NBA

3 NBA FanDuel Value Plays to Target on Tuesday 1/11/22

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-salaried options into your lineup.

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

Scottie Barnes, SF/PF, Toronto Raptors ($5,600)

Firstly, Scottie Barnes is questionable to play Tuesday due to knee soreness. If Barnes doesn't play, teammate Gary Trent Jr. is an equally-appealing spot at $5,200.

Both should be in positive spots as the Raptors host the Phoenix Suns. The 223.0-point total in this game is the second-highest on Tuesday's slate, and Toronto (23rd in pace) is in a massive pace-up spot against Phoenix (6th).

Barnes, though, would get preferential treatment because of his floor. In his rookie campaign, Barnes has posted 0.93 FanDuel points per minute despite just scoring 14.73 real-world points per 36 minutes. Simply put, Barnes accrues his fantasy points without scoring, and that's incredibly important with Fred VanVleet hogging the ball and currently shooting the lights out.

Per numberFire's projections, Barnes is the fifth-best overall value play at the moment; the model is expecting him to score 30.8 FanDuel points across 34.05 minutes of action.

Monte Morris, PG, Denver Nuggets ($4,900)

The Denver Nuggets have been shorthanded for much of the season without Michael Porter Jr. and Jamal Murray. Add Will Barton to that list for Tuesday.

Barton is in COVID-19 protocols, and with him being second on the team in usage since Porter went down, it'll be all hands on deck to replace Barton's offensive contributions. Denver's starting point guard, Monte Morris, is a quality starting spot.

The rest of the rotation is a total question mark, but Morris should be in line for 30-plus minutes. This season, with Barton off the floor, Morris sees a 3.1 percentage-point increase in usage. He also sees a lift of 0.11 FanDuel points per minute compared to his normal rate.

Morris is decently projected at an assumed 30.22 minutes, but he could push toward 35 minutes with Denver shorthanded.

Jae Crowder, PF/SF, Phoenix Suns ($4,100)

Welcome back to a full-time role, Jae Crowder.

The Phoenix wing -- realistically just stalling until the playoffs -- has seen reduced minutes recently with Cameron Johnson's explosion in production for the Suns. With Johnson out, Crowder may return closer to the 29.6 minutes per game he averaged in November to start the season than the 27 minutes he's seen in his only January appearance since returning from COVID-19 protocols.

Crowder's clip of 0.75 FanDuel points per minute this season isn't particularly appetizing, but at a near-minimum salary in a 30-minute role, he's more than acceptable. He's shooting just 33.7% from three-point land this year, and that could mean regression to a mark closer to his 38.9% from last season is on the horizon.

The three-and-D wing currently rests as numberFire's bronze medal value play of the day in terms of point-per-dollar projection, but he presents the best overall combination of role security and salary savings among bargain-bin options.