NBA DFS Plays for Sunday, January 18th Feature Caleb Love and Brandon Miller

FanDuel and DraftKings deliver us many nice NBA Games tonight to attack. Be sure to consider using any of these (5) must-look DFS plays.

Jan 17, 2026; San Francisco, California, USA; Charlotte Hornets forward Brandon Miller (24) drives to the basket as Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) defends during the third quarter at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-Imagn Images | John Hefti-Imagn Images

The NBA is back in action tonight with a 5-Game Main Slate. As for last night, we saw multiple breakout games, highlighted by (41) Points out of Jaylen Brown in just three quarters of basketball. Tonight, we look to players like Kevin Durant and Jamal Murray as the main superstars in play. However, we dive bit deeper and, as always, we find five high-upside plays to play on FanDuel or DraftKings.

Caleb Love, SG/PG — $5,700 (FanDuel) | $5,800 (DraftKings)

Caleb Love tonight:

22 Points
7 Assists
2 Steals
8/15 FGM
4/8 3PM
2/2 FTM
+23 +/-
31 Minutes pic.twitter.com/F7uzcaMYD6

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) January 18, 2026

Love has been playing to high-minutes with Jrue Holiday on a minutes limit. Playing a back-to-back, it is expected that this will remain the case. Love should play 20-25 Minutes, with 30 Minute upside. He happens to have 33+ fantasy points in three of his last four games.

To further favor the upside play here, the Trail Blazers get the Kings, who rank bottom-10 versus Point Guards and Shooting Guards. Love also plays to a (22.3%) Usage Rate, and rising in this current situation.

Brandon Miller, SF/SG — $7,300 (FanDuel) | $6,800 (DraftKings)

Charlotte's core of scorers put on a show on the road!

LaMelo Ball: 30 PTS, 6 REB, 11 AST, 9 3PM
Brandon Miller: 26 PTS, 5 AST, 2 BLK
Miles Bridges: 25 PTS, 8 REB, 4 AST, 5 3PM
Kon Knueppel: 19 PTS, 7 REB, 4 AST pic.twitter.com/8S6VioCzLD

— NBA (@NBA) January 16, 2026

Miller has been one to catch my eye of recent. His greatest value-add is with his Usage Rate, inlying at (28.2%). Tonight, the Hornets will face a Nuggets team that is 20th versus Small Forwards.

At cost tonight, Miller is averaging about 4.5x of his salary. He dopes often meet higher upside, having achieved 41+ fantasy points (6) times over his last month of basketball. Amidst injuries and tougher matchups on this slate, Miller stands out to be opportunistic.

Saddiq Bey, SF/PF — $5,500 (FanDuel) | $5,700 (DraftKings)

Bey is very adequetly priced tonight. He averages 5.0x of this salary on the season. He is playing his fourth game off of injury, in which Bey has played to no less than (26) minutes in any of those games.

Defensively, nothing will hold back Bey too much at this great price. The Rockets are 18th versus Small Forwards. In Usage Rate, Bey is 6th on the team at 19.1%. This is not elite, but not bad, being around NBA average. He is a must-play bargain that is hard to find in this slate.

Noah Clowney, PF — $5,400 (FanDuel) | $5,200 (DraftKings)

Clowney should benefit tremendously tonight as Michael Porter Jr. is out due to rest. Clowney will start tonight and he will play minutes well-above average. As it is, Clowney averages nearly 5x of his salary tonight. Without Porter Jr., he may well average more to 6x of this. It is an amazing value grab.

Even with Porter Jr., Clowney has hit 31+ fantasy points in four of his last seven games. Defensively, the Bulls rank 28th versus Power Forwards. In this role, Clowney should play to a 22-25% Usage Rate. He is a must-use of all must-uses.

Nic Claxton, C — $6,300 (FanDuel) | $6,300 (DraftKings)

The Brooklyn Nets are on quite the stretch of favorable defensive matchups. I have been sure to capitalize on this. Tonight, we love Claxton as a valuable center to start. They get the Bulls, who rank 27th versus Centers. When these two teams met on Friday, Claxton put up (37.3) fantasy points, topped by his (14) rebounds.

Claxton is currently averaging 5.2x of this salary. There is zero reason for his minutes to dip tonight, and, despite being 10th on the Nets in Usage Rate, he does sit at a (17.4%) Rate, which is just slightly below NBA average. The Nets use everyone.