3 NBA DraftKings Value Plays to Target on 3/16/18

Wayne Ellington, SG/SF, Miami Heat

DraftKings Salary: $4,400

The Miami Heat head into this game without Hassan Whiteside or Dwyane Wade, while Josh Richardson is again doubtful. With an identical injury report on Wednesday, Wayne Ellington found himself thrust into a 36-minute role, the result of which was a ludicrous 17 three-point shot attempts and 30.75 DraftKings points.

Ellington hasn't been overly efficient on a per-minute basis this season, but he has been productive when playing big minutes. He's topped 30 minutes 23 times this season, during which he has maintained a DraftKings average of 25.5 points. He only needs 22 DraftKings points at this price tag, so with potentially 30-to-35 minutes again at his disposal, Ellington seems like a strong bet to pay off his salary.

In addition to the additional minutes and looks offensively, Ellington should benefit from a matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers have had to give Lonzo Ball and Isaiah Thomas lots of court time together due to all their injuries, and if Kyle Kuzma misses another game, that will mean even more minutes with the Ball-Thomas combo. While that may seem inconsequential, Thomas is the worst defender in the NBA and could spend decent chunks of the game defending Ellington.

With Wade both out, Miami has had to go with fewer Goran Dragic-Tyler Johnson lineups, because Wade usually runs the bench unit. That role has fallen on Johnson's shoulders more often, which has resulted in more lineups with Ellington at the two, rather than the three. In those lineups, Lonzo Ball will almost definitely defend Dragic or Tyler Johnson, while Thomas is left to guard Ellington.

In their game on Wednesday, only 8.6% of Ellington's minutes came with both Johnson and Dragic also on the floor, per NBAWowy.com, with the rest of his playing time coming at the shooting guard position.

In an uptempo game with a terrific individual matchup, Ellington should have no issue getting his shot off with regularity. He is an awesome target in all formats at this price tag.

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.