FanDuel Price: $4,700
Projected FanDuel Points: 9.4
Projected FanDuel Value: 2.01

After missing three games with an illness, the Charlotte Hornets' Nicolas Batum is not on the injury report for Friday night's tilt against the Los Angeles Lakers. As such, your first though might be that Dwayne Bacon may not be worth using after a string of solid games. But there's still room for the second-year player to shine.

Bacon has seen increasingly big minutes over his last four games, all starts and--more importantly--all wins for the Hornets. The team made the switch from Batum to Bacon the game before Batum got sick, and the move has paid dividends. The team has wins over the playoff-bound Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, and San Antonio Spurs. The streak has moved them to within 1.5 games of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, and it would be asinine for head coach James Borrego to switch back to Batum after such a hot streak.

Bacon's been an irregular part of the rotation this season, but has seen consistent minutes since he reentered the rotation back on March 8. Since then, he's scored in double figures in seven of 10 games, culminating with season highs of 24 and 20 points in his past two games, respectively.

With Batum healthy, it's reasonable to expect many people to fall off the Bacon wagon. The team is playing too well to go back to Batum, who has been ineffective for most of the season, and Bacon is likely to continue to start and see solid minutes this evening. He's a risk, especially as he's playing in the latest game on the slate, but one with solid upside in tournaments.