Player values are constantly moving targets in daily leagues. A high profile player can put together a couple of big games and see his price tag skyrocket. Likewise, a couple of bad games can lead a player's stock to plummet. The correlation isn't always immediate, leading to some discrepancies in value.
Savvy DFS players can take advantage of falling values and avoid inflated prices to find the best value on a given night in the hopes of increased success. In this article, I will identify players whose anticipated value relative to their current price is on the rise, making them desirable targets. I will also name players whose value is dipping below their cost, making them players to fade.
Note: I will only be selecting players who are owned in at least 75% of Yahoo! leagues. Graphs are taken from SportingCharts.com's NBA Daily Fantasy Value Tracker and are indicative of values on 1/30/17.
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FanDuel Value Risers - Week 15
Mike Conley (PG, MEM) - A career-high 38 points will get you on the risers list quickly. Conley was already returning five times value fairly consistently until his explosion on Monday night. He has stayed healthy since returning from his back injury and will be a major part of the offense all season long, with few other scoring options on the Grizzlies bench.
Robert Covington (SF/PF, PHI) - His salary is just now catching up to the excellent value Covington has been providing for daily league players. Against the Bulls, he put up nine times value and followed it up with nearly eight times value against the Kings. With Joel Embiid set to miss a couple more games, this is the best time to take advantage of Covington's relatively low price at $5,600.
Jae Crowder (SF/PF, BOS) - Since January 11, Crowder has averaged 19 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. While his salary has climbed by $700 over the last week, it may not be too late to utilize him while he is hot. Boston's next two games come against the Raptors and the Lakers, both ranked in the bottom half of the league in defensive efficiency, with L.A. coming in at 29th.
Ryan Anderson (PF/C, HOU) - For one glorious day, fantasy owners thought they were seeing the birth of the next Ryan Anderson, on the very same team no less. Sam Dekker hit six treys on his way to a 30-point game on January 21. Then he went back to being Sam Dekker, rookie bench player. Meanwhile, Ryan Anderson has come back to the lineup and produced a 27-point, seven-rebound effort on Sunday. His price has yet to rebound along with his production, so he should be a solid play for the coming week.
FanDuel Value Fallers - Week 15
Dwyane Wade (SG, CHI) - It goes without saying that the Bulls are in a bad place right now. Veteran free-agent acquisition Dwyane Wade isn't pulling the team through this tough time. Instead, he seems to be pouring gasoline on the dumpster fire. He was even benched Sunday as discipline for bashing his teammates. He managed to score 14 and 15 in the last two games - a sharp drop from the previous week when he had two 30-point efforts. This seems like a situation that is better left untouched for the time being.
Kawhi Leonard (SG/SF, SA) - Leonard was coming off a blazing six-game streak in which he scored at least 30 points before missing two games with a hand injury. Upon his return last Friday, he continued to score near his season average of 25, but his a drop in FG%. Leonard is as consistent as they get, but his stock is due to be over-inflated for a few more days, thanks to that torrid stretch.
Tobias Harris (SF/PF, DET) - Harris has recently moved out of the starting lineup in favor Jon Leuer and/or Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. This hasn't necessarily made him less efficient, but his overall stats have suffered a bit. Despite scoring at least 15 points in each of the last six games, Harris has totaled just 10 rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block over the last three games combined. Wait for his price to drop in accordance with his minutes before considering him in DFS.
Marc Gasol (C, MEM) - There's not a precipitous drop-off here, but Gasol has struggled a bit the last two games. He's delivered just over 30 FD points in each, while his price has climbed up to $9,000. As usual, this decline follows a huge uptick in value last week when he scored over 100 points in a three-game stretch. What goes up must come down. In the case of the big man, his value will take a temporary hit before rebounding.
DeAndre Jordan (C, LAC) - Blake Griffin is back, and it showed against the Warriors. Jordan managed just eight points, five boards and not a single blocked shot as the Clippers got annihilated. Without Paul to lob it to him and Griffin back to eat into his rebounds, Jordan is among the biggest name fallers of the week and a player to avoid in daily leagues until further notice.