NBA

3 NBA FanDuel Value Plays to Target on 2/13/20

Thomas Vecchio  —  @Tom_Vecchio1 Feb 13th, 2020
There are only two games on the slate tonight, and that means limited value options overall. Which players should you look at tonight?

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.

Daniel Theis, PF, Boston Celtics ($5,300)

The Boston Celtics are at home to take on the Los Angeles Clippers, where the over/under is set at 227 points.

This should be a very good real-life NBA game, but we also want to be looking for some DFS value in this one, and it could come from Daniel Theis, the Celtics' starting center. He is back from his injury and has posted 33 FanDuel points in 30 minutes and 26 FanDuel points in 29 minutes in the two games since returning. That's considerably strong production from Theis, who holds a 12.9% usage rate, the lowest among the Celtics' starting five. He may not offer a massive ceiling of points, but with only two games on the slate, it can be tough to find consistency among the lower-tier of players.

Theis and the Celtics will also be playing up in pace against the Clippers, and the spread is set at only two points. He's a starter, been productive, and is set to be in a close, high-scoring game.

Nicolo Melli, PF, New Orleans Pelicans ($4,000)

With an injury situation to monitor for the New Orleans Pelicans, a bench player could continue producing.

That bench player is Nicolo Melli, who has seen 22 minutes or more in three straight games, producing 20.7 FanDuel points or more in each of those contests. At only $4K tonight, he is truly one of the cheapest players who have a shot at seeing the court.

Now, the injury situation to note is with Brandon Ingram, who has missed the past two games for the Pelicans. Ingram is listed as questionable/game-time decision for tonight's game, putting us in a bit of a holding pattern until we get more news. If Ingram is out, you can certainly look to Melli as a strong value option, but if Ingram is in, there might not be enough minutes for him to produce.

Landry Shamet, PG, Los Angeles Clippers ($4,300)

The Clippers have Patrick Beverley ruled out for this game, giving some extra playing time to Landry Shamet.

This will be the fourth straight game Beverley has missed, and we should look to Shamet to continue producing fantasy points with him out. Now, it's very clear that Shamet has a good bench role even when Beverley is in the lineup, and that leads to Shamet normally playing 20-30 minutes per game.

Coming off the bench, he sees the majority of his time when Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are off the court. Along with those players being off the court, Shamet generally subs in for Lou Williams, who has been in the starting lineup with Beverley out. This means he doesn't have to compete for offensive usage with the stars of the team. There are a few moving parts here, but Shamet is making it work, as he has posted 20 FanDuel points or more in three of his past four games, scoring double-digit real points in each of those games.