3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 4/8/16
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 larger slate of NBA games on tonight, searching for the landmines could mean the difference from winning or losing your contests.
Victor Oladipo, SG, Orlando Magic
FanDuel Price: $8,200
Victor Oladipo has had an up-and-down season, but when he is hot, you have to roster him on his big nights to win a GPP because, when he goes off, he goes off. However, when he is on a cold streak, or maybe in a matchup that you want to avoid, he can blow up your entire lineup. The latter may be the case here tonight against the Miami Heat. Even though the Heat are coming off the back-to-back, they are still in need of a win here tonight. If Miami does win and Boston loses, they will jump back into the 4 seed and the home-court advantage picture in the first round of the playoffs.
With that in mind, I doubt Miami sits anyone out here on the second night of a back-to-back. On top of that, Nikola Vucevic has been back for some time now, and he started the second half of Orlando’s last game. This tells me that he might be ready to resume starting for the Magic, and that seriously cuts into Oladipo’s Usage Rate. According to NBAwowy, Oladipo has the highest Usage Rate of any player on Orlando when Vucevic is out at 24.6 percent, but it drops to 21.7 percent when Vucevic is back on the court.
In a below-average matchup against the Heat tonight, who rank fourth-best against shooting guards this season, allowing only 0.71 FanDuel points per minute to the position, Oladipo exposure should be limited.
Shane Larkin, PG, Brooklyn Nets
FanDuel Price: $4,700
The Nets have been flip-flopping point guards over the last few months ever since Jarrett Jack went down with his torn ACL, and recently, Shane Larkin has been the flavor of the week. He has played well, too. Larkin is averaging close to 27 FanDuel points per game over his last four games. However, those four teams also rank 17th through 20th against point guards this season.
Now, Larkin has to face a point guard defense in Charlotte that ranks 11th-best in the NBA, allowing only 0.85 FanDuel points per minute to the position. In addition to Larkin's price increase, Charlotte needs this win to be in play for home-court advantage.
This season, Charlotte has been one of the best home defensive teams in the league. Their Defensive Rating is 99.2 in Time Warner Arena, which ranks them sixth-best among home teams this season. It’s not out of the question for Larkin to exceed value, but his recent consistency makes his ownership potential high tonight. Fading him in tournaments could pay off.
Marcus Morris, SF, Detroit Pistons
FanDuel Price: $5,700
Marcus Morris gets to face off against his twin brother, Markieff Morris, in a showdown between the Wizards and Pistons. Morris has not fared well against his twin brother recently.
In two games this season against the Wizards with his brother on the roster, Morris is averaging just 9 points per game and only 18 FanDuel points per game. While he has had a good game against Markieff earlier this season, that was with his brother still on the Suns, and -- of course -- Phoenix is one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA.
While Washington has not been that tough of a matchup for small forwards this year, they have been deadly against small forwards over the last three weeks. In that time span, the Wizards have ranked fourth-best against small forwards, giving up only 0.71 FanDuel points per minute to the position.
