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?
Eric Bledsoe, PG, Milwaukee Bucks
FanDuel Price: $7,400
Eric Bledsoe has been boom-or-bust in DFS over the last two weeks. While the Milwaukee Bucks' point guard rewarded fantasy owners with a pair of 43-plus FanDuel point performances, he also flopped hard three times. He failed to reach 4.0 points per $1,000 in each of those three, collecting 28.1 or fewer FanDuel points. In those three down nights, Bledsoe averaged 12.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 5.0 assists for 26.2 FanDuel points per contest. His usage rate was below average in those three games, and he took only 8.3 shots per game. With the Bucks squaring off with a surging Detroit Pistons' team on Wednesday, Bledsoe is looking at another dud in DFS.
A top-10 defense on the year, the Pistons have ratcheted up the pressure, posting the sixth-best defensive rating (103.3) while allowing just 104.3 points in their last six games. Opponents are struggling from beyond the arc, sinking just 26.9% of their three-pointer s during the stretch. Bledsoe averages nearly 5 attempts per game. Detroit is also limiting point guards to just 0.88 FanDuel points per minute, a bottom-10 rate in the NBA.
Jarrett Allen, C, Brooklyn Nets
FanDuel Price: $6,200
Another hit-or-miss player in DFS, Jarrett Allen has put up some bad performances lately. In four of his last seven games, the Brooklyn Nets' center has maxed out at 20.7 FanDuel points, and he's got three sub-17.3-point nights in that stretch. Over his last two, he is averaging 7.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 0.5 blocks, and 3.0 turnovers for 13.4 FanDuel points. It wasn’t a case of Allen limited court time either as the big man played 28.9 minutes per night. Those flops came against a pair of soft defenses in the Cleveland Cavaliers and Washington Wizards, leaving us no hope he can do much better against the NBA's best unit in the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Thunder lead the league in defensive rating (100.5) while posting a top-five rebound percentage (52.0%). They are holding opponents to just 97.4 points in their last 10 games. Facing Steven Adams has been a challenging for opposing centers, as the Thunder are limiting the position to just 1.0 FanDuel points per minutes, the third-lowest rate in the league and tops on Wednesday’s 10-game slate.
Evan Fournier, SG, Orlando Magic
FanDuel Price: $5,200
A DFS favorite over the last few seasons, Evan Fournier is a disaster in fantasy at the moment. In five of his last six games, the Orlando Magic guard failed to break 20.7 FanDuel points including three sub-15.2 FanDuel point nights. He is shooting 33.8% from the field and 29.6% from three for 9.5 points per night during the stretch. Fournier's usage rate has dipped too, from 24.3% for the season to under 20% in the last two weeks. Facing a Denver Nuggets team, which held him to 2-for-10 shooting and 5 points in late November, Fournier is best left out of your Wednesday lineups.
It has not been just Fournier the Nuggets have held in check either, as they limit shooting guards to 0.81 FanDuel points per minute, the fifth-lowest rate in the NBA. Overall, the Nuggets are one of the elite NBA defenses too, ranking in the top-four in points allowed (102.7), three-point defense (31.0%), and defensive rating (103.5). That leaves the Magic with the lowest implied point total of the day (101.3).
Dale Redman is not a FanDuel employee. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.