NBA

5 NBA FanDuel Value Plays to Target on Thursday 1/26/23

Brandon Gdula  —  @gdula13 Jan 26th, 2023
The Mavericks can offer us some salary relief on Thursday night. Who else can do the same?

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.

Dwight Powell, C/PF, Dallas Mavericks

FanDuel Salary: $4,300

The Dallas Mavericks have some holes in the rotation with Christian Wood and Maxi Kleber still sitting out.

We have seen Dwight Powell surpass 33 minutes in two of his past three games and now slots into a matchup against the Phoenix Suns, who are effectively an average rebounding team in terms of boards per game allowed.

Powell is projected for 27.7 minutes here, in line with recent expectations, and is anticipated to net us 10.8 points and 6.6 rebounds en route to 24.2 FanDuel points.

Tim Hardaway Jr., SG/SF, Dallas Mavericks

FanDuel Salary: $5,300

Tim Hardaway Jr. sees his FanDuel-point-per-minute rate jump by 0.07 when not sharing the floor with Kleber and Wood, per CourtIQ. That works out to a mark of just 0.81 FanDuel points per minute on a 21.5% usage rate.

That being said, the minutes projection is high (34.9) as usual, and Hardaway Jr. ultimately ranks fifth in projected value by numberFire's model for tonight.

Even in a game with a slate-low 221.0-point total, Hardaway Jr. has value given the floor of minutes he'll see at such a low salary.

Seth Curry, PG/SG, Brooklyn Nets

FanDuel Salary: $4,900

Seth Curry has tangible fantasy potential with Kevin Durant out. Curry himself is questionable, so we have to monitor this one.

But with Durant off the floor, Curry's usage rate is 23.4%, and the shooter averages a viable-for-$4,900 output of 0.82 FanDuel points per minute. That's a boost of 3.8 points to his usage rate.

On a smaller slate, the shot volume and scoring potential is worth chasing for a sub-$5,000 salary.

Robert Williams, PF/C, Boston Celtics

FanDuel Salary: $5,700

Robert Williams will have an easier matchup in the paint than he would otherwise because Mitchell Robinson is out for the New York Knicks.

The Knicks' defensive rating climbs by 3.3 points without Robinson on the floor. The Knicks are already just a mid-tier defense as it is, overall, and Williams has generated 1.00 FanDuel points per minute against mid-level competition.

numberFire projects him for 29.3 minutes and 30.3 FanDuel points -- in line with his in-split production overall.

Caris LeVert, SG/SF, Cleveland Cavaliers

FanDuel Salary: $5,500

With both Donovan Mitchell and Kevin Love questionable, the Cleveland Cavaliers could give us some value options tonight.

Caris LeVert's usage rate without them on the floor is 24.0%, and he averages 1.01 FanDuel points per minute in that split. Those are huge increases of 4.0 and 0.23, respectively.

Even with Mitchell and Love still projected, LeVert is penciled in for 25.6 minutes. Keep an eye on the news here because LeVert could be a very big help for lineups tonight.