3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 3/23/16

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.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, SF, Milwaukee Bucks

FanDuel Price: $10,000

If Giannis Antetokounmpo was a stock being traded on the market, he would probably be Netflix because the young Greek forward has shot up in value in a short amount of time and he has finally reached that daunting price tag of $10,000. While he deserves to be priced this high, on a night like tonight, you have to ask yourself if he can truly pay off this massive price tag after being priced around $7,500 just one month ago.

Tonight, the Bucks have a very tough matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers, and while Antetokounmpo has dropped 33 points on the Cavs this season, he likely is going to need every bit of that tonight to pay off his price tag. As long as he plays and doesn’t rest, the defense of LeBron James might go a long way in slowing down The Greek Freak tonight.

James is holding players he defends to only 37.3 percent from the floor, which is 7.4 percent lower than those players' averages. He has also been limiting players he defends to shooting under 50 percent inside six feet, which is a full 10 percentage points lower than their average shooting percentages. That has led the Cavs to being ranked third-best against small forwards this season, giving up only 0.71 FanDuel points per minute to the position.

Tonight, we have Antetokounmpo projected for 16.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 35 minutes against the Cavs. At this point, FanDuel’s price for Antetokounmpo is simply too high, and as long as James plays tonight, it makes it very tough to roster the Greek Freak.

Rudy Gobert, C, Utah Jazz

FanDuel Price: $6,200

Sometimes there are players who always seem to get the best of other players, and despite coming off a tough loss last night in Oklahoma City, Dwight Howard is heading back home to face off against Rudy Gobert. The young French center has not been at his best so far through five career games against Howard, and tonight might prove to be more of the same with the Jazz on the road.

Utah has not been great as a team on the road this season, and while Gobert is averaging basically the same numbers on the road as he is at home, the one glaring difference is his shooting percentage. Gobert is averaging 52.2 percent shooting on the road this season, compared to 61.6 percent at home. Plus, even though the Rockets are ranked 20th defending centers this season, Gobert’s track record against Howard has not been good.

In five career games against Howard, Gobert is averaging only 3.6 points and 4.2 rebounds. Now, some of those games were as a rookie where Gobert wasn’t starting, and even once this season they played one another in Gobert’s first game back from injury. However, even in the three games where Gobert got at least 24 minutes, he only averaged 16.7 FanDuel points per game and only 0.59 FanDuel points per minute. Even though Howard is nowhere close to the defender he once was, he still gives Gobert trouble for some reason.

Luol Deng, PF, Miami Heat

FanDuel Price: $6,200

FanDuel has recently changed Luol Deng's position eligibility from a small forward to a power forward, and although that is more accurate to the position he is playing in Miami’s starting lineup, the change does not help Deng’s value as a DFS play. It is usually a lot harder to find small forwards to roster than it is power forwards, and now, coming off the back-to-back and going against San Antonio, the Heat swingman is likely a landmine candidate tonight.

Deng has also been in a shooting slump over his last two games, shooting only 2-of-10 in his last two games. Going against the Spurs isn’t going to help that. He will have to start out defending LaMarcus Aldridge in this one, but don’t be surprised if we see the Spurs put Kawhi Leonard on Deng some as well in this game. Either way, Deng had only 11 points and 2 rebounds in his first meeting with the Spurs this season, and the Heat got blown out in that game.

On top of that, while Deng has not been bad off back-to-backs this season, playing one that is a tough matchup is a different animal. If you take away the recent game where the Heat played the Wizards on no rest without Dwyane Wade, Deng is averaging only 20.6 FanDuel points per game in 10 of his last 11 games on no rest. Combine that now against the best small forward and fourth-best power forward defenses in the league, and it may be wise to lay off Deng -- or at least limit your exposure to the Miami veteran tonight.