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. Which players should we avoid tonight?
Dennis Smith, PG, Dallas Mavericks
FanDuel Price: $7,700
Dennis Smith returned from injury on Saturday and made his mark with 21 real-world points against the Charlotte Hornets. Even though Smith is up against the lowly Sacramento Kings tonight, his fantasy outlook isn't the greatest.
Dallas has the second-lowest implied total of all teams on the slate at 99.75, and the Kings haven't been bad at defending point guards this season, limiting them to 0.92 FanDuel points per minute. Smith has shot just 10 for 30 in his first two matchups against Sacramento, and our models like him for only 32.2 FanDuel points, which is not enough to pay for Smith's lofty price tag.
Quinn Cook, PG, Golden State Warriors
FanDuel Price: $6,000
Despite Stephen Curry being out, Quinn Cook has a tough matchup at home on Tuesday against the Indiana Pacers. If the Pacers put Victor Oladipo in charge of defending Cook, it might be hard for the Warriors' guard to pay off his salary.
The Pacers are limiting point guards to 0.84 FanDuel points per minute, which ranks second-best. Oladipo not only leads the league in steals and steals per game, but he is holding players he defends to 34.9% shooting outside 15 feet of the basket. Nearly 60% of Cook's shot attempts this season have come from 16 feet or further, so it's not a great draw for Cook if Oladipo is across from him tonight.
Jerian Grant, PG, Chicago Bulls
FanDuel Price: $4,900
Even with Kris Dunn continuing to sit out after a setback on his toe injury, Jerian Grant has watched as Cameron Payne has taken control of the Chicago Bulls' starting point guard spot down the stretch.
Grant had a double-double off the bench on Saturday, but he's a potential landmine Tuesday night against a tougher defense. The Houston Rockets will have Chris Paul back in the lineup, and so far this season, the Rockets are holding point guards to just 0.85 FanDuel points per minute.
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.