NBA

3 NBA FanDuel Value Plays to Target on 8/31/20

Jae Crowder is an excellent play at his price on today's slate. What other value plays should you target?

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.

Jae Crowder, SF, Miami Heat ($4,700)

The Miami Heat swept through the Indiana Pacers, and it is not only exciting for Miami's fanbase, but also from a daily fantasy perspective. All Heat players should see a substantial production increase moving from Indiana, who ranked 22nd in pace during the regular season, all the way to the first-ranked Milwaukee Bucks team in what is sure to be a fun series.

Jae Crowder is still starting for the Heat at power forward, and his fantasy ceiling may not yet be realized. Crowder battled an ankle injury throughout the Indiana series, but the week's worth of rest should help him, and it is very possible coach Erik Spoelstra was helping Crowder manage his ankle. With a tougher opponent in this series, Crowder's minutes load may increase beyond the 25.8 minutes per game he saw against the Pacers as the rotation shrinks. Crowder eclipsed a 6.00 FanDuel value score in three of four games last series and will look to do so again in Game 1.

George Hill, PG, Milwaukee Bucks ($4,400)

The Milwaukee Bucks are incredibly deep, as one would expect from the top overall seed, but that depth may be tested on Monday against Miami. Eric Bledsoe is questionable with a hamstring injury, which indicates that he may not play, and if he does, it would be at a reduced amount from usual.

The Bucks' point guard situation is fascinating without injury, as Bledsoe and George Hill basically operate in a timeshare, with Bledsoe averaging 25.4 minutes, and Hill averaging 21.6, which added together is 47 minutes total. Really, if one of the two is not able to play, it would be interesting to see how high of a total FanDuel points mark the other could produce in a full workload. Hill averaged 18.3 FanDuel points per game against the Orlando Magic, so he is not quite as viable with Bledsoe active, but if Hill starts in place of Bledsoe, he becomes the top value priority on the slate.

Luguentz Dort, SG, Oklahoma City Thunder ($3,700)

Game 5 went about as poorly as possible for the Oklahoma City Thunder, who were blown out by 31 points and now face elimination against the Houston Rockets on Monday. Surprisingly, the deficit has not been due in large part to the production of James Harden, who is only averaging 55.1 FanDuel points in this series and has fallen short of FanDuel value expectations three times in this series.

A lot of that is due to the great defense of Luguentz Dort, who has started every game since returning from injury and is averaging 29.8 minutes per game in the series, despite the Game 5 blowout. Dort likely continues to see heavy minutes as the "Harden Stopper," and even at a rather low 0.55 FanDuel points per minute in the series, Dort will have plenty of upside just from being on the court. He is one of numberFire's top value plays for Monday, projected for 21.2 FanDuel points at a near-minimum price.


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.