3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Value Plays for 4/17/16
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'll need to find one of these lower-priced options to squeeze everyone into your lineup.
Let's take a look at three guys who can help fill the gaps in your lineup tonight.
Ketavious Caldwell-Pope, SG, Detroit Pistons
FanDuel Price: $5,200
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope played the fourth-most minutes per game in the league this year. Caldwell-Pope will see a lot of playing time in the opening series against Cleveland, which makes it easier for him to accrue stats. In the three games that Caldwell-Pope played against Cleveland, he averaged 17 points and 4 rebounds while shooting 56% from the field.
Caldwell-Pope had a great month of March where he had nine games of at least 25 fantasy points on FanDuel. In April, his stats have cooled off a little, but the amount of playing time hasn't. He will likely play over 40 minutes of playing time and that is hard to find at any price, let alone with his moderate price tag.
He isn't the most appealing fantasy player out there but at $5,200 he offers enough safety and salary relief for you to spend up elsewhere.
Courtney Lee, SG, Charlotte Hornets
FanDuel Price: $4,000
I never thought that I'd be recommending Courtney Lee for fantasy basketball during the playoffs, but here we are.
Lee has actually been productive this season and is seeing more and more playing time. Nicolas Batum has been banged up for a while and while he should be good to go tonight, he may be a little limited. If Batum doesn't play his usual amount, Lee will see that extra boost in playing time. Either way, Lee will likely play at least 30 minutes. Similar to Caldwell-Pope from above, at prices these low and the playing time that high, there will be plenty of opportunity for them to pay five times their cost (points per $1,000 in salary) if not more.
None of Lee's stats will blow you away, but I'm not trying to sell you on that. I am trying to get the point across that he has a decent chance to score double-digit points, grab a few rebounds, and dish out a few assists on his way to fantasy points in the mid-twenties. There's nothing sexy about it, but in daily fantasy value is king.
Tony Parker, PG, San Antonio Spurs
FanDuel Price: $5,000
Tony Parker is the risky play of the day for me. If you want safety you should look elsewhere, but his upside is obviously there as he leads a great offense into the playoffs.
Parker will either be guarded by Tony Allen or one of the many points guards on Memphis' injury-riddled roster. Allen, a notorious lock down defender, will give Parker a lot of trouble. If he is guarding Parker, don't expect much from the Spurs veteran point guard. On the flip side, I love Parker's ceiling if he is guarded by basically anyone else. In their last five games, the Grizzlies have given up an average of 47.7 FanDuel fantasy points to opposing point guards -- which ranks them 25th of the 30 NBA teams.
Spurs coach, Greg Popovich, tends to stretch his players out a bit during the playoffs. In the last three years Parker's minutes per game have increased by an average of 7 percent from regular season to postseason. Now, he is getting older so don't expect a 40-plus minute game from him, but he should be just over 30 minutes at the helm of the Spurs offense.
