5 NBA FanDuel Value Plays to Target on Monday 10/24/22

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 one of these lower-salaried options into your lineup.

Let's take a look at some players who can help fill in the gaps in your lineup on FanDuel tonight, using numberFire's daily fantasy basketball projections as a guide.

Kelly Olynyk, C/PF, Utah Jazz ($4,800)

Without a doubt, all the models are going to like Kelly Olynyk tonight.

Olynyk has averaged 28.9 minutes and 26.6 FanDuel points to start the season for the 3-0 Utah Jazz. Yep, that's right. The 3-0 Jazz.

Their opponent, the Houston Rockets, will have a thin frontcourt tonight. They'll be without Bruno Fernando, and they list Alperen Sengun as questionable. Utah is still just a 2.0-point favorite, so it should stick close in this spot even with those injuries.

Our projections anticipate 32.9 FanDuel poitns over 29.8 minutes for Olynyk. That works out to 6.86 FanDuel points per $1,000 in salary, the only rate above 6.00 early in the day.

Usman Garuba, PF, Houston Rockets ($4,100)

Speaking of the shorthanded Rockets, we can look to Usman Garuba for value with or without Sengun. Sengun is in play at $5,500 if he's healthy. If not, the stock on Garuba goes even higher.

Garuba is already projected for 5.91 FanDuel points per $1,000 in salary in our model with Sengun projected to play.

Garuba generated 28.6 FanDuel points over 25 minutes against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday and did so with a stat-stuffing performance that included 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 4 steals.

He had just three shot attempts and six points, so we'll need him to get more involved in the scoring department to smash value entirely, but it's possible that he can pay off this salary even without a huge increase in shot volume.

Devin Vassell, SG, San Antonio Spurs ($5,800)

Devin Vassell has played at least 33 minutes in consecutive games for the San Antonio Spurs and has had 15, 15, and 14 shot attempts in his three games to start the season.

That's pretty heavy usage for a sub-$6,000 salary.

Tonight, Vassell draws the Minnesota Timberwolves' defense, which ranks a non-threatening 11th in non-garbage-time defensive rating to start the season.

There are only 28 players this season averaging at least 18.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists, so this really does seem like a buy-low window for Vassell at $5,800.

Franz Wagner, SF/SG, Orlando Magic ($5,900)

The floor has been elevated for Franz Wagner to kick off the 2022-23 campaign.

He has played at least 34 minutes in all three games, he has had at least 10 shot attempts in all three, and he has had at least 27.3 FanDuel points in all three, as well.

Wagner has actually had 18, 10, and 17 shot attempts in his three games and is always a threat to contribute in other categories. He's averaging 5.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.7 steals per game. NBAStuffer lists his production versatility index at 7.6 (the average is 5.0).

numberFire's model projects Wagner for 34.5 minutes and 30.2 FanDuel points on the back of 16.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.4 combined steals and blocks.

Kyle Lowry, PG, Miami Heat ($5,300)

We get a revenge game for Kyle Lowry against the Toronto Raptors tonight. Toronto has started the season on the wrong side of the NBA average in defensive rating (they're 18th).

Lowry's production, overall, has been just okay. He is averaging 28.4 FanDuel points, 12.0 real points, 3.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 2.0 combined steals and blocks. The better news is that he's playing 35.1 minutes per game.

Here's the thing, though: the per-game production is bogged down due to a two-point opener. In his past two games, he has had 17 points in each along with 3.0 boards, 6.0 assists, and 2.0 steals per game. Since a 14.0-FanDuel-point opener, he's generated 42.8 and 28.4 FanDuel points. The 28.4-point game came against the Raptors, by the way.

There may not be a 60.0-fantasy-point ceiling here, yet it's hard to gloss over Lowry's heavy minutes at such a low salary.