5 NBA FanDuel Value Plays to Target on Thursday 2/23/23

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.

Harrison Barnes, SF/PF, Kings ($4,600)

One of the night's premier fantasy environments is the Sacramento Kings-Portland Trail Blazers matchup, a game that boasts a slate-leading 241.0-point total and 6.5-point spread.

Harrison Barnes is a low-salary way to get in on the fun, and he's projecting well.

The minutes are usually there for him as Barnes has logged at least 31 minutes in each of his past four games. The matchup box is checked, too, as Portland sits fourth-worst in defensive rating.

Barnes needs only 23.0 FanDuel points to hit five-times value (5.00 points per $1,000). We project him to total 26.1 points, which comes out to 5.68 per $1,000. He's one of the slate's top values, per our model.

Franz Wagner, SG/SF, Magic ($5,800)

The Orlando Magic start their post-break schedule with a delightful home matchup against the Detroit Pistons. As a 7.0-point favorite in a game with a 227.0-point total, Orlando owns a solid 117.0-point implied total.

The Pistons have been a great team to pick on in DFS this season. Detroit is next to last in defensive rating and plays at the 12th-fastest pace. It gets even better as they've permitted the eighth-most FanDuel points per night to small forwards and the third-most to shooting guards. Yes, please.

Enter Franz Wagner.

Wagner has played at least 31 minutes in nine straight games. Uncharacteristically cold shooting has capped his FanDuel output in that span. He's made just 43.0% of his shots in that nine-game stretch but is a 48.4% shooter for the year. He should bounce back eventually, and tonight is a great spot to do just that.

Our projections have him scoring 29.5 FanDuel points (5.08 per $1,000).

Ochai Agbaji, SG, Jazz ($3,900)

The Utah Jazz host the Oklahoma City Thunder in a game that looks like it'll be ideal for DFS. Utah is a slim 1.0-point favorite, and the total is up at 240.5 points. Sign me up.

Utah has a thinned-out rotation after some deadline moves, and in addition to that, Collin Sexton is out tonight. We'll have to see how the Jazz divvy up minutes the rest of the way, but I like taking a shot on Ochai Agbaji.

The rookie played an eye-popping 38 minutes in a starting role last time out, which was a game in which Sexton exited early and all of Jarred Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley and Mike Conley also missed. Utah will be without all of those guys again, and assuming Agbaji is in the starting five, he's going to be a smashing value play.

OKC (3rd in pace) is a pace-up matchup for Utah (14th), and the Thunder have surrendered the 11th-most FanDuel points per night to shooting guards.

Agbaji might be the best value play under $4,000 in salary.

Jerami Grant, SF/PF, Blazers ($6,400)
Cam Reddish, SG/SF, Blazers ($4,100)

The Portland Trail Blazers no longer employ Josh Hart, and they'll be without Anfernee Simons, Jusuf Nurkic and Justise Winslow. That makes them a good spot to look for value.

While Jerami Grant's salary is a little higher than our usual value plays, our model has him as an excellent point-per-dollar option, so I wanted to write him up.

In tonight's floor condition, Grant has struggled, recording just a 19.2% usage rate and 0.69 FanDuel points per minute, according to CourtIQ. But that's over a small sample of 71.3 minutes. Grant should see gobs of minutes tonight -- has played 36-plus minutes in his past five active games -- and will benefit from the juicy game environment in this Kings-Blazers clash.

We project Grant to amass 35.0 FanDuel points -- 5.74 per $1,000.

As for Cam Reddish, he's played only 15.2 minutes in the aforementioned split, but our model forecasts him to see 30.0 minutes today. He played 32 minutes last time out, and we're always going to be at least somewhat interested in anyone who has the potential to see 30 minutes at a low salary.

Our model has Reddish as the slate's best point-per-dollar play as of early Thursday, projecting him for 23.7 FanDuel points (5.77 per $1,000).