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.
Gary Trent Jr., SG/SF, Toronto Raptors
FanDuel Salary: $5,800
The Toronto Raptors have a few value options for us. OG Anunoby is out for tonight's game, and when he missed the last game, Gary Trent Jr. slid into the starting lineup.
In that game, Trent Jr. played heavy minutes (43.5) and put up 31.1 FanDuel points. Trent Jr. has now played at least 33.4 minutes in three straight games and has averaged 20.7 points and 28.3 FanDuel points per game in that span.
Trent Jr. holds a 23.9% usage rate and a per-minute average of 0.82 FanDuel points with Anunoby off the floor this season.
The minutes, productivity, and shot volume make Trent Jr. a high-floor, high-ceiling option at a sub-$6,000 salary.
Chris Boucher, C/PF, Toronto Raptors
FanDuel Salary: $4,900
Chris Boucher is also a value for the Raptors.
Boucher averages 0.89 FanDuel points per minute for the Raps without Anunoby on the floor and does so with a 17.2% usage rate.
Though those are actually down from his rates while sharing the floor with Anunoby, we should get more minutes from Boucher than usual.
Last game, Boucher played 27.7 minutes, up from an average of 20.1 the five games prior.
numberFire projects Boucher for 26.9 minutes and 27.3 FanDuel points. That works out to 5.58 FanDuel points per $1,000 in salary -- an elite value rating for the night.
Draymond Green, PF/C, Golden State Warriors
FanDuel Salary: $6,000
Is Draymond Green's salary near the minimum? No.
Is he still under-salaried? Yes.
Green and the Golden State Warriors will be without Andrew Wiggins and (likely) Klay Thompson tonight.
Without those two on the floor, Green has a still-weak 11.7% usage rate yet puts forth 0.81 FanDuel points per minute. He averages 0.92 FanDuel points per minute for the full year, though.
Green is projected to play 32.0 minutes tonight, and he gets a top-three composite matchup of any player on the board.
He's coming off of an 18.5-point FanDuel outing last night, though he checked out with 4:18 left in the third quarter and didn't return, thus playing only 23.1 minutes.
Markelle Fultz, PG/SG, Orlando Magic
FanDuel Salary: $4,600
Markelle Fultz is numberFire's top projected value play for Wednesday night.
He's expected to score 6.11 FanDuel points per $1,000 (i.e. 28.1 total fantasy points at a $4,600 salary).
Fultz and the Orlando Magic get the Atlanta Hawks, a team ranked 13th in defensive rating. Fultz, through seven games so far this season, has yet to play a team ranked worse than 13th in defensive rating.
He did play the Hawks in his debut.
During that outing, he put up 8 points, 4 assists, 1 rebound, 2 steals, and 1 block for 23.2 FanDuel points in only 16.8 minutes. That works out to a per-minute rate of 1.38 FanDuel points per minute.
Caleb Martin, SF/SG, Miami Heat
FanDuel Salary: $5,000
With Jimmy Butler out, Caleb Martin benefits.
Martin is projected to play a heavy 37.5 minutes and put up 28.6 FanDuel points (5.72 per $1,000 and 0.76 per minute).
Yeah, that's a pretty weak per-minute output in terms of the fantasy production, but it's just hard to hate on those minutes. Martin has played 35.2 minutes per game in the past five games Butler missed while getting to at least 38.4 in three of them.
My slate simulations have Martin rating out as 22.3% likely to be a top-five value by the end of the night.