NBA

3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 2/18/16

Jordan Sharp  —  @TehSharp Feb 18th, 2016
Finding players you want to roster is a lot easier than finding players to avoid. Here are three players based on their price and matchups who could be landmines for your rosters tonight.

Welcome back from the All-Star break!

Finding players you want to roster is a lot easier than finding players to avoid. Here are three players based on their price and matchups that could be landmines for your rosters tonight.

You can find a ton of great information and research on guys you might want to include in your DFS NBA lineups tonight, but what about some 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 each night. After all, it takes only one player to sink a lineup.

With a small slate of NBA games on tonight, searching for the landmines could mean the difference from winning or losing your contests.

Pau Gasol, C, Chicago Bulls

FanDuel Price: $9,000

Given the trade rumors surrounding Pau Gasol, he's a landmine on Thursday night. Even if he is still wearing the red and black, he might not be a great player to target.

Gasol had a huge game against Cleveland about three weeks ago where he dropped 48 FanDuel points, which was supposed to be the Bulls breaking through the barrier from good to great team. Instead, Chicago has gone 2-7 since that game, and while it was a long time ago, Gasol also has a game against Cleveland on opening night where he only scored 18.4 FanDuel points in 32 minutes.

Tonight might be more like the first game of the season. Cleveland ranks second in the league against centers this season, and no matter if it’s Tristan Thompson or Timofey Mozgov guarding Gasol, the Cavs have enough firepower to slow down the Bulls' big man.

Mozgov is holding his defensive matchups to only 43.5 percent from the floor, and if you take away Gasol’s big game in Cleveland three weeks ago, in his last two trips to Cleveland as a Bull, he has shot a combined 37 percent from the floor and averaged fewer than 30 FanDuel points in those two games.

It should be noted that our algorithm likes Gasol tonight, but for the reasons above, I'm staying away.

J.J. Redick, SG, Los Angeles Clippers

FanDuel Price: $5,000

Coming off the All-Star break, everyone should be fresh and rested, and that includes the Spurs’ defense. San Antonio comes into this game as the second best team defending shooting guards in the league, and J.J. Redick has landmine potential from the start tonight. He has also been rather consistent in the Clippers' last two games heading into the All-Star break, making his ownership potentially higher tonight.

Redick has scored 55 FanDuel points in his last two games, and with only three games on this Thursday slate, Redick’s ownership might exceed his potential to hit or exceed value tonight. Danny Green has been criticized this season because of his poor three-point shooting, which is the lowest since his second year in the NBA at 35.9 percent. However, he is posting a career-best Defensive Rating of 98. The last time Redick played the Spurs, he shot the ball well, making three of six from beyond the arc, but he didn’t contribute much else to the game and ended with only 17.9 FanDuel points.

Marcin Gortat, C, Washington Wizards

FanDuel Price: $6,900

For a while this season Marcin Gortat was the “it” center almost every time he played. The Wizards’ frontcourt was depleted, and Bradley Beal was still out, so Gortat had to take on a much bigger role. However, it hasn’t been as wide open for Gortat in the last two games heading into the break. While Gortat easily averaged over a fantasy point per minute in those two games, Gortat played fewer than 30 minutes in both of them. With his current price tag, that may be a recipe for disaster if his minutes are still lower tonight.

Rudy Gobert has established himself as one of the best young defensive centers in the NBA right now, and he is holding his opponents to less than 45 percent from the floor this season. Utah is also the third best team against centers this year in fantasy points allowed to centers, and while the options at center are limited tonight, Gortat may fall short of the 34.5 FanDuel points he needs to reach value.