5 NBA FanDuel Value Plays to Target on Wednesday 1/18/23

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.

Norman Powell, SF/SG, Los Angeles Clippers
Nicolas Batum, SF/PF, Los Angeles Clippers

Powell FanDuel Salary: $6,000
Batum FanDuel Salary: $4,400

A ton of Los Angeles Clippers are going to be featured value plays tonight, but I'll stick with two primarily to discuss.

Those are Norman Powell and Nicolas Batum, but Terance Mann ($5,700), Ivica Zubac (5,700), Robert Covington ($4,500), Marcus Morris ($5,100), and Reggie Jackson ($4,200) are also all viable to varying degrees.

The Clippers played last night (a 120-110 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers) and now travel to play the Utah Jazz.

Paul George is out, and the context clues suggest that Kawhi Leonard is at risk of sitting out on the back-to-back, as well.

With Leonard and George off the floor, Powell holds a 30.5% usage rate and averages 1.06 FanDuel points per minute, per CourtIQ. He's a great play.

Batum is a lower-usage player as always (11.7%) but is fairly productive (0.78) for the salary and minutes. numberFire's model projects him to play 29.2 minutes tonight.

Just check close to lock to see who is in and out here, but the Clippers are the go-to source for value on Wednesday.

Caris LeVert, SG/SF, Cleveland Cavaliers

FanDuel Salary: $5,200

With Donovan Mitchell doubtful, we can go to Caris LeVert.

LeVert has a 22.1% usage rate and a per-minute average of 0.90 FanDuel points with Mitchell off the floor.

In five games without Mitchell active, LeVert has averaged 33.1 minutes and 31.2 FanDuel points (0.94 per minute).

The Cavs have a tough matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies; however, the minutes -- he's projected for 35.2 and is a top-five minute-per-$1,000 value tonight -- will make up for it and give us more access to the stars on the slate.

Bennedict Mathurin, SG/SF, Indiana Pacers

FanDuel Salary: $5,500

Another injury to a great guard opens up value for the Indiana Pacers' Bennedict Mathurin. Tyrese Haliburton is out.

We see Mathurin's role spike with Haliburton off the floor.

He has a team-high 29.8% usage rate without Haliburton on the court. Mathurin also scores 0.93 FanDuel points per minute in this split. These are shifts of 4.2 and 0.07, respectively -- substantial increases for Mathurin's role and productivity.

Overall, numberFire projects Mathurin for 30.8 minutes and 28.9 FanDuel points, good for a value rating of 5.25.

Jose Alvarado, PG, New Orleans Pelicans

FanDuel Salary: $5,000

Jose Alvarado has seen a recent minutes uptick with outputs of 29.7 and 33.6 in his past two games, outings that resulted in 24.8 and 29.1 FanDuel points to give him at least 24.3 fantasy points in four of his past five games.

Tonight, he and the New Orleans Pelicans are up against a tinned-out Miami Heat team.

Alvarado has played 20-plus minutes in 26 games this season, and in them, he's averaged 24.0 FanDuel points per game and 0.95 per minute.

Even against top-five opponents, he averages 0.80 FanDuel points per minute and could flirt with 30 minutes tonight.