Daily Fantasy Basketball: FanDuel Value Plays – January 20

Paul Pierce
Paul Pierce
Anthony Gruppuso USA TODAY Sports

In FanDuel, you get $60K to build a nine player team. Ideally, you want to score 300+ to put out a solid lineup and 325+ to have a solid chance at a larger tournament. That means we need to get at least 5X value on each player. If Player A costs $10,000, we’d need a 50 FPS night to justify that salary. In a big 10 game slate like today, we have a lot of options so let’s take a look at who we’re rolling with today.

FanDuel scoring: Point = 1pt, Rebound = 1.2pts, Assist = 1.5pts, Block = 2pts, Steal = 2pts, Turnover = -1pt

Point Guard:

D.J. Augustin vs LAL ($5,600): Augustin has played well of late, posting at least 38.5 fantasy points in two of his last three and three of his last five. He’ll have a great chance to top that number once again as he’ll face off against a Lakers team that gives up the fourth-most fantasy points to opposing point guards.

Shooting Guard:

Bradley Beal vs PHI ($5,500): Stacking against the Sixers has become common practice as they are among the worst defenses in the league. They give up the second-most fantasy points to shooting guards. At $5,500, Beal would need 27.5 points to reach value and, even if he doesn’t, he’s almost certain to come very close.

Rodney Stuckey vs LAC ($4,100): Stuckey has scored 20+ points in back-to-back games and looks plenty healthy. I’ll ride the hot guard against a Clippers team giving up 35 fantasy points per game to opposing shooting guards.

Small Forward:

Paul Pierce vs NY ($6,000): At $6,000, Pierce would need 30 fantasy points to justify that price. He’s averaging 29.96 fantasy points over his last three games and the shoddy Knicks defense is not likely to stop him today.

Power Forward:

Nene Hilario vs PHI ($6,300): He’s pricier than I’d like but I’ll pay a premium for a power forward playing against the Sixers. He’d need 31.5 fantasy points to justify his cost and he’s eclipsed that number in three of his last five games, coming very close in the other two. There’s very low risk here.

Center:

Robin Lopez vs HOU ($5,700): There aren’t many “budget friendly” centers but Lopez could give you a solid day today. He’d need 28.5 fantasy points to justify his salary, a number he’s eclipsed in two of his last four games. He can be inconsistent so he doesn’t have the same low-risk as someone like Nene or Pierce but he has the upside.

Optimized Lineup:

PG- D.J. Augustin vs LAL ($5,600)

PG- Kendall Marshall vs CHI ($7,000)

SG- Bradley Beal vs PHI ($5,500)

SG- Lance Stephenson vs GS ($7,300)

SF- Paul Pierce vs NYK ($6,000)

SF- Trevor Ariza vs PHI ($6,600)

PF- Nene Hilario vs PHI ($6,300)

PF- Terrence Jones vs POR ($7,800)

C- DeAndre Jordan vs DET ($7,800)

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Igor Derysh
Igor Derysh is Editor-at-Large at XN Sports and has been featured in The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Boston Herald, Baltimore Sun, Orlando Sun-Sentinel, and FantasyPros. He has previously covered sports for COED Magazine, Fantasy Alarm, and Manwall.com.