3 NBA FanDuel Value Plays to Target on 12/12/19
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 five players who can help fill in the gaps in your lineup.
Jerami Grant, PF, Denver Nuggets ($4,300)
We have only four games on tonight's slate and not a ton of value options, but the Denver Nuggets have some injuries worth monitoring.
Right now, the Nuggets have Paul Millsap listed as questionable for tonight's game, giving us a very clear situation to find value. If Millsap is out, we should see Jerami Grant get the start, a player who is already being productive in his role coming off the bench. Over his last seven games, Grant has posted 18 FanDuel points or more five times and has scored in double-digit real points in four of those games. At $4.3K tonight, Grant would need 21.5 FanDuel points in order to reach 5x value, a level of production he can certainly reach in this matchup.
He is facing off against the Portland Trail Blazers, who are allowing 47.1 FanDuel points per game to power forwards -- the seventh-most in the league. This is a great matchup for Grant since we will also see the Nuggets playing up in pace against Portland. If Millsap does start, Grant is still a viable option since he is productive off the bench. If Millsap is out, Grant is in a spot to crush value tonight.
Rudy Gay, SF, San Antonio Spurs ($4,800)
The San Antonio Spurs are at home and have the highest implied team total on the board -- 116.
San Antonio hasn't played in six days, which, hopefully, puts them in a spot to come out firing against the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are on the second night of a back-to-back. With the current starting lineup for the Spurs, Rudy Gay is holding an 18.9% usage rate, posting 0.81 FanDuel points per minute. Good, but not great numbers, if we are being honest. His price is great though, considering the Cavaliers are allowing 46.0 FanDuel points per game to power forwards this season -- the 10th worst in the league.
He is listed as a small forward but is often getting the start at power forward, so take note of that.
Kent Bazemore, SF, Portland Trail Blazers ($4,900)
With the injury to Rodney Hood, Kent Bazemore has entered the starting lineup for the Trail Blazers.
Hood is done for the year with an Achilles injury, and with that, Bazemore has started the last two games at small forward for Portland. In those two games, we have seen a very wide range of outcomes, but that should be expected from a role player. In the first game, he posted a solid 20 FanDuel points in 36 minutes, while in the second game, he posted only 9.6 FanDuel points in 21 minutes. The second game was against the New York Knicks, where Portland came away with a 28-point victory. He didn't have to do much against the Knicks, so don't put too much stock into the lower numbers.
Tonight, he is up against the Nuggets -- who are 6-point home favorites -- and should require a full team effort from Portland to come away with the victory. Our projections back that up, as we have him going for 32 minutes, posting 27.2 FanDuel points in the process. That has Bazemore exceeding 5x value tonight, which makes him our second-best value play on the slate.
