3 NBA FanDuel Value Plays to Target on Thursday 1/5/23
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.
Kenyon Martin Jr., SF/PF, Houston Rockets
FanDuel Salary: $3,900
The value play of the day is looking like Kenyon Martin Jr. in a matchup against the Utah Jazz. Sure, his Houston Rockets are 7.0-point underdogs, but no implied totals are super high on this eight-team slate.
KJ should start -- assuming Eric Gordon sits -- and in his eight starts this season, Martin has averaged 30.5 minutes and 24.3 FanDuel points.
Utah is just 27th in defensive rating, and Martin's salary is just too good to pass up on a slate without a ton of slam dunk value plays.
Wendell Carter Jr., C/PF, Orlando Magic
FanDuel Salary: $5,900
Just under the salary cut-off that I use ($6,000), we have some multi-position eligibility for Wendell Carter Jr. in a matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Though Orlando does have a slate-low 111.5-point implied team total against a good defense, they rarely rate out with elite offensive projections as a team. The total itself is 230.0 points, and Orlando has played in just three games with a total of 230.0 or higher.
Carter Jr. is a 1.02-FanDuel-point-per-minute producer on the year, and even against top-10 defenses, he's averaging a viable-for-this-slate mark of 0.90.
numberFire projects only KJ Martin with a higher value rating than Carter Jr.
Malik Beasley, SF/SG, Utah Jazz
FanDuel Salary: $4,800
Let's go back to that Jazz/Rockets game for some value by way of Malik Beasley.
Beasley rarely slots into the starting lineup and doesn't seem likely to draw the nod tonight.
However, in eight games without Collin Sexton, Beasley has averaged 29.1 minutes and 25.4 FanDuel points on a line of 14.4 shot attempts, 16.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.1 combined steals and blocks.
Any time we can get a sub-$5,000 salary tied to elevated shot volume on a small slate, we have to take note because both floor and ceiling are tied pretty heavily to shot volume.
