In case you've never played daily fantasy basketball, every player has a salary and your roster cannot exceed the game's salary-cap maximum.
For FanDuel leagues, rosters consist of nine players and the salary cap is $60,000, which averages to roughly $6,667 per player. To give you an idea of the range for Tuesday's games, Thunder SF Kevin Durant ($12,000) has the contest's highest salary while many are tied for the lowest at the game-minimum salary ($3,500).
There are a number of benefits compared to traditional full-season re-draft leagues, such as:
- you don't have to worry about being saddled by players sidelined by injury;
- having a late pick doesn't rule out owning studs like Kevin Durant or LeBron James;
- you get the instant gratification of winning your league(s) that night.
OK, with the preliminary stuff out of the way, here are some value plays to consider for Tuesday (March 25th) FanDuel leagues:
PG - Raymond Felton, New York Knicks (at LAL), $5,800: Felton has been inconsistent this season and his last three games (30.2, 18.6 and 38.2 fantasy points, respectively) illustrate that. With a favorable matchup against the Lakers, who have allowed the second-most fantasy points to opposing point guards, perhaps Felton scores 30-something fantasy points again.
PG - Reggie Jackson, Oklahoma City Thunder (at DAL), $5,600: With double-doubles and 40-plus fantasy points in back-to-back games, Jackson is unlikely to repeat those numbers with Russell Westbrook likely to play tonight. That said, he has at least 24.5 fantasy points in four consecutive games. During that four-game stretch, Jackson has averaged 16.25 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.75 assists and 1.25 steals per game. If for some reason Westbrook sits tonight, which is not expected, Jackson becomes a must-start.
PG - Greivis Vasquez, Toronto Raptors (at CLE), $4,500: Teammate Kyle Lowry ($9,100) is the most expensive point guard for tonight's games and is generally worth it with 40-plus fantasy points in seven of his past nine games. That said, Vasquez has been productive recently as well and at half of the cost. Vasquez has scored at least 21.9 fantasy points in each of his past three games.
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: $1,000 in prizes, FREE entrySG - Devin Harris, Dallas Mavericks (vs. OKC), $4,600: Harris has scored a minimum of 20 fantasy points in four of his past five games. During that five-game span, Harris has averaged 10.2 points, 5.0 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 1.0 steal per game. This season, the Thunder have allowed the 10th-most fantasy points to opposing shooting guards.
SG - Tim Hardaway, Jr., New York Knicks (at LAL), $3,700: Even though Hardaway has scored less than 15 fantasy points in three consecutive games, he has the potential to get hot and the Lakers may enhance the likelihood of that happening. In his previous three games, Hardaway scored 20-plus points per game.
SF - J.R. Smith, New York Knicks (at LAL), $5,400: Against the Cavs on Sunday, Smith played 38 minutes and scored 18 points with four assists and three rebounds. If he gets close to 40 minutes again tonight against the Lakers, Smith could be in store for a huge game.
SF - Caron Butler, Oklahoma City Thunder (at DAL), $4,300: After scoring just four points against the Raptors, Butler scored 23 points against the Nuggets last night. That said, he has now scored at least 21 fantasy points in three consecutive games.
PF - Amar'e Stoudemire, New York Knicks (at LAL), $5,400: Stoudemire scored 20.7 fantasy points against the Cavs on Sunday and that was a six-game low. Averaging 29.55 fantasy points per game during that span, Stoudemire is averaging 18.33 points and 7.33 rebounds per game over that stretch. With the Lakers allowing the most fantasy points to opposing power forwards, an all-Knicks combo with Amar'e and Carmelo Anthony wouldn't be a bad idea.
PF - Jordan Hill, Los Angeles Lakers (vs. NYK), $5,000: Even though the Knicks allow the fewest fantasy points to opposing power forwards, Hill is still worthy of a start on Tuesday night. In his two games since an extended absence, Hill has scored 31.8 and 45.6 fantasy points, respectively. In those two games, he is averaging 18.5 points, 13.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks. Plus, Pau Gasol (vertigo) is "doubtful" to play tonight.
C - Tyson Chandler, New York Knicks (at LAL), $6,700: Can you start too many players against the Lakers? That's a question you won't hear any fantasy owners asking. With a favorable matchup, Chandler should bounce back after a subpar performance (four points and six boards) on Sunday. In his previous two games, Chandler averaged 12.0 points, 12.0 rebounds and a block per game.
C - Kyle O'Quinn, Orlando Magic (vs. POR), $4,900: With O'Quinn, you know what to expect: 20-something fantasy points at a reasonable price. In his past 10 games, he has played more than 25 minutes only twice, but he has at least 19.9 fantasy points in all of those games. During that stretch, he is averaging 8.7 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game.
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