5 Under-the-Radar Daily Fantasy Basketball Plays for 2/8/16

If you've played daily fantasy sports for very long, you realize by now the importance of being contrarian, especially in large-field tournaments. Being able to recognize which players are going to be owned by the majority of the field and find players that you think have a similar point projection but will come at much lower ownership can really separate yourself from your opponents.

It’s a lot easier in NFL to identify the players who will be low-owned due to Thursday Night slates, but NBA can be much more difficult if you aren’t an experienced player.

The purpose of this article will be to bring you my favorite high-upside players at each position that will likely go overlooked and give you an edge.

Keep in mind when constructing rosters that these are contrarian picks. There's a reason that they will be overlooked by many; they're risky plays. If possible, I’d try to relegate these players to GPP-only use, where their high risk-reward styles make more sense.

Brook Lopez, C, Brooklyn Nets

FanDuel Price: $8,700
DraftKings Price: $7,800

Why He Will Be Overlooked:

Center is absolutely loaded today. DeMarcus Cousins will be a popular option with Rudy Gay out. Marc Gasol, Karl-Anthony Towns, DeAndre Jordan, and Nikola Vucevic all find themselves in great spots. Nikola Jokic, Gorgui Dieng, and Jahlil Okafor all may be popular value plays.

Brook Lopez is coming off of a complete dud against the 76ers. He saw ownership above 40% in several contests, and will likely fall victim to recency bias after disappointing the masses.

Why You Should Use Him:

Everything that the daily fantasy community loved about Lopez remains intact for tonight's matchup with the Nuggets, except he'll now come at a much lower ownership.

Prior to his dud against Philadelphia, Lopez was on a ridiculous stretch where he averaged 44.24 FanDuel points per game. During that seven-game stretch, Lopez regularly displayed elite upside, with three games of 50-plus FanDuel points.

Lopez will face off against the Nuggets, who have struggled to defend the paint for years. While rookie Nikola Jokic has slightly improved their interior defense, Denver has still allowed the eighth most fantasy points to opposing centers this season. Just three days ago, Denver allowed Pau Gasol (whose game profiles similarly to Lopez's) to put up 44.1 FanDuel points.

Denver is also the most-frequently blocked team in the NBA. That bodes well for Lopez, who has a block in eight straight games and is eighth in the NBA with 1.87 blocks per game.

Kemba Walker, PG, Charlotte Hornets

FanDuel Price: $8,400
DraftKings Price: $8,100

Why He Will Be Overlooked:

Kemba Walker hasn't posted a huge performance in a couple weeks, and few are rostering him these days with the Hornets getting healthier.

Point guard is also a deep position tonight. If paying up, Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul both have terrific matchups on paper. Kyle Lowry and Rajon Rondo also will likely be more heavily targeted by daily fantasy players tonight than Walker. In the mid-price range, Kyrie Irving, Derrick Rose, and Ricky Rubio are all in favorable matchups and will likely be popular. Some will be on Emmanuel Mudiay as a value play in a good matchup, especially if Jameer Nelson sits again.

Nicolas Batum will likely be a popular option, too, as he's coming off of back to back huge games and won't draw the defense of Jimmy Butler in this one. He will likely deflect most of the potential ownership Walker may have received, as most prefer not to roster two players from the same team, especially on a big slate such as today's.

Why You Should Use Him:

While Batum has stolen the show recently, Walker has played very well too. In those two games, Walker posted 37.25 FanDuel points per game, while putting up 19 shots per game, and maintaining a 28.35% Usage Rate, which is actually higher than his season average.

Walker draws a terrific matchup tonight against Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls, who have allowed the fifth most fantasy points to opposing point guards this season. Rose boasts a -3.69 Defensive Real Plus-Minus, which ranks 82nd among 84 qualified point guards.

Rose has been especially busy on offense recently, due to numerous Chicago injuries. He's taken 47 combined shots in his past two games, which is terrific for his fantasy value, but has led to even worse defense from Rose.

Rose has allowed the past two point guards (Rubio and Mudiay) to combine for 67.5 FanDuel points, which is 13.8 higher than their combined season average. He also allowed those two point guards to shoot a combined 50% -- they have shot a combined 34.5% in all other games this season. It's scary to imagine what an actual scorer could do against Rose's lackluster defense.

Our projections like Walker tonight, too, listing him as the best value any player over $7,000 on FanDuel.

Kevin Love, PF, Cleveland Cavaliers

FanDuel Price: $7,500
DraftKings Price: $7,700

Why He Will Be Overlooked:

Kevin Love is dealing with a quad contusion, and comes into the day listed as questionable. With several terrific power forward options on today's slate, expect that to be all the research several do on Love.

Even if Love wasn't dealing with an injury, he'd have to compete with Anthony Davis, Paul Millsap, and Thaddeus Young for ownership among the expensive power forwards. Power forward is also loaded with value plays, as Myles Turner, Markieff Morris, and Aaron Gordon are all underpriced.

Pay close attention to Love's status throughout the day, because he could be a difference maker in tournaments tonight. If it's confirmed that he will start early in the day, I'd expect his ownership to be moderate to low. If his news comes out close to tip-off, you may be able to get Love at under five-percent owned, despite an amazing matchup.

Why You Should Use Him:

Love has played eight career games with Tyronn Lue as the head coach. He struggled adjusting in the first two games, and played only 22 minutes in his eighth game due to an injury. Before his injury, Love was really beginning to settle into his expanded role, averaging 40 FanDuel points in five games.

Per NBAwowy.com, Love posted a 24.2% Usage Rate over that five-game stretch, as opposed to 22.1% in David Blatt’s system. Love also averaged 40.02 FanDuel points per game and 1.19 FanDuel points per possession, versus 33.23 and 1.04 with Blatt.

If he is cleared to play, Love finds himself in a dream matchup against the Kings. Sacramento has allowed the second most fantasy points to opposing teams this season, largely due to their 24th-ranked Defensive Efficiency and their league-leading pace. They have performed especially poorly against power forwards, giving up the second most fantasy points to power forwards.

In six games against DeMarcus Cousins since 2012, Love has averaged an absurd 48.12 FanDuel points, including 39.5 in two games as a member of the Cavaliers, which is 7.13 higher than his average in other games as a member of the Cavs.

Victor Oladipo, SG, Orlando Magic

FanDuel Price: $6,500
DraftKings Price: $6,900

Why He Will Be Overlooked:

Victor Oladipo may be the highest owned player on this list, but his ownership should remain relatively low due to the variety of different options at shooting guard. Kobe Bryant, Andrew Wiggins, Devin Booker, Evan Fournier, E'Twaun Moore, and Marco Belinelli will likely all see healthy ownership percentages.

Assuming Tobias Harris sits out another game, Oladipo will likely be just the fourth most popular Orlando player tonight, behind Aaron Gordon, Evan Fournier, and Nikola Vucevic.

Why You Should Use Him:

Oladipo has been crushing value recently, averaging 37.3 FanDuel points per game over his past four. His minutes are also secure, which is always a concern with a member of Scott Skiles's rotation. During that four-game stretch, Oladipo has played 39 minutes per game.

While Atlanta's struggles against bigs this season has been well-documented, few talk about their poor defense against shooting guards. The Hawks have allowed the ninth most fantasy points to opposing shooting guards, and Kyle Korver has never been known for his defense.

Tobias Harris may miss this game with a left ankle injury. As alluded to earlier, most will target Orlando's bigs in a prime matchup with Atlanta. Per NBAwowy.com, Harris's absence has actually boosted the guards more than posts, as displayed below.

Archie Goodwin, PG/SG, Phoenix Suns

FanDuel Price: $5,200
DraftKings Price: $5,900

Why He Will Be Overlooked:

As mentioned previously, point guard is a deep position tonight. Archie Goodwin has been under 25 FanDuel points in four of his past six games, and likely won't be a hot commodity tonight.

Why You Should Use Him:

The Suns are huge underdogs tonight, but that is a result of the offensive firepower of the Thunder rather than an intimidating defense. In fact, the Suns are actually projected to outscore their season average tonight by 1.7 points.

The Suns have been listed as at least 9 point underdogs in five of the nine games Goodwin has started this season. In those games, Goodwin has averaged 38.2 minutes per game and played at least 30 minutes in each game, so the blowout concern tonight really doesn't affect his prospects much.

While Goodwin has posted some duds in his time in the starting lineup, he has also shown immense upside. Three of his nine games have resulted in over 35 FanDuel points, and tonight's matchup could yield number four.

Russell Westbrook can be a very effective defender if he wants to, but he often gambles too much on defense, which has resulted in the Thunder allowing the eleventh most fantasy points to opposing point guards this season.

This game is also projected to be played at the fastest pace of any on the slate, which isn't surprising considering both teams are in the top 10 in pace. In three other games against teams in the top 10 in pace, Goodwin has averaged 35.03 FanDuel points per game.