guards, but they've surprisingly allowed the 14th-fewest to Tatum's small forward spot. There's blowout risk at Tatum's lofty salary, too.

The Nets' remaining cast is likely not great defensively, so Kawhi Leonard and Paul George ($8,300) are options to run back their value plays. With blowout risk also present here, George -- at nearly $2,000 less in salary -- had a comparable usage rate (27.8%) to Kawhi (28.2%) in January.

I'll take the higher salary in Chicago with DeMar DeRozan ($8,400). His usage rate in January (28.7%) was better than Zach LaVine's (28.1%) at close salaries entering this revenge spot versus his former squad.

In terms of value, Andrew Wiggins ($6,300) leads the brigade, seeing a 2.0 percentage-point uptick in usage with Steph off the floor this year. On Dallas, Tim Hardaway Jr. ($5,200) and Reggie Bullock ($4,500) should start with heavy roles. In Brooklyn, T.J. Warren ($4,400) or Yuta Watanabe ($4,300) could be a sneaky value play, but I would only trust whoever starts.

Harrison Barnes ($6,000), Josh Hart ($5,600), and Patrick Williams ($5,100) are three others projecting well.

Bigs

The Kings were blown out twice over the weekend without Fox, but Houston hasn't done that to anyone, so Domantas Sabonis ($9,500) is back on the menu. He's seen a small uptick in FanDuel production (0.39 points per 36) with Fox off the floor, but this is more about the 234.5-point total and awful Rockets defensive rating (117.1).

Kristaps Porzingis ($9,400) should get any shot he wants with Beal and Kuzma out, too. K.P. has posted 50.7 FanDuel points per 36 minutes on a whopping 32.5% usage rate with the pair off the floor this season.

Foul trouble limited Alperen Sengun ($8,000) to 15 minutes on Saturday, but he's still an option for game stacks today. If you're worried about Jalen Green's return for him, Sengun has posted 43.4 FanDuel points per 36 this year with Green on the floor. He's still undervalued if presented with a full role here.

Of course, if Christian Wood ($7,900) plays, he'll likely be unrestricted given it's just a thumb issue. Averaging 48.1 FanDuel points per 36 minutes with Luka and Dinwiddie off the floor this year, I won't be the one to fade him.

The reason I likely won't get to Nikola Vucevic is my desire to pair Jalen Duren ($5,600) with Sengun in tournaments at the pivot. Detroit's rookie has posted 34.0 FanDuel points per 36 minutes, but his role has been unstable. Isaiah Stewart's injury would once again change that.

In terms of value, Boston's tandem of Robert Williams ($5,900) and Al Horford ($5,100) lead the way in our projections. Ideally, I'd like to one to surprisingly sit against the lowly Pistons. Jerami Grant ($6,400), Kelly Olynyk ($4,900), and Dwight Powell ($4,800), and Drew Eubanks ($4,700) also make sense for value. Powell likely comes off that list if Wood plays, though.