3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 2/12/19
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?
Rajon Rondo, PG, Los Angeles Lakers
FanDuel Price: $6,200
Rajon Rondo and the Los Angeles Lakers have one of the best matchups of the day. They own a slate-high 120.75 implied point total as they play in the game with the highest over/under (236). So, why is Rondo on the avoid list? Plain and simple, it's his playing time.
On Sunday against the Philadelphia 76ers, the Lakers switched up their starting lineup, sending Rondo to the bench and inserting newly-acquired Reggie Bullock into the starting five. Rondo finished the game with just 15.7 minutes played. He ended up scoreless (on three shots) with three rebounds and seven assists for 12.1 FanDuel points, his second game with 12.1 or fewer FanDuel points in his last three games. While the outcome on Sunday was not a win for the Lakers, it is hard to believe they will scrap Bullock starting after just one contest.
With the threat of severely depleted minutes and the wealth of playable point guard options on Tuesday’s five-game slate, Rondo is a hard pass for DFS tonight.
Rudy Gay, SF, San Antonio Spurs
FanDuel Price: $5,900
Tuesday's San Antonio Spurs-Memphis Grizzlies game is by far projected to be the lowest-scoring affair on the five-game slate. It carries an over/under of 208.5 while every other contest is over 225. Both the Spurs and Grizzlies like to play slow. Both teams rank in the bottom-nine in pace, with Memphis the slowest team in all of the Association.
That shortage of possessions may not hurt the fantasy fortunes of DeMar DeRozan or LaMarcus Aldridge, but the Spurs’ third-leading scorer -- Rudy Gay -- takes a big hit.
While his usage rate and minutes have gone up a tick with Derrick White sidelined, Gay has not gone off in fantasy, reaching 5.0 FanDuel points per $1,000 of salary just once in his last three games. The forward is coming off an injury as well. He sat out on Saturday and is probable to play Tuesday with a calf injury.
The chance of a reduced role and limited minutes will hurt against the Grizzlies, who rank in the top eight of the NBA, holding small forwards to 0.83 FanDuel points per minute.
Marcus Smart, SG, Boston Celtics
FanDuel Price: $5,400
While Marcus Smart can post a solid stat line every night, his lack of scoring lately has hurt his fantasy value.
In four of his last six games, the Boston Celtics guard has scored six or fewer points, finishing with fewer than 20 FanDuel points in each of those games. Minutes have not been a problem; he is averaging 28.1 per game since January 30. The issue has been his shot. Smart has sunk 20% or less of his attempts in three of those games including 3-for-15 (2-for-11 from three) shooting in his last two games. Tuesday’s opponent, the Philadelphia 76ers, will not help Smart get back on track, even if he sees a minutes boost with Kyrie Irving out of action.
The Sixers rank in the top-10 in opponents field goal percentage (45.4%) and three-point percentage (34.4%). Opposing shooting guards have hard a hard time racking up the fantasy points too, posting 0.81 FanDuel points per minute for the third-lowest rate in the NBA this season.
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.
