NBA

NBA FanDuel Value Plays to Target on Thursday 12/9/21

Thomas Vecchio  —  @Tom_Vecchio1 Dec 9th, 2021

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 two players who can help fill in the gaps in your lineup.

Lonnie Walker, SG/SF, San Antonio Spurs ($4,100)

The San Antonio Spurs have Keldon Johnson listed as out and Devin Vassell is a game-time decision.

This should open extra minutes for Lonnie Walker, setting him up to be one of the better value options on this small three-game slate. When Johnson is off the court this season, Walker sees a 1.6 percentage-point increase in his offensive usage, putting him up to 24.8%. When both Johnson and Vassell are off the court, Walker his usage rate rises 4.9 percentage points, increasing to 29.3%, the highest on the team in that split.

Walker is going to be in for an increase in usage -- how much is yet to be determined as we wait on the Vassell news. As of now, Walker comes in with a strong projection of 27.89 minutes and 21.6 FanDuel points -- which makes him the second-best point-per-dollar option on the slate among players under $5,000 -- and that's with our model accounting for Vassell playing.

Facundo Campazzo, PG, Denver Nuggets ($4,300)

Facundo Campazzo is a strong value option to consider.

The Denver Nuggets are dealing with a number of injuries, and it has led to Campazzo being one of the first players off the bench. He usually plays between 20 to 28 minutes on most nights, and many of those minutes are when Nikola Jokic is on the bench. This opening has allowed Campazzo to rack up at least 19 FanDuel points in five of his last seven games, a level he can reach tonight versus the San Antonio Spurs.

This season, the Spurs are allowing the sixth-most (49.17) FanDuel points per game to point guards, making this one of the easier matchups on the slate. We also see the Nuggets (30th in pace) playing up in pace against the Spurs (8th).

All of that gives Campazzo a projection of 28.86 minutes and 22.7 FanDuel points. He's the second-best point-per-dollar play overall, per our projections.