If you’ve read any of my NFL articles, you know I treasure value in daily fantasy sports. “Value” is represented in those players that are likely to produce well over their salaries and send your line-up rocketing to the top of a tournament contest. Value can come in several forms. It can be the back-up subbing for an injured or resting starter or it can be a player who’s been in a slump or who’s been facing tough competition suddenly faced with an easy match-up. Whatever form value comes in, I’ll try to identify it for you, so you can incorporate it into your line-ups.
I won’t be writing this column daily (I have a bar to run and an NFL article to post), nor will I be offering complete line-ups as I do for NFL. I’ll simply be pointing out those players you should probably double-check when you’re filling out your FanDuel NBA line-ups.
In this installment, there will be a couple of more expensive players than you’re used to seeing. Remember though, “value” isn’t defined as merely cheap players, but those who are in circumstances that allow the potential to far exceed their salaries.
PG John Wall ($8,100) If you’ve played NBA DFS for any length of time, you’ll remember that John Wall’s salary traditionally hovers in the low to mid $9,000 range. A brutal slump has cause his salary to plummet to its current level. The good news for us (and Washington Wizards fans) is that Wall burst out of that slump in a big way, against a very good Cleveland team. Friday night he faces a Lakers team that is absolutely terrible against the point guard position, giving up 48.81 FanDuel points a game against the position and a whopping 63.87 over the last week.
PG Kemba Walker (8,200) The one weakness the Warriors have is guarding the point guard position, as they’re 22nd in the NBA in FanDuel points allowed against the position. Walker is in a great position as fellow PG/SG Jeremy Lin is questionable and center Al Jefferson has already been ruled out. With Lin out, Walker would see a few more minutes, while the absence of Jefferson should lead to a spike in Walker’s usage rate.
SF Jared Dudley ($3,700) Nene is without a time-table to return to the court and Dudley has been starting in his absence and seeing over 30 minutes each of the last three games. He only needs 18.5 FanDuel points to reach 5X value and gets to face a terrible Lakers defense. The Lakers are 24th against the PF position and 22nd versus the SF position (Dudley will play both) so the match up is a positive. The game has the potential to be a blowout, but that shouldn’t affect Dudley too much as he’s subbing for an injured starter himself.
C Bismack Biyombo ($3,900) Biyombo is another player enjoying an uptick in minutes due to a normal starter’s injury, as Jonas Valanciunas continues to recover from a broken hand. Biyombo’s minutes have fluctuated recently, as the Raptors occasionally play small, forcing the center to the bench. This should not be a problem Friday night, as the Raptors will want to go big to match up against the Hawks big front court. The Hawks are one of the worst rebounding teams in the NBA and are giving up 49.71 FanDuel points to the center position.
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