5 Daily Fantasy Basketball Value Plays for 3/30/17
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-priced options into your lineup.
Let's take a look at five players who can help fill in the gaps in your lineup.
Ish Smith, PG, Detroit Pistons
FanDuel Price: $5,300
Projected FanDuel Points: 23.8
Projected FanDuel Value: 4.48
Ish Smith and the Detroit Pistons host the Brooklyn Nets tonight in a game where Detroit is favored by 6.5 points. That's borderline blowout risk, but it's actually the third-tightest game of the five tonight, and the Bulls are 5.5-point underdogs to the Cavaliers, so you can't really avoid worrisome spreads.
Reggie Jackson is out again tonight, and Smith has played 31 and 35 minutes in his past two games. The Nets are 2nd in pace since the start of 2017, so the Pistons (20th) will get some extra chances for fantasy points.
Lou Williams, SG, Houston Rockets
FanDuel Price: $4,600
Projected FanDuel Points: 27.9
Projected FanDuel Value: 6.06
The best fantasy game of the night by far is the Houston Rockets-Portland Trail Blazers matchup. The over/under is 230, and Houston is just a 2-point favorite. That puts pretty much everyone in play, especially Lou Williams when he's at such a low price. Williams has flirted with 40 FanDuel points recently, and this game should bring out his upside. He's our top projected value of the night.
You can also go with Jamal Crawford ($3,600) at shooting guard against the Phoenix Suns. The Los Angeles Clippers are 9.5-point favorites, so they could give Crawford extra run off the bench, especially with Austin Rivers ruled out.
Marcus Morris, SF, Detroit Pistons
FanDuel Price: $4,900
Projected FanDuel Points: 24.5
Projected FanDuel Value: 5.01
The Nets are a solid 21st in defensive rating since 2017 began, so it's not as if they're a must-target squad, but the pace boost really helps the Pistons tonight. Marcus Morris has had some duds recently -- 15.0, 21.2, 11.4, 18.1 FanDuel points in his past four games -- but Morris has the best small forward matchup imaginable.
If you have a little extra cash, then consider Trevor Ariza ($5,600) in that fantasy-friendly Portland-Houston game.
Gorgui Dieng, PF, Minnesota Timberwolves
FanDuel Price: $5,200
Projected FanDuel Points: 28.1
Projected FanDuel Value: 5.40
Gorgui Dieng's Minnesota Timberwolves are the biggest favorites on the slate at 10.5 points, so the blowout risk is legitimate, especially against the tanking Los Angeles Lakers. Still, at such a low price, Dieng could return value in limited minutes because the Lakers are the worst defense in the NBA against power forwards from a fantasy standpoint.
Ivica Zubac, C, Los Angeles Lakers
FanDuel Price: $4,400
Projected FanDuel Points: 25.0
Projected FanDuel Value: 5.68
On the flip side, we have Ivica Zubac. He's the second-best value pick of the night, per our algorithms, against Minnesota. His minutes have been disappointing (17, 25, 21, 35, 19 in his past five), but the results have been strong enough (22.3, 20.4, 13.1, 32.9, 22.2 FanDuel points) to consider him in this spot.
Be forewarned that his 21-minute, 13.1-fantasy-point game was against this same Timberwolves team three games ago, but that could just be an outlier for the capable fantasy producer.
