3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 2/19/16

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

Andrew Wiggins, SG, Minnesota Timberwolves

FanDuel Price: $6,600

The young Timberwolves should be rested and ready for their matchup with the Grizzlies. However, Andrew Wiggins has one of the tougher matchups of any Wolves player, and he could be in line for landmine potential tonight for a few reasons.

The loss of Marc Gasol for the Grizzlies will hurt their interior defense some. However, Memphis’ Defensive Rating goes virtually unchanged with or without Gasol this season, from 105.4 when he is on the court, to 106.1 when he is off. That leaves the defense of Memphis’ wing players to try and slow down Wiggins tonight, and through their first two meetings, while they have not limited Wiggins from scoring the ball, they have limited him to very few contributions in other categories.

So far this season, Wiggins has faced the Grizzlies twice, and in both of those games he averaged 26.6 FanDuel points because he was limited to only six rebounds in the two games combined. Scoring guards who don’t contribute in other categories are already risky in NBA DFS because, if a player's shot isn’t falling, their landmine potential goes up a lot. Tonight, Wiggins is matched up against the third ranked shooting guard defense in the NBA, so along with his price of $6,600, it makes him a less than appealing play.

John Wall, PG, Washington Wizards

FanDuel Price: $10,200

John Wall put up a masterful performance last night against the Jazz en route to a big win for the Wizards coming off the All-Star break, but now Wall has to welcome in the Pistons, a much improved team from the deadline and one that has caused him to struggle in the past.

In his last three games against Reggie Jackson and the Pistons, one this season and two towards the end of last season, Wall is averaging only 27.5 FanDuel points, which is not even close to enough for him to hit value tonight.

Seeing as you need Wall to hit the 50-point mark again tonight, it might not be a great idea to chase points with him. The Pistons are actually pretty good against point guards this season, ranking as the 13th best team defending opposing point guards. Plus, out of his 11 games on the second half of a back-to-back this season, Wall has exceeded 45 FanDuel points only four times in those games and is averaging over four turnovers per game in those 11 contests.

Julius Randle, PF, Los Angeles Lakers

FanDuel Price: $6,300

Julius Randle has had a great comeback season after injury shortened his true rookie season, but now the Lakers have a pretty tough matchup looming, as they welcome in the Spurs to the Staples Center. San Antonio played last night against the Clippers, so while they’ll be coming off the back-to-back, at least they did not have to travel.

San Antonio is the fifth toughest team against power forwards this year, and even though he doesn’t normally get enough credit for being a solid defender, LaMarcus Aldridge is holding his defensive matchups to only 43.2 percent from the floor this season.

On top of that, Larry Nance Jr. put in a full practice for the Lakers yesterday, and he looks like he is good to return to the court tonight. Nance’s presence has tempered Randle’s minutes in the past, and after averaging nearly 32 minutes per game in his last seven games, Randle could be back in the 25-minute range, which would potentially make him a huge landmine considering his inflated price tag.