One of the keys to finding success in daily fantasy basketball is uncovering potential value plays. If you're looking to roster a stud player or two, you need to consider squeezing in one of these lower-priced options into your lineup.
Let's take a look at five players who can help fill in the gaps in your lineup.
Jakob Poeltl, C, San Antonio Spurs ($5,100)
If LaMarcus Aldridge is out again for the San Antonio Spurs, Jakob Poeltl is a great value play tonight.
The Spurs' most recent game was their double-overtime victory against the Houston Rockets, so we have to take Poeltl's production in that one with a grain of salt since he played 41 minutes. Even if Aldridge is out, I don't expect him to be playing that amount of minutes. What we want to be looking at is the production Poeltl has when Aldridge is off the court this season, which is 1.12 FanDuel points per minute. That is super strong and should lead him to having another successful night on the court since he is up against the Sacramento Kings, who are allowing 50.0 FanDuel points per game to centers this season.
This is a slight pace-down spot for the Spurs, but it shouldn't be too much of an issue for Poeltl as he is productive with the touches he gets.
Ish Smith, PG, Washington Wizards ($4,300)
With Isaiah Thomas listed as questionable for this game, Ish Smith is a player to target.
The Washington Wizards are on the second night of a back-to-back and didn't have Thomas in the lineup for yesterday's game, putting his status for tonight in question. Last night, we saw Smith play 34 minutes, posting 32.2 FanDuel points in the process -- one is his best games of the season. The Wizards take on the Miami Heat, and the over/under is set at 232 points -- giving us an ideal spot to target for fantasy production. We do find the Wizards in a pace-down spot, but with Smith being only $4.3K tonight, he would need only 21.5 FanDuel points in order to reach 5x salary, which is very doable.
We have him projected as our projected sixth-best value at point guard tonight, which should make him fairly popular on this 10-game slate.
Keita Bates-Diop, SF, Minnesota Timberwolves ($3,800)
The Minnesota Timberwolves and Oklahoma City Thunder are set for a high-scoring game -- 220 points -- so we want to look here for some value.
Currently, the Timberwolves have Andrew Wiggins listed as questionable for this game, putting us in a bit of a holding pattern. Wiggins is carrying a 32% usage rate right now and is playing well over 30 minutes a game. If he is out, that is a ton of production that needs to be picked up by someone else, and it could be Keita Bates-Diop who assumes a lot of it. He has played 21 minutes or more in five straight games and has posted 23 FanDuel points or more three times, though he has also gone under 20 points twice. He is mostly a pure-scorer, meaning he doesn't always fill in the rest of the stat sheet, which can limit his production.
But if Wiggins is out tonight, there will be more shots to go around, allowing Bates-Diop to increase his floor of potential points.
Yogi Ferrell, PG, Sacramento Kings ($3,700)
Yogi Ferrell could become the best value play on the slate if Cory Joseph is ruled out.
Right now, Joseph is listed as questionable for tonight's game against the Spurs, forcing us to stay in a holding pattern for a second player. Value is usually very clear when it comes to NBA DFS, but we rely on the confirmed starting lineups and indications if a player is available or not. If Joseph is playing, then Ferrell is not an option tonight. If Joseph is out, Ferrell should be the starting point guard and play close to 30 minutes.
This situation is very simple -- we just need the status of Joseph.
The Spurs are allowing 49.2 FanDuel points per game to opposing point guards -- the eighth-most in the league -- putting Ferrell in a great spot if he is the starter.
Duncan Robinson, SG, Miami Heat ($4,200)
A pace-up spot for the Heat and a weak defensive opponent could be the matchup of the night.
It's no secret that the Wizards aren't good on defense, and you should be actively targeting them when they are on the slate. It also helps that they are playing at the fifth-fastest pace this year, giving the opposing offenses plenty of touches on the ball. With Justise Winslow listed as questionable tonight, the Heat could push Duncan Robinson into the starting lineup. He got the start on November 25th against the Charlotte Hornets, the last time Winslow missed a game. This is good information to know, since we have a base of reference for the team's starters and rotation from that game.
The best thing about Robinson is that he has posted at least 20 FanDuel points in four of his last five games -- as a bench player. He is very productive in the normal minutes he gets, something that should only increase given the pace-up spot and the weak defensive opponent.