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 takes only one player to sink a lineup. Searching for the landmines could mean the difference between winning and losing your contests.
Dario Saric, PF, Philadelphia 76ers
FanDuel Price: $6,400
Dario Saric's value would change tonight if Joel Embiid is on the court. After it was announced Wednesday that the Sixers' center might miss a few more games, Embiid was a surprise upgrade to questionable tonight after participating in shootaround.
Saric still has some value with Embiid on the court, but his usage tends to drop pretty significantly. According to NBA Wowy, Saric's usage rate drops from 22.9% without Embiid, to 16.7% with Embiid on the court.
Furthermore, this isn't the best matchup for Saric anyway. According to our DvP Matchup Chart, the Toronto Raptors are holding opposing power forwards to just 0.87 FanDuel points per minute, which ranks sixth-best in the league.
Rodney Hood, SG, Utah Jazz
FanDuel Price: $5,600
Rodney Hood put up a dud on Wednesday night in a nice spot, without Donovan Mitchell playing for the Utah Jazz. And if Mitchell is able to make his return tonight, that could put even more of a damper on Hood's fantasy value.
On top of the unknown of Mitchell, the Spurs have been lights out against shooting guards this season defensively, allowing just 0.77 FanDuel points per minute to the position. If Mitchell plays and Hood goes back to the bench, that just makes Hood an even bigger fade on Thursday with both teams coming off games the night before.
Troy Daniels, SG, Phoenix Suns
FanDuel Price: $4,800
After Troy Daniels exploded for an impressive 32 points last Wednesday, the Phoenix Suns signed Isaiah Canaan off the street and that has thrown the Suns' guard rotation for a loop.
Daniels has still put up good shooting numbers off the bench, but his minutes have trended down lately, and he's only played a total of 41 minutes in his last two games.
With a poor matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies, who are allowing just 0.80 FanDuel points per minute to shooting guards, don't expect much from Daniels on the second night of a back-to-back Thursday.
Jordan Sharp is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jordan Sharp also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username TEHSHARP. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.