5 NBA FanDuel Value Plays to Target on Monday 12/12/22

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 one of these lower-salaried options into your lineup.

Let's take a look at some players who can help fill in the gaps in your lineup on FanDuel tonight, using numberFire's daily fantasy basketball projections as a guide.

Kyle Anderson, SF/PF, Minnesota Timberwolves

FanDuel Salary: $5,600

A big injury for tonight's slate (and for multiple weeks) is that of Karl-Anthony Towns, who is out with a calf injury.

That will lead to a bigger role for Kyle Anderson. Anderson has started four of the past five games without Towns and has averaged 33.3 minutes per game in that span even including his game off the bench.

That also includes a 39.5-minute game on Saturday against the Portland Trail Blazers, who he plays again tonight. He scored 32.4 FanDuel points in that one.

In Anderson's six starts, he has averaged 31.9 minutes and 29.9 FanDuel points. In five games with 30-plus minutes, Anderson has averaged 36.0 FanDuel points.

He's projected for 31.5 minutes tonight.

Zach Collins, PF/C, San Antonio Spurs

FanDuel Salary: $5,200

The San Antonio Spurs continue to be without Jakob Poeltl, and that's been good for Zach Collins' opportunity.

Collins has averaged 24.8 minutes over the past five without Poeltl and has averaged 20.4 FanDuel points, a disappointing output (0.82 per minute).

On the season, Collins has averaged 1.08 FanDuel points per minute this season, so the recent number can only stay so low for so long.

Collins gets a tough matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but against top-10 defenses, he has still averaged 1.06 FanDuel points per minute on the season.

He is numberFire's top-ranked value play for tonight's slate.

Deni Avdija, SF/PF, Washington Wizards

FanDuel Salary: $5,500

The Washington Wizards are without Bradley Beal and Rui Hachimura, and they list Monte Morris as questionable.

As a result, Deni Avdija has a super-good minutes projection (36.9) tonight. Only six players are projected for more minutes, and only one of those players has a salary below $8,400.

Without Beal and Hachimura Avdija has a 16.6% usage rate with a per-minute output of 0.86 FanDuel points.

That all adds up over heavy minutes, and Avidja has put up at least 30.5 fantasy points in three straight games.

Kevin Love, PF/C, Cleveland Cavaliers

FanDuel Salary: $4,400

Indications are that Kevin Love will play tonight after he returned to his usual pre-game routine for today's game.

Love is getting a top-three value projection (5.80 fantasy points per $1,000 in FanDuel salary) against the Spurs, who rank 30th in defensive rating.

Against bottom-10 defenses, Love is averaging 24.7 FanDuel points over 20.7 minutes per game (1.19 FanDuel points per minute).

He's projected for 23.0 minutes here, so there's room for him to put up a dominant per-dollar performance tonight.

Trent Forrest, SG, Atlanta Hawks

FanDuel Salary: $3,800

If looking to save a lot of salary, then be open to Trent Forrest, whose salary is only $3,800.

Forrest is projected for 5.76 FanDuel points per $1,000 on a minutes expectation of 30.0 while Dejounte Murray looks likely to miss another game.

Over the past two games without Murray, Forrest has played 28.5 and 33.8 minutes. In those two, he put up respectable fantasy totals at a sub-$4,000 salary: 22.9 and 19.6 FanDuel points.

Against the Memphis Grizzlies tonight, Forrest should be able to give us a floor of points across his minutes -- and thus save us enough salary to get up to the studs on the slate.