NBA

3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 4/6/17

Jordan Sharp  —  @TehSharp Apr 6th, 2017
Al Horford gets a very tough matchup against the Houston Rockets on Thursday. Who else should you avoid in tonight's NBA DFS contests?

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 in your DFS NBA lineups, but what about 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. After all, it only takes one player to sink a lineup. Searching for the landmines could mean the difference from winning or losing your contests.

Al Horford, C, Boston Celtics

FanDuel Price: $7,100

The Boston Celtics lost a tough one last night against the Cleveland Cavaliers. While it is still mathematically possible for them to retake the East's 1 seed, getting rest and staying health may be more important for Boston, even with a young and pretty inexperienced team.

Al Horford could be a candidate to get some rest before the playoffs, but he has a lot working against him in a tough matchup against Dwight Howard on the second night of a back-to-back set. Howard and the Atlanta Hawks have held opposing centers to 0.89 FanDuel points per minute this season, and so far in two matchups against Howard this season, Horford has not performed well.

In their last meeting, in which Horford was also coming off a tough game the night before, the Celtics' center was limited to only 21.7 FanDuel points. With Horford owning the toughest matchup of any player tonight, according to our DvP Matchup chart, it would be best to avoid him.

Jeff Teague, PG, Indiana Pacers

FanDuel Price: $7,000

Jeff Teague played well in the month of March, until the very end. The Indiana Pacers point guard is suddenly struggling with his shot, and they need him to be playing well right now if they want to sneak into the playoffs. Teague is 16-for-40 shooting from the floor over his last four games and that seems unlikely to improve on Thursday against the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Bucks have owned Teague so far this season -- in three games, he's turned the ball over 12 times and is averaging just 25.4 FanDuel points per game.

Milwaukee is holding opposing point guards to 0.85 FanDuel points per minute, and with his struggles this season going against the Bucks, it's doubtful Teague has a big performance. Both teams are fighting for playoff positioning, which could lead to a very defensive game.

Markieff Morris, PF, Washington Wizards

FanDuel Price: $5,400

Markieff Morris has been playing well lately, but his minutes have been all over the place. He has played as many as 34 minutes and as few as 15 in his last four games, which makes him very tough to target in NBA DFS.

Facing the New York Knicks on Thursday, the Washington Wizards need a win to keep up their quest to move into the 3 seed in the East. Morris is going to have a potentially hard time helping them do that since he'll be dealing with Kristaps Porzingis, though.

Porzingis is holding players he defends to 42.3% shooting, including 49.3% within 10 feet, and although Morris had a big game against the Knicks earlier this season, Porzingis did not play it due to an illness. Look for the Knicks' big man to slow down Morris again tonight.