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 three players who can help fill in the gaps in your lineup.
Chris Boucher, C, Toronto Raptors ($5,000)
Friday's NBA slate has no stakes attached to it for any of the eight teams in play, as all have locked in their playoff seeding for next week. Therefore, in what will feel closer to summer league than the NBA's regular season, there will be plenty of value. The best value plays will be a combination of talent to produce FanDuel points and minutes. For the best per dollar value plays, like Boban Marjanovic was correctly projected to be on Thursday, always check numberFire's daily basketball projections to find out which players are benefiting as news rolls out on Friday.
Chris Boucher will likely be one of the most popular players on Friday's slate--and for very good reason. Boucher has a great combination of both production and security in minutes for the two-seed Toronto Raptors. Serge Ibaka is questionable with a knee injury, and in a game that means nothing for the Raptors, he will all but surely sit. Marc Gasol also will likely not start for Toronto because of that, but even if he does, he only played 19 minutes against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday, and that was with more time to rest before the playoffs. Boucher likely starts and sees close to 30 minutes as the Raptors' big man on the floor, and he will do so against a Denver Nuggets team that gives up the ninth-most FanDuel points to opposing centers. That spells trouble against a productive player like Boucher, who leads all Raptors with 1.18 FanDuel points per minute in limited action this year.
Justin Holiday, SF, Indiana Pacers ($4,600)
The Indiana Pacers have been struggling with injuries all throughout the Orlando bubble, and they are bubble-wrapping as a result on Friday. Victor Oladipo, T.J. Warren, Domantas Sabonis, and Myles Turner are all listed out for the contest that has no impact on the Pacers whatsoever, which also makes it unlikely regular starters Malcolm Brogdon or Aaron Holiday see a ton of time either. The most talented Pacer that likely will start and see significant minutes is Aaron Holiday's older brother Justin Holiday, who drew the start on Wednesday against the Houston Rockets and delivered with 18 points and 6 rebounds.
Justin Holiday's minute's projection is as healthy as you will find on a weird Friday slate, as he is expected to see 29.4 minutes of court time according to numberFire, and his 24.4 FanDuel point projection is even with Malcolm Brogdon's usage still fully projected for 26 minutes at this point in time, which would be on the heavier side for Indiana's starting point guard.
Reggie Jackson, PG, Los Angeles Clippers ($3,900)
It really is a testament to how deep the championship favorite Los Angeles Clippers are that Reggie Jackson--a former significant contributor for both the Oklahoma City Thunder and Detroit Pistons in the playoffs--is likely to see heavy minutes in what is essentially an exhibition game, as their stars rest. Given the Clippers are the pioneers of load management, consider me a doubter that Kawhi Leonard, Louis Williams or Paul George suit up in this meaningless contest. Patrick Beverley and Landry Shamet are already both ruled out in the backcourt as well due to injury, so Jackson will be one of the few guards remaining active for LA on Friday.
He may be the most accomplished player to see significant time on Friday and has been productive when allowed on the court for the Clippers at 0.89 FanDuel points per minute, and that is usually deferring to George or Leonard. Jackson saw 32 minutes against Denver on Monday and may be in line for a similar load next to Terance Mann in this one.
Austin Swaim is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Austin Swaim also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username ASwaim3. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.