NBA

3 NBA FanDuel Value Plays to Target on Friday 5/7/21

Thomas Vecchio  —  @DFS_Tom May 7th, 2021
James Johnson should be in the starting lineup tonight for the Pelicans and is very affordable. Who else should be in your lineups tonight?

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-salaried options into your lineup.

Let's take a look at three players who can help fill in the gaps in your lineup.

James Johnson, PF, New Orleans Pelicans ($3,500)

With Brandon Ingram out for the New Orleans Pelicans, James Johnson should be in the starting lineup.

Johnson should draw into the starting lineup tonight with Ingram out, and it puts him in a good spot to exceed fantasy value since he is the minimum salary tonight. The Pelicans are on the road to take on the Philadelphia 76ers where the over/under is set at 227.5 points and features both teams in the top 10 in offensive pace.

This sets up nicely for Johnson because he has shown to be productive when Ingram is off the court this season. Johnson is producing 0.93 FanDuel points per minute on a modest 18.2% offensive usage rate.

Johnson is projected for 25.00 minutes and 22.5 FanDuel points, making him the fourth-best value option on the slate. Johnson's ability to fill up the stat sheet should come in handy if this high-paced game has plenty of back and forth action.

Moritz Wagner, PF, Orlando Magic ($4,900)

Moritz Wagner has been a key value play over the past few days and that's not changing tonight.

With the Orlando Magic developing their younger players, Wagner has found his way into the rotation recently, with 25 minutes or more in each of his last four games. This has led to Wagner producing 20 FanDuel points or more in three of those games, going for double-digit real points in each of his last three games. That should continue tonight against the Charlotte Hornets, as they are allowing 48.96 FanDuel points per game to power forwards, which is the second-worst in the league.

It shouldn't be a surprise that Wagner is projected for 30.33 minutes and 29.5 FanDuel points, which makes him the fifth-best value option on the slate. Wagner should be a popular value option yet again due to the volume of minutes he is playing and the soft defensive matchup.

Armoni Brooks, SG, Houston Rockets ($3,800)

The Houston Rockets have a staggering 13 players on the injury report tonight.

With so many players out or questionable for the Rockets, they could be in a spot with a very tight eight-man rotation, forcing the players they have to play heavy minutes. Armoni Brooks has played 30 minutes in two of his last three games, a level he can almost certainly reach tonight. Even though the Rockets are 17.0-point underdogs against the Milwaukee Bucks, this game has a slate-high 232-point over/under and could easily exceed that since both teams are in the six of the league in offensive pace.

The Bucks allow plenty of fantasy points to point guards (47.60) because they play very fast. We might not view the Rockets as a "good" team, but Brooks is likely to play 30 minutes or more tonight due to their lack of players and garbage time fantasy points are just as good.