3 Under-the-Radar Daily Fantasy Basketball Plays for 1/25/17

Damian Lillard, PG, Portland Trail Blazers

FanDuel Price: $8,300

Why He Will Go Overlooked:

Another day, another slate loaded with appealing point guards. At the top end, Russell Westbrook, Isaiah Thomas, Stephen Curry, and Kyrie Irving are all in good spots and will demand a fair share of ownership.

In the mid-range, both Goran Dragic and Jrue Holiday should see boosts with teammates out and find themselves in advantageous matchups. Damian Lillard is caught in no-man's land, sandwiched in between the top options and the mid-price range options.

Why You Should Use Him:

Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers currently have an implied team total of 114.8 points against the Los Angeles Lakers, which is 7.3 points higher than their season scoring average and third-highest on the slate. Dame, who is averaging 27 points over his past five games, should be a big part of reaching that total, a hypothesis which is backed up by a look at his individual matchup.

Los Angeles has allowed the fourth-most FanDuel points per game to opposing point guards, and while it may be hard to believe, their defense is going to be even worse in this one. With a -0.66 defensive real plus/minus (DRPM), starting point guard D'Angelo Russell is far from an elite defender. However, his effort on defense has actually been an improvement from others, as Jordan Clarkson ranks 70th among point guards DRPM and Louis Williams ranks 88th among shooting guards.

With Russell already declared out, Clarkson and Williams will both be asked to play more minutes at the point for Los Angeles, which should mean better looks for Lillard.

He hasn't been playing at the level of some of the other elite guards on this slate and it's hard to justify fitting him into your cash lineups with some of the other options available. However, Lillard has one of the best individual matchups on the board and is an excellent tournament option.