NBA

3 NBA DraftKings Value Plays to Target on 10/22/19

Ian Goldsmith Oct 22nd, 2019
Fred VanVleet seemingly couldn't miss from deep during last year's Championship run. Will he continue that sucess into the 2019-20 season?

A major key to success in daily fantasy basketball is uncovering potential value plays. If you're looking to roster a stud or two, you need to consider squeezing one of these lower-priced options into your lineup.

Let's take a look at three players who can help fill in the gaps in your lineup on DraftKings tonight.

Fred VanVleet, PG/SG, Toronto Raptors

Price: $4,800
Projected DK Points: 21.8
Projected Value (DK Points/$1,000): 4.54

Fred VanVleet was one of the many heroes for the 2018-19 NBA Champion Toronto Raptors. The fourth-year player has always shown flashes of star power, and he saved his best for when it counted most. A 37.8% shooter from deep in last year's regular season, the former Wichita State Shocker went a combined 32-for-68 (47.1%) from beyond the arc in the Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Finals.

He'll look to carry that success into the 2019-20 season, and by the looks of his preseason outings, he doesn't seem to have missed a step. Tied with Kyle Lowry for the team lead at 25.9 minutes per game, VanVleet has hit 43.8% of his threes, dished out 7.7 assists, and dropped 14.0 points, while tacking on a couple of steals.

He's put up at least 32.5 DraftKings points per contest in each of his three preseason contests, and he comes into tonight's game with a salary of just $4,800. He'll be sure to see an uptick in minutes this season with Kawhi Leonard out of town. In 17 games without Kawhi last year, FV^2 saw 4.2 more minutes per game; the extra opportunity helped him score an additional 7.0 DraftKings points in those contests.

While he may not get the start tonight, he's still likely to see more minutes than Norman Powell, one way or another. We currently have him projected to put up 21.8 DraftKings points with a potential upside of 47.7.

OG Anunoby, SF/PF, Toronto Raptors

Price: $3,900
Projected DK Points: 20.4
Projected Value (DK Points/$1,000): 5.23

A starter for only six games in the 2018-19 season, Raptors forward OG Anunoby is set to be a fixture there as the team tries to forget Kawhi this year. While only a small percentage of players in NBA history have been able to match Kawhi's dynamism on both ends of the floor, OG has been doing his best in early October to try and fill that major void.

The former Indiana Hoosier has been doing a little bit of everything on the court in the preseason, and he's really shown in the past two games, putting up 15 and 18 points, respectively, while adding a smattering of boards, dimes, and swipes.

Anunoby put up 18.7 DraftKings points per game last season when Kawhi was out compared to just 12.0 when they both played. He put up 21.0 DraftKings points or more in three of his six 2018-19 starts, topping out at 34.0 in a December 21 outing against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Anunoby has put up more than 20 DraftKings points in each of his past two contests against the New Orleans Pelicans, and our models project him to eke past that threshold once again tonight. We have him pegged for a baseline of 20.4 DraftKings points with upside of 37.2.

Marc Gasol, C, Toronto Raptors

Price: $5,500
Projected DK Points: 34.4
Projected Value (DK Points/$1,000): 6.25

With Kawhi out of the way, there are a lot of players who stand to see an increase in value. We've talked about VanVleet, but Norman Powell and OG Anunoby are in line to see big upticks in production as well. It's all well and good to focus on the up-and-comers, but we should also reserve time to talk about veterans such as Marc Gasol, who, while with Toronto, averaged 3.1 more DraftKings points per game without Kawhi on the court last season.

Now entering his 13th season, the veteran may have ceded some of his scoring opportunities to others around him, but he is becoming more efficient than ever. His 52.7% effective field goal percentage (eFG%) with the Raptors last year was his highest mark since the 2010-11 season, led largely by his increased ability to hit deep shots; Gasol made 44.2% of his threes after he moved from the Memphis Grizzlies to the Raptors.

Gasol's per-36 numbers of 9.6 boards, 5.6 assists, and 1.3 steals with Toronto were the best marks of his career, and the team will hope to have him continue that level of efficiency as they look to repeat their historic season. In 10 home games for Toronto last season, Gasol put up 2.0 more DraftKings points per game despite playing an average of 2.6 minutes less than he did on the road.

We have Gasol starting the 2019-20 season with a vintage performance, projecting him to put up 34.4 Draftkings points in 31.3 minutes of run. That type of effort would be good for nearly 6.3 DraftKings points per $1,000, numberFire's second-highest projected value of the night.

Ian Goldsmith is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Ian Goldsmith also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username zoidbergs_revenge. 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/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.