FanDuel Daily Fantasy Basketball Helper: Monday 5/8/23

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

Though big names are on Monday's injury report, don't expect any of them to sit.

Jimmy Butler (ankle) is questionable, but he played 36 minutes in Game 3 through the injury. The larger concern for Miami is Caleb Martin (back), who was limited to 22 minutes in conjunction with this listing. On the other side, New York has Immanuel Quickley ($4,700) listed as doubtful.

Only LeBron James (foot) and Anthony Davis (foot) are listed from tonight's Warriors-Lakers clash, but they're both probable to play.

Guards

We're up to 10 games of Stephen Curry ($9,800) in these playoffs, and in 6 of them, he's fallen short of 44 FanDuel points.

He's still expected to be popular off the memory of Game 7 against the Kings, but he hasn't reached that level on a consistent basis. Klay Thompson ($6,900) hasn't eclipsed 40 FanDuel points since March 20th, but perhaps a stellar scoring night from one of them is what propels the Warriors to a much-needed Game 4 win.

Though a bit oversalaried, Jalen Brunson ($8,700) has at least shown a semblance of floor that Klay and Curry haven't. He's surpassed 37 FanDuel points in eight straight games. If I had to pick who'd benefit from Quickley's vacated minutes in his stead, it's likely Quentin Grimes ($4,200), but Miles McBride ($3,500) could get a modest turn at minimum salary.

I kind of want to fade D'Angelo Russell ($6,600) at his lower salary despite coming up "short" in Game 3. In reality, he was on fire with 62.5% shooting from three (on eight tries), but the blowout left him with just 29 minutes. Russell has shot 37.2% from deep in the playoffs and will be popular; if he pulls back, he is the type of fade that could win a tournament.

Gabe Vincent ($5,800), Jordan Poole ($5,700), Kyle Lowry ($5,500), and Dennis Schroder ($4,700) are your other guards with on-court roles above 20 minutes. Vincent, who went just 1-for-8 from the field in Game 3, is the most notable bounce-back candidate.

Wings

A monster LeBron James ($10,000) game is coming. Perhaps it's in tonight's series-deciding game.

James still has the best usage rate on the Lakers during the playoffs (25.4%), and he's added a team-best 11.8 potential assists per game. He's also chipped in with at least eight boards in 8 of his past 10 games. He's got all the ingredients for a triple-double.

I prefer him to Jimmy Butler ($10,100), who should continue to carry significant popularity after eclipsing 60 FanDuel points three times in his series with Milwaukee. Butler shot just 9-for-21 (42.9%) in his return, but the biggest issue I see for him is defensively. He added seven stocks (steals plus blocks) in those blowup outings, and that's just less likely with a bad wheel.

RJ Barrett ($7,200) and Josh Hart ($6,300) are essentially locked into 40-minute roles with Quickley's expected absence, and Barrett -- off an awful 5-for-16 shooting display in Game 3 -- is likely the least popular player over $7,000 who has some scoring juice.

Andrew Wiggins ($6,200) started to get going with 16 points and 9 boards in Game 3. He's a full-time plug in this salary area; Austin Reaves ($5,300) and Max Strus ($4,500) also fit that bill.

We've got punt-range darts, too. If Caleb Martin ($5,500) misses tonight's game, Haywood Highsmith ($3,700) could garner at least 20 minutes on the wing. Lonnie Walker ($3,800) has also magically reappeared into the Lakers' rotation with at least nine points in each of the past two games.

Bigs

One key stance I'll make tonight is being comfortably underweight on Anthony Davis ($11,700).

He hasn't eclipsed 60 FanDuel points in consecutive games since March 31st, so in addition to motor concerns, he also needed seven stocks (steals plus blocks) to reach that threshold in Game 3. Davis' usage rate in the playoffs (23.3%) is well below what normally comes with this salary.

It'll be interesting to see how the field handles Julius Randle ($8,400). The ankle is getting better, but he's eclipsed 40 FanDuel points only once in the playoffs. We're collectively still hunting the guy who posted 43.4 FanDuel points per 36 minutes in the regular season.

Bam Adebayo ($7,700) should be one of the higher-projected plays on the slate, but his usage rate has dropped to 18.2% in this series, which is sixth among Miami's rotation. He's got less shot volume than Kevin Love ($4,800) at this stage. I don't know if there's upside -- even at this reduced mark.

Draymond Green ($7,000) has fought foul trouble all series, but Golden State's key adjustment of JaMychal Green into the starting lineup should boost his rebounding -- as it did in Game 2, when he hauled in 11 boards. We don't know when or if Kevon Looney's playing time will increase again, but if Looney is back in the starting lineup, he could be a bold late-swap option at $6,900.

Finally, Tom Thibodeau's periodic disgust with Mitchell Robinson returned in Game 3. Robinson logged just 14 minutes on Saturday, and Isaiah Hartenstein ($4,200) logged 25. Hartenstein is an underwhelming FanDuel producer, but if he's on the court for 20-plus minutes, we kind of have to go there. Robinson is a high-risk tournament pivot if he were to come out firing on the glass.