NBA

3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 4/6/18

Jordan Sharp  —  @TehSharp Apr 6th, 2018
If the Lakers are intent on giving Ivica Zubac more of a look, Brook Lopez becomes a fade in DFS on Friday.

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?

Brook Lopez, C, Los Angeles Lakers

FanDuel Price: $5,700

The Los Angeles Lakers have been talking about giving Ivica Zubac more minutes for more than a month, but then we saw Brook Lopez play over 31 minutes per game in March. However, Zubac played a season-high 29 minutes Wednesday while Lopez only played 23.

If the Lakers are going to finally prioritize getting Zubac some looks over the final few games of the season, Lopez is a player to steer clear of in DFS. His minutes have been trending down in April, and tonight our models project Lopez for 26 FanDuel points in just over 25 minutes.

Bojan Bogdanovic, SF, Indiana Pacers

FanDuel Price: $4,700

Bojan Bogdanovic and the Indiana Pacers are coming off one of their biggest wins of the season on Thursday against the Golden State Warriors, but on Friday they have to play on the road against the Toronto Raptors in a very tough turnaround.

Not only will the Pacers likely have some tired legs after beating the defending champs on Thursday, but the Raptors' wing defense has been especially stout this season. Toronto is holding small forwards to just 0.77 FanDuel points per minute this year, so Bogdanovic is probably a fade. Bogdanovic does have one strong game against Toronto at home this season, but in his other two games facing the Raps, he shot a combined 3-for-20 from the field.

Cameron Payne, PG, Chicago Bulls

FanDuel Price: $4,600

As an alumnus of Murray State Racers and a Chicago Bulls fan, it pains me doubly to list Cameron Payne as a landmine on Friday. But the Bulls' point guard is shooting only 15-for-42 (35.7%) over his last five games, and he has played 25 or fewer minutes in four of those five games.

On top of that, the Boston Celtics have been very efficient at slowing down opposing point guards this season, limiting them to 0.85 FanDuel points per minute, which ranks 4th-best in our DvP Matchup Chart. All of these factors make Payne a tough player to target despite his cheap price point.

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.