NBA

3 NBA FanDuel Value Plays to Target on 8/18/20

Austin Swaim  —  @ASwaim3 Aug 18th, 2020
Who are the value players you should be targeting for the most upside on today's four-game slate?

One of the keys to finding success in daily fantasy basketball is uncovering potential value plays. If you're looking to roster a stud player or two, you need to consider squeezing in 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.

Gary Trent Jr, SG, Portland Trail Blazers ($4,500)

There is no questioning the position of Gary Trent Jr. in the Portland Trail Blazers rotation at this point, as Trent Jr. saw over 33 minutes in the last seven contests for Portland while making their playoff push. That should come as no surprise when looking at his offensive production, as he shot 50.6% from the field from the beginning of the NBA's restart. Trent's defense has also been praised, and he did record 5 steals against Memphis on Saturday in the play-in contest.

He is seeing too many minutes to ignore at this price tag, and has an incredibly-high ceiling the way he has been shooting the basketball. Trent is averaging 26.12 FanDuel points per game over his last six contests, and that pace likely will not decrease with his solid 31.7 minutes projection from numberFire for Tuesday, and that could only increase if the Blazers do their best to rest Damian Lillard in spots they can.

Eric Gordon, SF, Houston Rockets ($4,500)

The Houston Rockets will be without Russell Westbrook for the start of their series with the Oklahoma City Thunder, and likely the Rockets' season will come down to their ability to have a second option behind James Harden when "The Beard" is off the floor or double-teamed. The next pair of value plays are likely the beneficiaries, and should be high priority targets on a slate with value tough to come by.

The clear third option behind Westbrook and Harden is Eric Gordon, who sees a gigantic 41.6% usage rate with those two both off the floor. The question with Gordon is not talent or opportunity with that usage, but rather health. However, after returning two games ago, Gordon saw 20 and 23 minutes respectively to end the regular season, and appears to be in line for even more minutes as he is expected to start on Tuesday. Gordon makes a nice pairing at the small forward spot on FanDuel as a low-cost option next to Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Austin Rivers, PG, Houston Rockets ($4,500)

While Gordon is more of a wing, Austin Rivers is likely to absorb his minutes at the point guard spot from the bench when James Harden sits. The rotation was in flux after Houston was locked into their playoff spot, but in the final two full efforts for the Rockets without Westbrook, Rivers played at least 31 minutes and averaged 39.25 FanDuel points in those games, which would well exceed value here. Something worth noting is that Rivers appears to play much better with James Harden than Russell Westbrook, as the former top-10 pick only averages 0.49 FanDuel points per minute with Westbrook, and that balloons to 0.79 FanDuel points per minute with Harden on the floor.

He is second in usage behind Gordon with the two Houston stars off the floor at 22.5%, so Rivers will likely need to be a key component to score when Harden is on the bench, and that should mean he will mostly dodge the strong defense of opposing point guard Chris Paul, who is a sharp 45th in the entire NBA in defensive win-shares (0.110).

Austin Swaim is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Austin Swaim also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username ASwaim3. 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.