NBA

3 Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 1/30/19

Dale Redman  —  @DTRedman Jan 30th, 2019
C.J. McCollum has been a fantasy disaster agianst the Utah Jazz this season. Who else won't be in our NBA DFS lineups on Wednesday?

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?

C.J. McCollum, SG, Portland Trail Blazers

FanDuel Price: $7,300

After a masterful performance where he led a Damian Lillard-less Portland Trail Blazers to victory while collecting 55 FanDuel points and his first triple-double of the season, C.J. McCollum's salary jumped up to $7,300 for Wednesday. That salary would require McCollum to post 36.5 FanDuel points to achieve optimal value -- 5.0 FanDuel points per $1,000 salary. The problem is the guard has reached that number just twice in his previous seven games, before Saturday sans Dame. Reaching that number against a tough Utah Jazz defense will be a daunting challenge as well.

Utah owns a top-four defensive rating (104.8) this season as they have given up just 105.1 points per game, the third-fewest in the league. Also causing concern for McCollum's outlook on Wednesday is the Jazz allowing only 9.4 three-pointers per game in January, the fewest in the NBA. Shooting guards have had a hard getting anything going versus Utah, too, collecting just 0.75 FanDuel points per minute, the lowest rate of all 30 teams.

Wednesday will be the fourth time the Blazers and Jazz have played this season, with McCollum struggling in the three previous meetings. He has averaged just 12.3 points on 32.6% shooting so far, finishing with only 25.3 FanDuel points per contest.

Otto Porter, SF, Washington Wizards

FanDuel Price: $7,000

Over his last five games, Otto Porter has seen plenty of minutes (29.2 per game) even as he has come off the bench. Despite the wealth of playing time, the Washington Wizards' forward has struggled to get much going, particularly on offense. In the five contests, Porter is sinking just 34.8% of his 13.2 shots for only 12.0 points per game. Add in minimal contributions elsewhere -- 4.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.2 steals -- and Porter has flopped in fantasy. He has posted 28.8 or fewer FanDuel points in all five games while averaging a dismal 24.2 FanDuel points per game. That would be worth a terrible 3.45 FanDuel points per $1,000 of salary at Wednesday's cost. Making matters worse for Porter is the problematic matchup with the Indiana Pacers he faces tonight.

The Pacers rank in the top-three in defensive rating (104.7), while opponents have shot under 45% from the field this season. Indy has also allowed the sixth-fewest FanDuel points per minute to small forwards, where Porter has played 55% of his minutes.

Marvin Williams, PF, Charlotte Hornets

FanDuel Price: $5,200

While he hasn't flopped as hard as Porter over the last week-plus, Marvin Williams is not doing enough to warrant consideration of playing him on Wednesday. In his previous five games, Williams has scored 23 or fewer FanDuel points four times while averaging 10.8 points, and 5.4 rebounds for 22.4 FanDuel points in 30.7 minutes per game. Those numbers aren't that bad, but factoring his low ceiling in with the unpleasant matchup against the Boston Celtics, and you would be doing yourself a favor to stay away from Williams.

Boston ranks in the top-five of the NBA in defensive rating (104.9), opponent's field goal percentage (44.0%), three-point percentage (33.6%), and points per game (105.9). Opposing power forwards have collected just 0.90 FanDuel points per minute against Boston, the fourth-lowest rate in the league this season.

In the two games the Charlotte Hornets have played against the Celtics this season, Williams has averaged just 5.5 points and 3.5 rebounds in 25.5 minutes per game. That has left Williams with a total of 23.4 FanDuel points in the two games.

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.