NBA

5 NBA FanDuel Value Plays to Target on Wednesday 12/7/22

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.

Jordan Poole, PG/SG, Golden State Warriors
Jonathan Kuminga, SF, Golden State Warriors

Poole's FanDuel Salary: $5,900
Kuminga's FanDuel Salary: $4,000

The Golden State Warriors are going to be full of value options for tonight's game against the Utah Jazz.

Golden State has ruled out the following players: Stephen Curry, Andrew Wiggins, and Draymond Green. That will lead to a big boost for everyone else on the active roster.

Without Curry, Wiggins, and Green on the floor, Jordan Poole's usage rate is an absurd 32.4%, and across those 168.1 minutes, he averages 1.04 FanDuel points per minute, according to CourtIQ.

Jonathan Kuminga sees a 20.2% usage rate -- albeit with a very weak output of 0.59 FanDuel points per minute. Kuminga, on the full season, averages 0.73 FanDuel points per minute, so that rate without Curry, Wiggins, and Green is probably set to climb back up soon.

Golden State offers other value plays, such as Kevon Looney ($4,500), Donte DiVincenzo ($4,100), and Anthony Lamb ($3,800).

Kawhi Leonard, SF/PF, Los Angeles Clippers

FanDuel Salary: $5,800

It's not often we see someone such as Kawhi Leonard in the value range, but that's what we get tonight. (It's also not often we see Leonard play at all, but that's a different conversation.)

Leonard played 28.0 minutes in his return to action on Monday night against the Charlotte Hornets after a six-game absence.

In that workload, he took 15 shot attempts and pulled in 6 rebounds while handing out 2 assists. He totaled 25.2 FanDuel points in that outing.

Leonard is projected by numberFire's model for 25.2 minutes and 22.8 FanDuel points.

Though there's an inherent cap on the output, given the minutes expectation, Leonard makes for a really strong head-to-head play and can also bring some mid-range stability to an otherwise volatile lineup.

Markelle Fultz, PG/SG, Orlando Magic

FanDuel Salary: $5,000

On the other side of that game, we have another player working his way back into the lineup.

Markelle Fultz has been pretty efficient in his on-court work this season, and he's coming off of his highest minutes output (32.2) of the year on Monday.

Plus, the Orlando Magic are without Wendell Carter Jr., Jalen Suggs, and Gary Harris.

Without them on the floor, Fultz maintains a usage rate of 23.1% and a per-minute average of 0.97 FanDuel points.

He's projected for 30.3 minutes and 29.9 FanDuel points tonight (5.99 per $1,000 in salary) on a line of 12.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, 6.9 assists, and 1.8 combined steals and blocks.

Dyson Daniels, PG, New Orleans Pelicans

FanDuel Salary: $4,400

Dyson Daniels has been a productive producer (0.88 FanDuel points per minute without Brandon Ingram and Herb Jones on the floor this season despite a 13.8% usage rate) and is playing pretty consistent minutes for the New Orleans Pelicans.

Daniels has played 25.0, 27.7, 31.3, 23.0, and 21.3 minutes over his past five games. The most recent minutes total (21.3) came in a 121-106 win on Sunday for the Pelicans during which the starters didn't see a ton of action in the fourth quarter.

The point guard can be pretty volatile (21.0, 22.0, 39.1, 13.5, and 7.4 FanDuel points in the past five games) but comes at a low salary with a good shot to play 30 minutes. He's projected for 30.5 tonight.