NBA

5 NBA FanDuel Value Plays to Target on Friday 1/13/23

Brandon Gdula  —  @gdula13 Jan 13th, 2023

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.

Andrew Nembhard, SG/PG, Indiana Pacers
Bennedict Mathurin, SG/SF, Indiana Pacers

Nembhard FanDuel Salary: $5,300
Mathurin FanDuel Salary: $5,600

The Indiana Pacers are all sorts of banged up for tonight's game against the Atlanta Hawks, a team that ranks 13th in defensive rating. Tyrese Haliburton is out, and Myles Turner and Aaron Nesmith are questionable.

With Haliburton off the floor, Bennedict Mathurin holds a 30.6% usage rate and a per-minute average of 0.95 FanDuel points, via CourtIQ. Andrew Nembhard's usage rate is nearly half of that by comparison (16.6%), but he still has averaged 0.93 FanDuel points per minute in the split.

T.J. McConnell ($5,000) also deserves attention with his 17.5% usage rate and 1.02 FanDuel-point-per-minute average sans Haliburton.

Either way you go, the Pacers are a go-to spot for value on this slate

Kenyon Martin Jr., SF/PF, Houston Rockets

FanDuel Salary: $3,900

The Houston Rockets are large underdogs against the Sacramento Kings, but that's nothing new for them, and Kenyon Martin Jr. should slide into the starting lineup with Kevin Porter Jr. out.

KJ has only eight starts on the season but has averaged 30.5 minutes, 13.4 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.0 combined steals and blocks for 24.3 FanDuel points in them.

The Kings are 24th in defensive rating; in matchups with bottom-10 defenses, Martin has upped his per-minute fantasy output to 0.87, compared to 0.78 in all other matchups.

Walker Kessler, C, Utah Jazz

FanDuel Salary: $5,600

Walker Kessler is in line for a bump with Kelly Olynyk out. In five games without Olynyk this season, Kessler has averaged 27.3 minutes and 25.3 FanDuel points (0.93 per minute).

Kessler projects for 28.5 minutes and 32.4 FanDuel points tonight, thanks to a positive matchup against the Orlando Magic, who are 25th in defensive rating.

Kessler has generated 1.16 FanDuel points per minute in games against bottom-10 defenses, so that type of efficiency plus the minutes makes for a very easy suggestion.

Terance Mann, SG/SF, Los Angeles Clippers

FanDuel Salary: $4,800

Terance Mann is set up for a value rating (i.e. FanDuel points per $1,000 in salary) of 6.00, the second-best of the night behind only Martin Jr.'s 6.61, per our algorithm.

Mann is set to be freed up with Paul George out. With George off the floor, Mann has a nice 17.2% usage rate and has averaged 0.81 FanDuel points per minute.

In games without George, Mann has started in 12 of 13 matchups and has averaged 30.4 minutes and 25.9 FanDuel points (0.85 per minute).

In a date with the Denver Nuggets (22nd in defensive rating), Mann is a safe bet for quality low-salary production over 35.8 projected minutes.