3 NBA DraftKings Value Plays to Target on 2/8/18
Kyle Kuzma, SF/PF, Los Angeles Lakers
DraftKings Salary: $5,100
Following the blockbuster trade for Isaiah Thomas, the Los Angeles Lakers find themselves quite shorthanded tonight. Both Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr. will be headed to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Those two had combined to average 43.2 minutes and 17.6 shot attempts per game over the past five, so there is definitely value to be had for the Lakers today.
Los Angeles was really only running an eight-man rotation prior to the trade, with sprinkles of Corey Brewer and Alex Caruso. It's likely that those two and potentially Tyler Ennis will see a slight uptick in minutes today, but not enough to make them fantasy worthy. Hopefully, this trade results in a boost in playing time for some of Los Angeles' more efficient fantasy producers, such as Kyle Kuzma and Brook Lopez ($5,400), who have averaged near a DraftKings point per minute on the year but haven't been able to see consistent minutes.
Of the two, Kuzma seems the more likely to see a boost, as he actually shared the court with Clarkson and Nance as part of the bench unit, while most of Lopez's minutes come with the starters. Removing a high-usage dude like Clarkson makes Kuzma the clear top-dog on the Lakers' second unit for this game. Without Clarkson, Kuzma's usage rate has climbed to 25.1%, while his DraftKings points per minute are up to 0.93. That type of production definitely makes him worth a look at this price tag, but a tough matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder makes it hard to trust Kuzma in anything other than tournaments.
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.
