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.
Zach Collins, PF/C, San Antonio Spurs
Keita Bates-Diop, PF, San Antonio Spurs
Collins' FanDuel Salary: $5,600
Bates-Diop's FanDuel Salary: $4,200
The San Antonio Spurs' frontcourt remains thin. Jakob Poeltl and Jeremy Sochan are out, thus opening up minutes for Zach Collins and Keita Bates-Diop.
Without those two on the floor, via CourtIQ, Collins has an 18.6% usage rate with a great per-minute output of 1.24 FanDuel points, which is a 91st-percentile rate among the NBA.
Collins is projected for 27.1 minutes, so he's not going to push for 35-plus or anything like that. But in five games with at least 20 minutes, Collins has averaged 22.2 FanDuel points on a line of 7.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.8 combined blocks and steals. His efficiency happened to drop in those (0.95 FanDuel points per minute), so we should likely expect a bump in the production soon.
Bates-Diop is projected for more minutes (30.3) and a better value rate (5.97 FanDuel points per $1,000) than Collins (5.81), but both offer elite value projections. Bates-Diop, in six starts, has averaged 23.5 FanDuel points over 27.6 minutes.
Collin Sexton, SG, Utah Jazz
FanDuel Salary: $5,100
Collin Sexton continues to benefit while Mike Conley is injured. He has a 22.7% usage rate without Conley -- and a per-minute average of 0.92 FanDuel points.
Sexton is a staple in the starting lineup for the Utah Jazz and has now started six straight games and seven overall.
In those seven starts, Sexton has taken advantage.
He's averaging 30.8 minutes and 28.1 FanDuel points on 16.7 points, 5.9 assists, and 2.4 rebounds. In total, he's averaged 0.91 FanDuel points per minute in those seven games.
He's being projected for 31.0 minutes and 27.8 FanDuel points tonight against the Indiana Pacers' 19th-ranked defense.
Jazz guards have a top-five composite matchup rating.
Cameron Payne, PG/SG, Phoenix Suns
FanDuel Salary: $6,000
The big news here is that Chris Paul remains sidelined for the Phoenix Suns, thus leaving Cameron Payne in line for a role boost.
Without Paul on the floor, Payne holds a 24.6% usage rate and averages an even 1.00 FanDuel points per minute.
In 11 starts, he maintains that per-minute production (0.98) and averages 30.9 FanDuel points over 31.4 minutes per game.
numberFire projects Payne for even better production (34.4 FanDuel points) across 30.8 minutes tonight against a Houston Rockets team that ranks 28th in defensive rating.
Dyson Daniels, PG, New Orleans Pelicans
FanDuel Salary: $4,400
While you don't love to see a low usage rate for a point guard, it can be okay in certain circumstances.
Dyson Daniels has a 15.2% usage rate over 147.9 minutes with Brandon Ingram and Herbert Jones off the floor this season. He's actually averaged 1.06 FanDuel points per minute in those minutes, however.
Daniels draws the Spurs' abysmal defense (30th in defensive rating and 5th-worst in fantasy points per minute allowed to point guards), and his team has a high 119.5-point total.
There's some blowout risk, but the New Orleans Pelicans are "just" 7.0-point favorites, and we have multiple double-digit spreads on the slate.