This article is part of our FanDuel NBA series.
Every week, this article will take a look at players who are undervalued and should be in your lineup. These are players should exceed their value in fantasy points based on their cost. They could be at the minimum or near minimum of $3,500 or could be in the $7-$8,000 range. It's easy to peg players like LeBron James or Anthony Davis, but the key is to find value players to plug in with them.
Point Guard
Elfrid Payton, $4,800 – Payton has been inserted into the starting lineup and has responded nicely with a good fantasy line. Over his last six games, he's averaged 7.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 2.0 steals per game. The downside with Payton is that he's shooting less than 40 percent from the field and can be turnover-prone at times. Still, as a rookie, his game should continue to improve, and the rest of the lineup of Victor Oladipo, Tobias Harris and Nikola Vucevic has a lot of upside to assist his game.
Jose Calderon, $5,500 – It's usually not a bad idea to check on the opposing point guard for the Knicks on a nightly basis as Calderon continues to be a defensive liability (see John Wall, Christmas Day). However, for the purposes of his own daily value, Calderon's defensive shortcomings do not matter. The fact is Calderon has been logging heavy minutes for the Knicks without them having a decent backup option. He has produced nice fantasy numbers over the last two weeks in eight of his last nine games, resulting in 20 or more fantasy points. He will be prone to the occasional dud and can see a minutes decrease on any given night if the Knicks get blown out.
Shooting Guard
Dion Waiters, $5,000 – It's been an up-and-down season for Waiters who moved from the starting lineup to the bench, and it seemed to take some time for him to accept his new role. His fantasy production has seen a nice increase lately. Waiters has scored at least 22 fantasy points in four of his last five games and is averaging better numbers across the board in December than he did in November with the same amount of playing time. Look to him as an option whenever one of Cleveland's "Big Three" misses an occasional game.
Small Forward
Rodney Hood, $3,500 – News broke late Tuesday that Alec Burks will miss the rest of the season with a shoulder injury. That means Hood should continue to be in the starting lineup on a nightly basis for the Jazz who will let the rookie learn on the job. Hood has been decent in the starting role as evidenced by his line Monday night: nine points, seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and one block. The bad news is that he's probably the last scoring option among Utah's starters and hasn't scored double-digit points in any of his last 11 games. There will be room to improve as the season goes on, and he's going to be in play considering he's currently at the minimum salary.
Power Forward
Kenneth Faried, $6,500 – Usually, a player at Faried's price point will be left alone, but it's hard to ignore the tear he's been on lately. Going into Tuesday night's game, Faried had averaged 21.0 points, 19.3 rebounds and over two assists per game in his last three contests. Those numbers are what you'd expect a player to make value at $9,500, not $3,000 less. His price remains down given his struggles early in the season and should steadily increase over the next week. Still, it should be a few more games before it gets to the point where his salary is close to his actual value, and while it's low, he's the type of player you shouldn't fade in cash games.
Center
Henry Sims, $4,500 – There seems to be a trend developing of backup centers getting a chance after writing about Alex Len last week. Sims has a clear path to playing time now that Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is sidelined indefinitely. In his first start with Mbah a Moute out, Sims played 32 minutes, the same number as Nerlens Noel. Noel is dealing with an ankle injury himself and likely won't see more than those 32 minutes in the short term, helping to solidify Sims' minutes. Look for Sims to have a floor around 20 fantasy points provided he continues to see 30-plus minutes.
Joel Freeland, $4,400 – Freeland broke out with a big game last Friday with 17 rebounds, six points and a block. He followed that up with a double-double Sunday, going for 10 points and 10 rebounds. With Robin Lopez sidelined with a broken hand, Freeland should continue to start with Portland's other potent four starters. The problem here is that both of those games discussed were without LaMarcus Aldridge who returned to the lineup Tuesday. That'll likely mean a downtick in rebounds, although Freeland's minutes should continue to be in the mid-20s.
