NBA

5 NBA FanDuel Value Plays to Target on Thursday 2/9/23

Brandon Gdula  —  @gdula13 Feb 9th, 2023

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.

Dario Saric, PF, Phoenix Suns
Damion Lee, SG, Phoenix Suns
Torrey Craig, SF/SG, Pheonix Suns

Saric's FanDuel Salary: $4,200
Lee's FanDuel Salary: $3,900
Craig's FanDuel Salary: $4,500

The Phoenix Suns are very thin after a trade for Kevin Durant that led to parting ways with both Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson. Additionally, Devin Booker, Cameron Payne, and Landry Shamet are all out for this game.

With those five players off the floor, Dario Saric has a 20.5% usage rate an averages 1.01 FanDuel points per minute, according to RotoGrinders' CourtIQ tool. Damion Lee's numbers are 19.8% and 0.67, respectively, and Torrey Craigs are 11.2% and 0.76, respectively.

So, Saric really stands out, but Lee and Craig -- and Josh Okogie ($3,700) and Ish Wainright ($3,700) -- all project really well due to the expected minutes outputs for each.

The total for this game (228.5) is on par with three of the others (the outlier being up at 240.0), so all of the Suns value plays are viable on tonight's slate.

Pat Connaughton, SF/SG, Milwaukee Bucks

FanDuel Salary: $4,400

Pat Connaughton has started 22 straight games, his only 22 starts of the year. Across those 22 games, Connaughton has averaged 29.3 minutes for a line of 10.0 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 0.9 steals for 21.7 FanDuel points per game.

numberFire's model is projecting him for 31.9 minutes and 23.9 FanDuel points tonight against the Los Angeles Lakers, the game with the outlier total at 240.0. Additionally, the Milwaukee Bucks are 6.0-point favorites in that matchup, giving them the best implied team total on the board by nearly four points.

Connaughton, in games with 30-plus minutes played has averaged 26.1 FanDuel points. He's the best non-Suns value play of the night, according to numberFire's projections.

Franz Wagner, SF/SG, Orlando Magic

FanDuel Salary: $6,000

While it'll be easy to fixate on the Suns' value and try to exclude the middle of the salary pool overall, Franz Wagner projects well at a $6,000 salary against the Denver Nuggets, a team that is only 13th in defensive rating.

Wagner is projected for 33.1 minutes tonight (and 30.6 FanDuel points).

In 17 games against mid-tier defenses in which he played at least 30 minutes, Wagner has averaged 0.93 FanDuel points per minute and 31.9 FanDuel points per game.

Wagner is a case where the minutes are still up but the production is down. That's led to a dip in salary and has him back in the value tier.