3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 3/21/16

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.

John Wall, PG, Washington Wizards

FanDuel Price: $9,900

The Wizards have been underachieving this season, but John Wall most certainly has not. Wall has been one of the best fantasy point guards in the NBA this year, but now he runs up against a tougher matchup against the suddenly stifling Hawks' defense. Atlanta lost their way defensively in the beginning of the season, but now they post the second best Defensive Rating of any team this season at 101.3, and they are slowly but surely regaining the form that sent them to the Eastern Conference Finals a year ago.

Wall has to go up against this improved defense tonight -- and on the road no less. The Hawks have jumped to the fifth best team at defending point guards this season, giving up only 0.83 FanDuel points per minute to the position. However, while Wall has beaten tough matchups before, what really puts him squarely in the landmine category for tonight is his recent performance against much worse defensive teams.

Wall has averaged over 50 FanDuel points per game over his last three contests, but they were also against the Bulls, Sixers and Knicks. Those three teams rank 28th, 27th and 19th, respectfully, against point guards this season, so expecting similar results tonight in a much tougher matchup on the road for Wall might be foolish.

Two of those three games were at home, and the one that was on the road was in Philadelphia, where Wall almost completed a quadruple-double if you count his nine turnovers. Wall is shooting only 41 percent from the floor on the road this season, and in his first meeting with the Hawks, while he did have a double–double with 19 points and 11 assists, he also turned the ball over 7 times.

Nicolas Batum, SF, Charlotte Hornets

FanDuel Price: $8,000

The Charlotte Hornets have had a ton of success this season, and a big part of their success was bringing in Nicolas Batum. However, tonight against the Spurs, where almost everyone ends up as a landmine, Batum is very much a player you will want to leave off your rosters. In his first game against the Spurs this season, Batum had only 22.8 FanDuel points, and considering his price has been steadily rising after a string of very good games, it is time to sell high on Batum this evening.

The Spurs rank as the best team against small forwards this year when it comes to FanDuel points per game, and a big reason for that is, of course, Kawhi Leonard. The reigning Defensive Player of the Year is holding players he defends to only 39.3 percent from the floor this season, which is 5.4 percentage points better than those players' averages from the floor.

Once again though, much like with Wall, recency comes into play with Batum. While most people realize the Spurs are a tougher matchup, Batum is averaging over 40 FanDuel points per game in his last six games. I think most of us would be pretty surprised to see Batum get to 40 fantasy points tonight.

Nikola Jokic, C, Denver Nuggets

FanDuel Price: $6,200

This year’s rookie class has proven time and again to be one of the better groups of first-year players the league has seen in some time, and Nikola Jokic is just another example of that. The Nuggets got a steal when they drafted Jokic with the 41st overall pick back in 2014, and after another year overseas, Jokic has burst onto the scene for the Nuggets in a big way this year, with per 36 averages of 17.3 points, 11.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists. However, the Nuggets aren’t riding him into the ground like they were at times earlier in the season, which is wise considering their playoff hopes are essentially dead.

However, Jokic’s lack of minutes recently is a big red flag when it comes to his potential fantasy value, especially when you consider his matchup against the Cavaliers tonight. The Cavs are the best team in the NBA against centers this season, giving up only 0.88 FanDuel points per minute to the position. Jokic has seen only 30 minutes twice this entire month, and recently, his time on the court has been trending downward. The Serbian big man is averaging only 23 minutes per game over the Nuggets’ last five games.

Even though Jokic is still averaging well over a fantasy point per minute during those last five games, it’s hard to trust the rookie tonight in a tougher matchup on the road, especially if he can’t stay on the court for whatever reason. Even though center is a tough position to pick tonight, Jokic should only be limited to a contrarian tournament play tonight against Cleveland.