We truly believe here at FantasyLabs that we have the most unique tools and data available to DFS users. However, we also realize that those tools and data are only as awesome and helpful as our ability to effectively communicate how to use everything. As such, we will continually listen to feedback of what you need and try our best to teach our subscribers how to use all of the cool things we have to offer.

With this in mind, we’ve begun a “Trend of the Day” series. Every weekday we’ll walk our subscribers through an important trend for that day’s slate of games.

My first thought when looking through tonight’s games was that we have a lot of high-priced options available to us on this smaller five-game slate. Not only will people have to choose between DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis – for those brave enough to do so at least – but they’ll actually have five total options priced above $9,000 available to them this evening.

Because of this, a lot of players are likely to skew towards more of a stars-and-scrubs lineup construction. Knowing this, a more balanced approach may offer us a chance to diversify a bit. Whenever I’m leaning towards more of a balanced lineup, I generally start by running a trend I’ve constructed previously to help pinpoint underpriced options priced between $5,500 and $8,000.

Trend: Players priced between $5,500-$8,000 that have had a price drop, have high usage, and have a good matchup.

What I’m looking to identify with this trend are players that, for one reason or another, have had their price dip down, but still have the type of role that we generally associate with higher-priced options. In this case, I want to see a projected usage rate of at least 25% and a minute projection of at least 30. When we pair these factors with a good matchup – which we’ll measure by using the Opponent Plus/Minus metric – logic dictates that this grouping of players may be primed to outperform their price tag.

But because logic and the results we see in sports don’t always correlate as perfectly as we’d like, let’s turn to the Trends tool to see what this Trend actually bears out.

Step 1: Player Filters > Salary > Set to “5500 to 8000”

Step 2: Projections > Proj Usage > Set to “25 to 33.68”

Step 3: Projections > Proj Minutes > Set to “30 to 44”

Step 4: Fantasy Season Filters > Season Salary Change > Set to “-1700 to -100”

Step 5: Trends > Opp Pos +/- > Set to “1 to 6.1”

Now let’s see those results.

The Plus/Minus and Consistency we see with this trend are two of the higher that I’ve come across when we’re dealing with more than a handful of players in the sample size. And while 82 isn’t a huge sample population, I have noticed that there are generally at least a few players that meet this trend on nights with a decent slate of games.

And now let’s check out who might meet this criteria tonight!

We come up with two players that have excellent matchups and play a big role in their offense. Exactly what we were looking for.

Now you could expand upon this further by adding in Vegas Trends to look at spreads and whatnot, but the sample size is already reduced to a point that you likely wouldn’t want to tinker with it too much.

We’ve had a few of our writers weigh in on the amount of filters that one should employ when looking at trends, so I figured I’d throw my two cents out there.

While this particular trend does utilize more filters than I generally employ, I believe the logic behind them makes enough sense that they’re warranted. If the logic is there, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to add in additional filters, just be wary of your sample size and make sure you truly believe that there’s actually a correlation between the filters you’re introducing into your trend.

That’ll wrap up today’s trend. Good luck tonight!