FanDuel NBA: Friday Value Plays

FanDuel NBA: Friday Value Plays

This article is part of our FanDuel NBA series.

It's been a fun start to FanDuel DFS thus far with three games, 14 games, three games and now a nice 12-game slate tonight. There are plenty of options to choose from and there are still a lot of great values among this set of games.

Point Guard

Isaiah Canaan, $5,300 - Canaan had a slow start the other night but was able to finish with a lofty 28.4 fantasy points. Right now the backcourt for the 76ers has been hit by injuries and Canaan played 38 minutes. No one is expected back tonight to eat into his playing time so expecting similar minutes is reasonable. His assist numbers should go up a tick and his ability to shoot the ball almost guarantees him at least 4X his value. Even if this game turns into a blowout (Vegas doesn't think it will), he will still be on the floor late in the game.

Emmanuel Mudiay, $5,500 - Mudiay's debut Wednesday night was a mixed bag of success and left owners wondering what could have been. His fantasy stat line was excellent: 17 points, nine assists and five rebounds. However, the only black mark on the night was his 11 turnovers. Those turnovers cost owners an -11 points, otherwise he would have had 36.5 fantasy points making him a huge value. Tonight he faces off with Ricky Rubio, a player who has never been known for his defensive prowess. It doesn't hurt that Mudiay will be home tonight and he should be able to stuff the stat sheet again.

Shooting Guard

Rodney Hood, $4,300 - Like Mudiay, Hood's debut had a lot of positives but also a few negatives. He finished the game with 24.8 fantasy points but missed all seven of his three-point attempts. Hood dished out six assists and added four rebounds showing he doesn't need to score a lot to make a fantasy impact. The matchup is very good playing against Philadelphia and his minutes should improve from Wednesday's 29 as he shouldn't be in foul trouble again.

C.J. McCollum, $6,000 - There doesn't need to be a lot said here after his monstrous performance the other night other than his price is still at a discount. The Trail Blazers are going to lean heavily on McCollum and Damian Lillard to score and score often and McCollum will play enough minutes to contribute in the other fantasy categories. Fading him in tournaments isn't a bad idea as he'll be heavily owned across the board.

Small Forward

Hollis Thompson, $3,900 - Here's an example of following the minutes and them leading to fantasy production. Thompson isn't a candidate to light up the scoreboard for 30 points on any given night but he's athletic enough to contribute and make at least 4X his price here. He played 36 minutes Wednesday night and finished with nine points, five rebounds and three assists. While those numbers don't jump off the page they translated into 17.5 fantasy points and similar production offers a lot of salary cap relief to spend up on the other positions.

Nikola Mirotic, $6,000 - This price has crept up a few hundred dollars since the Bulls first game but still isn't close to where it should be. Mirotic spent his first game in a little foul trouble and still finished with 29.3 fantasy points. Wednesday night in what should have been a slow paced game he finished with 34.3 fantasy points. Over those two games he has almost identical lines of 18-9-1 and 19-9-1 showing his consistency. The matchup against Detroit is good and Mirotic should have his way with Ersan Ilyasova.

Power Forward

Julius Randle, $4,700 - It was fun watching the gamesmanship between Randle and Kevin Garnett Wednesday night and it was good to see Randle take the ball strong to the hoop multiple times against KG. Randle finished with a double-double (15 points, 11 rebounds) and will be more of an offensive force in the paint for the Lakers than Roy Hibbert. The only red flag here is that he'll likely be matched up with DeMarcus Cousins and could find himself in foul trouble quickly. However, there's still a lot of upside for a guy price less than $5K.

Markieff Morris, $5,800 - Morris is going to fly completely under the radar tonight given the elite options at position coupled with his first game dud. Mired in foul trouble (as most of the Suns were, 19 team fouls in the first half), Morris played a whopping 11 minutes and finished with 7.2 fantasy points. A bounce-back game looks likely here and Morris' ability to step out and hit the jump shot should cause problems for the 7-1 Meyer Leonard. He's a key offensive weapon to the Suns and should see a full complement of minutes tonight.

Center

Kosta Koufos, $3,700 - Koufos not only started but played a solid 23 minutes Wednesday night finishing with 24.9 fantasy points. He'll get a lot of easy buckets with teams doubling DeMarcus Cousins in the paint and if he continues to get minutes in the mid-20s he'll consistently make 5X his price. The matchup against Roy Hibbert and the Lakers is a good one and only two weeks ago in the preseason he had a 29.6 fantasy point game against this same team.

The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it's possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire. Kevin Payne plays in daily fantasy contests using the following accounts: Fanduel: kevinccp, Draft Kings: kevinccp, Yahoo: kevinccp.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kevin Payne
Kevin has worked for RotoWire over a decade and has covered basketball, baseball and football. A glutton for punishment, he roots for his hometown Bills, Sabres and the New York Yankees. You can follow him on Twitter @KCPayne26.
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