3 NBA DraftKings Value Plays to Target on 1/6/21
A major key to success in daily fantasy basketball is uncovering potential value plays. If you're looking to roster a stud or two, you need to consider squeezing 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 on DraftKings tonight.
Davis Bertans, PF, Washington Wizards
DraftKings Price: $4,800
For Davis Bertans, it's about time. In Washington's big win over Brooklyn on Sunday night the stretch-four was finally unleashed. His minutes were upped to 31 minutes following a stetch in which he averaged 21.1 minutes a game to open the season. And with the additional playing time he finished with 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting for a sum of 24.5 DraftKings points.
After Sunday's performance, the recently-paid Bertans is now averaging 0.85 DK points per minute, but he's a year removed from averaging 27.5 DK points in 29.3 minutes a game (0.94 DK points per minute). He's shooting 8.4% below his percentage for the entire sample-size of last year, meaning he's due for regression moving forward.
Bertans matches up well with what the 76ers like to deploy, with Tobias Harris or Ben Simmons alongside Joel Embiid. He should get a lot of valuable run in what oddsFire lists as a game with a close seven-point spread on Wednesday night.
Tristan Thompson, C, Boston Celtics
DraftKings Price: $4,500
Tristan Thompson is another player you wouldn't have expected to be in this price range a year ago. In his ninth season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he averaged 12.0 points, 10.1 rebounds and 31.5 DK points across 30.2 minutes. This year, his first in Boston, the 29-year-old has been limited to only 23.6 minutes a game in a lesser role.
Thompson is averaging south of a double-double for the first time in three years, but he has still been a relevant producer. Prior to playing only 20 minutes on the second night of a back-to-back, the big man had played 25-plus minutes in three straight appearances, scoring in double digits twice with a pair of double-doubles. He's at 22.3 DK points per game despite a 14.75-point outing against the Raptors.
The Miami Heat are not the easiest of matchups at face value, but according to NBA.com they are 19th in rebound rate. FantasyPros also tells us that they allow the third-most fantasy points per game to power forwards, where Thompson has played exactly half of his minutes this season. There's little upside, but paying down at center will help differentiate your lineups in tournaments.
David Nwaba, SG, Houston Rockets
DraftKings Price: $3,500
At this low price, David Nwaba is going to be a highly-rostered player given the circumstances. Starting forward Danuel House Jr. is not traveling for Wednesday's game, and Ben McLemore will remain out. The two absences should lead to a second straight start for Nwaba, who played 29 minutes on Monday night.
That wasn't the first time Nwaba played substantial minutes for Houston. He already played 27 and 32 minutes in back-to-back games, and in the three games he's played at least 27 minutes he's averaged 18.6 DK points and topped out at 25.75.
All Nwaba requires is 17.5 DK points to meet five-times value. He is a great option to pair along with James Harden or John Wall in a game stack against the Indiana Pacers. The total is set at a cool 227 points over at Online Sportsbook.
Brett Oswalt is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Brett Oswalt also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username BRO14THEKID. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her 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.
