3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 11/1/16

In daily fantasy basketball, finding players you want to roster is a lot easier than finding players to avoid.

You can find a ton of great information and research on guys you might want to include tonight in your DFS NBA lineups, but what about some guys you may want to lessen your exposure to, or even fade altogether?

Avoiding players whose matchups or situations aren't as great as they seem can often be just as important as finding the best targets each night. After all, it takes only one player to sink a lineup.

Searching for the landmines could mean the difference from winning or losing your contests.

Pau Gasol, C, San Antonio Spurs

FanDuel: $6,500

Pau Gasol had his first great game as a San Antonio Spur against the Miami Heat on Sunday, but now the Spurs are heading home to welcome in the Utah Jazz. Utah is one of the teams that makes it very tough on their opponents from a DFS perspective because they are a solid defensive team and they play a very slow pace. The Jazz haven't showed it yet with a defensive rating of just 105.7 to start the season, but here against the Spurs, the pace of this game hurts Gasol as much as the assumed return of LaMarcus Aldridge.

Both of these teams play at a pace below 95 possessions per 48 minutes, while the Jazz are all the way down to 91.5. Plus, with Aldridge back on the court, it really hurts Gasol's potential tonight. So far this season according to NBA Wowy, Gasol has just a 48.0% effective field goal percentage and is averaging less than a point per shot attempt with Aldridge on the floor. Even with Aldridge off the court, Gasol's usage goes up, but his production hasn't so far this season.

There is also the factor of Rudy Gobert defending Gasol. Even though the sample size is small, through three games, Gobert is allowing players he defends only 46.7% shooting from the floor and only 47.6% shooting within 10 feet from the basket. The latter number is nearly 13 percent lower than those players' averages to start the season. Don't chase points with Gasol after a big game in this unfriendly fantasy matchup.

Jabari Parker, PF, Milwaukee Bucks

FanDuel Price: $5,900

Jabari Parker isn't off to the greatest start this season, and things might not get any better tonight as the Milwaukee Bucks square off against Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Pelicans. Parker is going to be on the front line trying to slow down Davis in this game, and if history tells us anything, it might be a good idea to lay off the former number-two overall pick.

In his last game against the Pelicans in 2015-16, Parker had 6 turnovers and allowed Davis to go for 29 points and 11 rebounds. While he still posted a nice game himself, turnovers are too costly on FanDuel to trust Parker when he will be defended by Davis.

What's lost in his superb start to the season is Davis' ability on the defensive end. He has a good three inches of height and who knows how much more of an advantage in wingspan against Parker, who is already an undersized power forward. Davis is holding players he defends to just 31.8% shooting from the floor so far this season and only 35.7% shooting from within six feet of the basket. That does not bode well for Parker in this matchup, especially considering he is going to have to put forth a lot of energy guarding Davis on the other end.

Joe Johnson, SF, Utah Jazz

FanDuel Price: $5,000

Since he exploded on opening night, Joe Johnson has put up a couple of dud games. Unless he is going for 25 points in a game, it makes it very hard for a guy like Johnson to reach value, even if he is cheap and playing a ton of minutes. The biggest factor working against him on Tuesday though is his looming matchup with the league's two-time defending defensive player of the year, Kawhi Leonard.

Leonard has been making waves with his offensive explosion to start the season, but defense is still his calling card. He hasn't shown that impressive defense just yet this season, but like a quarterback avoiding a receiver because they are being shadowed by a strong cornerback, teams might just be avoiding running plays for players being defended by Leonard. So far this season, players defended by Leonard are averaging only 7.5 shot attempts per game.

Johnson is still a good tournament play because of his ability to get hot, but outside of the second half of his game on opening night, he hasn't done much. Avoid him tonight in a slow game against another tough defensive opponent.