3 NBA DraftKings Value Plays to Target on 1/11/18
Norman Powell, SG/SF, Toronto Raptors
DraftKings Salary: $3,400
Many will pivot to Pascal Siakam ($4,100) as the obvious fill-in value option with Serge Ibaka suspended, especially if he draws the start. While he did play well in his four previous starts this season, some context helps when examining those performances. Two of said games came without Lucas Nogueira healthy, while a third came with both Ibaka and Jonas Valanciunas sidelined. With their entire big-man rotation (Valanciunas, Siakam, Jakob Poeltl, and Nogueira) intact outside of Ibaka, it will be much tougher for Siakam to push for 30-plus minutes against a Cleveland Cavaliers team that often plays small.
This isn't to say Siakam is a bad play, especially on FanDuel, where he comes in at the minimum salary. On DraftKings, though, where he comes in $1,100 above the minimum, there may be better value options for Toronto than Siakam. One such option is Norman Powell, who is $700 cheaper and played nine more minutes (24) than Siakam in the game Ibaka was ejected. If Kyle Lowry joins Ibaka on the sidelines, Powell will likely push for 25-plus minutes again.
Powell has been quite inefficient this season, shooting 39.6% and averaging 0.78 DraftKings points. But, even at that low per-minute level of production, he would need just 22 minutes to exceed his salary-implied value of 17 DraftKings points. If he sees more minutes than that, or just is more efficient against a Cavs squad that has allowed the third-most DraftKings points per game to opposing shooting guards and the second-most to small forwards, he will easily eclipse value at near-minimum salary.
Jacob Gibbs is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jacob Gibbs also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jagibbs23. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.
