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

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

Chandler Parsons, SF, Dallas Mavericks

FanDuel Price: $7,100

When you go to the store and you see something you want priced at $9.99 or $19.99, for some magic reason it always seems like a better deal than if it was listed for $10 or $20. I feel the same wasy about Chandler Parsons in tonight’s matchup against the Cavaliers. If Parsons was $6,900, I would feel a little better about taking a risk with him tonight, but now at a price of $7,100, Parsons has enetered the landmine territory this evening.

The Cavaliers rank as the third-best team at defending small forwards this season, giving up 0.71 FanDuel points per minute to the position. A big reason for this, of course, is LeBron James. However, the Cavs have already announced that they are planning on resting some guys this week. But as long as James is in the lineup against Parsons, I am laying off the Mavs’ forward.

James is holding players he defends to 37.1 percent from the floor, a full seven percentage points better than those players' average shooting percentages. On top of all that, Parsons is coming off a huge performance against the Hornets where he had nearly 47 FanDuel points. That’s going to be tough to duplicate tonight against Cleveland as long as James is playing, so don’t chase points with Parsons tonight.

Jeff Teague, PG, Atlanta Hawks

FanDuel Price: $6,400

Jeff Teague has had an interesting season. He has once again been a big part of the Hawks’ success, but it’s becoming clear that he may not have a future in Atlanta. Dennis Schroder has been eating up more and more of his minutes, and tonight, Teague goes against an underrated defensive matchup in the Pistons. Even though his price is fair, and even though Reggie Jackson doesn’t pose a huge defensive threat, the Pistons still rank as the ninth-best team in defending point guards this season, as they are giving up 0.86 FanDuel points per minute to the position.

With how up-and-down Teague’s minutes have been recently, along with the below average matchup, it could be a good idea to limit your exposure to Teague, especially in cash games. Teague has seen fewer than 30 minutes in his last three games in a row, and the Hawks are starting to realize their offense might run better without him. With Teague on the court this season, the Hawks’ Offenisve Rating is 103.8. With him off the court that number jumps to 106.9.

With the exception of their most recent game against the Pistons right before Christmas, Teague has struggled against Jackson since he moved to the Pistons. In his two games against Jackson prior to the one in December, Teague failed to reach 20 FanDuel points in each of them. On top of that, heading out on the road has never been Teague’s friend. The Hawks’ point guard is shooting just over 40 percent from the floor on the road, so don’t be surprised if he has an off night.

Tobias Harris, PF, Detroit Pistons

FanDuel Price: $5,800

Unlike Parsons, who is slightly overpriced, FanDuel has a pretty fair price for Tobias Harris tonight. However, while he put up his first big dud with the Pistons two nights ago against the Wizards, he might be in line for another landmine performance against one of the better defensive teams in the NBA, the Hawks. Atlanta currently ranks second in the league in Defensive Rating at 101.2, and Paul Millsap is an incredibly tough matchup for Harris.

In his two previous games against the Hawks this season as a member of the Magic, Harris put up two huge landmine games. He averaged only about 20 FanDuel points in those two games, and he was a combined 4-of-16 from the floor in both games. The Hawks' defense has just been improving since then, and while he doesn’t get the credit for it most nights, Millsap’s defense is very much above average.

On the season, Millsap is holding players he defends to 44.3 percent from the floor and only 55.3 percent from inside six feet. Both are above average defensive numbers for the Hawks’ big man. While some might be looking for a bounce back game from Harris, he could very easily put up another poor shooting night in this tough defensive test.