5 NBA FanDuel Value Plays for 12/20/17

Ekpe Udoh, C, Utah Jazz

FanDuel Price: $4,400
Projected FanDuel Points: 11.1
Projected FanDuel Value: 2.53

If Derrick Favors has to sit again tonight against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Ekpe Udoh will likely enter the starting lineup once again, and the matchup is ideal. The Thunder are giving up the 11th-most FanDuel points to centers on the season, but in their past seven games they have given up 61.01 FanDuel points per game to the position, worst in the league during that stretch.

Udoh value comes largely from rebounds and peripheral stats. He's averaging 1.49 blocks per game, which ranks him ninth in the league. He's done that despite playing only 16 minutes per game. Every player ahead of him on the blocks list is playing at least six more minutes per game than Udoh. When he gets minutes, his penchant for blocks and steals becomes invaluable because of this year's updates to the FanDuel scoring system where steals and blocks are worth three points instead of two. We saw the power of this two games ago when he gathered 6 blocks and 3 steals en route to a 48-FanDuel point evening.

We are, unfortunately, beholden to injury news here yet again, but such is life in DFS. The game starts at 8:00 p.m. ET, which is only a half-hour after the first games tip, so there is a decent chance we'll hear something before lineups lock.

Ian Goldsmith is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Ian Goldsmith also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username zoidbergs_revenge. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.