FanDuel Daily Fantasy Basketball Picks and Helper: Thursday 11/2/23

Since NBA DFS is easier to predict than baseball or football, it would likely get plenty of votes as the best sport to play on FanDuel. Basketball players usually stick to the same minutes and produce at roughly the same rate. Sounds easy, right? Trust me -- it's not!

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. numberFire's projections update up until tip-off to reflect current news. numberFire also has player news updates, and the FanDuel Scout app will send push notifications for pressing updates regarding your players.

In addition to daily projections, numberFire also offers a matchup heat map and a lineup optimizer to help give you an edge.

Here at FanDuel Research, we'll also come at you each day with this NBA DFS primer, which breaks down a few of the day's top plays at each position.

Let's dive into today's main slate on FanDuel.

The Slate and Key Injuries

After the San Antonio Spurs stunned the Phoenix Suns on Halloween, they'll run it back just two later with basically the same lineups. While San Antonio's injury report is clean, Phoenix should once again be down Devin Booker (toe) and Bradley Beal (back).

Both the Detroit Pistons and New Orleans Pelicans played yesterday, and their injury news might return. Brandon Ingram (knee) sat for New Orleans, and Jalen Duren (ankle) and Alec Burks (arm) sat for Detroit; I'd be surprised if any of them returned tonight.

The Toronto Raptors were missing Precious Achiuwa (groin) on Wednesday, opening a few minutes off the bench. He'll likely sit for a third straight game tonight against the Philadelphia 76ers, who won't have the newly acquired Nicolas Batum (personal).

Finally, the Utah Jazz seemed to exit last night's win at full strength, and the Orlando Magic -- even entering a third game in four nights -- also have a clean report as the visitors this evening.

NBA DFS Picks

Guards

Top Plays

• C.J. McCollum ($7,700)
  • The Pels have felt like a team with too many cooks in the kitchen all season, so it's no surprise their two stars balled yesterday without Ingram. C.J. posted 29 points in 36 minutes. Though the rebounds (11) were an outlier, he also posted just one stock (steals plus blocks), so the variance stats can still work in his favor tonight.
• Jordan Clarkson ($6,000)
  • Clarkson's usage rate (23.7%) is lower than you'd think so far, but he's also struggled with a 43.2 true-shooting percentage (TS%). It checks out that if shots aren't falling, you'll take less of them.
  • I still believe in him in the long run at this salary after averaging 37.4 FanDuel points per 36 minutes a year ago.
• Jordan Hawkins ($4,300)
  • This is my first "who?" core value play of the season. Hawkins logged 37 minutes in Ingram's stead yesterday as the Pels have several forwards out for a while. He powered his way to 28.2 FanDuel points; don't leave him behind if B.I. remains out.

Others to Consider

• Cade Cunningham ($8,000)
  • In a game we'll be targeting a lot of Pelicans, quite literally no other Piston has a floor of minutes besides Cade. He's eclipsed 25 points scored in three of his five games, so there's upside behind his full-time work, too.
• Jalen Suggs ($5,100)
  • The Magic's backcourt remains a disaster in DFS, but we got our answer on Tuesday that Suggs -- if playing well -- will get full-time work. He logged 31 minutes against the Los Angeles Clippers. Salaries are rising across the board in this backcourt, but his remains the lowest.
• Dyson Daniels ($4,000)
  • Daniels only got 25 minutes on Wednesday to Hawkins' 37, but if the lottery pick shoots better than 3-for-10 from the field, he could be the fifth man on the floor for New Orleans at significantly reduced popularity.

Wings

Top Plays

• Kevin Durant ($10,800)
  • Durant's 29.4% usage rate on Tuesday was significantly lower than you'd have expected given his surrounding pieces, but Grayson Allen and Jusuf Nurkic were also red-hot. I still think he's got the highest floor of the five-digit salary range operating as Phoenix's heliocentric figure.
• Franz Wagner ($6,500)
  • In a stunner, Wagner just continues to operate as Orlando's top option -- not Paolo Banchero. He's posted the high-water mark of FanDuel points per 36 minutes among starters (37.4) with the starting five's highest usage rate (27.4%).
• Herbert Jones ($5,400)
  • The Pels are a "play 'em all" scenario with the injury to Ingram, and Jones will be the contrarian piece after just 15.4 FanDuel points in 31 minutes on Wednesday. His usage rate (13.0%) is dreadful, but the defensive stalwart is out there to collect plenty of stocks.

Others to Consider

• OG Anunoby ($6,900)
  • A ton of Raptors are struggling offensively despite yesterday's explosion, but Anunoby's dipping salary caught my eye in Thursday's pool. The constant threat for steals will replicate his five-stock effort from Toronto's opener soon -- and smash this salary in the process.
• Kelly Oubre ($5,800)
  • Expect a full-time role for Oubre after the Sixers shipped P.J. Tucker to L.A., and he's produced well enough (37.1 FanDuel points per 36 minutes) to expect him to be a factor tonight at a sub-$6,000 salary.
• Josh Okogie ($4,900)
  • Allen's mammoth Tuesday blasted him up the salary pool, but Okogie's stinker (20.4 FanDuel points) kept him in check. Other than Durant, no Suns player has played more games with at least 30 minutes played than Okogie; he's tied with Eric Gordon ($5,300) at three.

Bigs

Top Plays

• Zion Williamson ($7,800)
  • The 40.0 FanDuel points from Zion on Wednesday may have been his floor without Ingram. He shot just 7-for-20 from the field with no stocks and was randomly buoyed by 8 assists. Expect better from his 31.5% usage rate on Thursday.
• Jusuf Nurkic ($7,300)
  • I spoke Tuesday about how outlierishly bad the Spurs' interior defense is, and Nurkic responded with 12 points and 12 assists despite 40.0% shooting. This small salary bump wasn't enough when he could easily eclipse that with better luck from the field.
• Isaiah Stewart ($5,700)
  • "Too many cooks in the kitchen" was the theme in Detroit's frontcourt, too. However, Monty Williams definitely gave Stewart the lead role sans Duran with 31 minutes on Wednesday, and Stewart (33.4 FanDuel points per 36 last year) predictably responded with a nice night in DFS.

Others to Consider

• Joel Embiid ($12,000)
  • You can't go wrong stuffing salary into Embiid's absurd 38.8% usage rate, and he already smoked the Raptors for 64.8 FanDuel points on Saturday. However, his salary has risen to a point where that's an expectation -- not a ceiling.
• Pascal Siakam ($7,900)
  • Trade rumors might be impacting Siakam's performance. He's posted just 31.2 FanDuel points per 36 minutes after averaging much more a year ago (43.9). I still want to buy his struggles in a small sample expecting improvement soon.
• Wendell Carter Jr. ($6,000)
  • I wish the other positions were half as interesting as the big men today. Carter Jr. posted 39.2 FanDuel points per 36 minutes last year in this same full-time role and has just struggled from the field, but I can't even call him a priority given the plethora of options with better cases at the pivot.

**Editor's Note: Zion Williamson has been ruled out for rest purposes after publishing of this article. Phoenix's Devin Booker has been upgraded to questionable.**

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author’s advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.