NBA

3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 12/18/17

Jordan Sharp  —  @TehSharp Dec 18th, 2017
Gary Harris is usually a strong DFS value, but Monday presents a tough spot against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

In daily fantasy basketball, finding players you want to roster is a lot easier than finding players to avoid.

You can find a ton of great information and research on guys you might want to include in your DFS NBA lineups, but what about 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. After all, it takes only one player to sink a lineup. Searching for the landmines could mean the difference between winning and losing your contests.

Gary Harris, SG, Denver Nuggets

FanDuel Price: $6,700

It kind of hurts to include Gary Harris is this article, but Monday brings a really tough matchup for Harris and the Denver Nuggets. The Oklahoma City Thunder have been strong defensively this season with a 103.7 defensive rating, and they have been especially good against guards.

Shooting guards are averaging just 0.78 FanDuel points per minute against the Thunder this season, and Andre Roberson and Paul George have a lot to do with that.

With Roberson holding players he defends to just 42.5% shooting from the floor and 34.3% from the three-point line, Harris has a tough pathway to reach value. The last time Harris played against the Thunder, he was limited to just 18.5 FanDuel points.

Ricky Rubio, PG, Utah Jazz

FanDuel Price: $4,900

Ricky Rubio is in a tough spot on Monday against the Houston Rockets. Even though it should be a pace-up game for the Jazz, Rubio's matchup against Chris Paul will be a challenge.

The Houston Rockets are holding point guards to just 0.81 FanDuel points per minute, and in their 15 career meetings in the regular season, Rubio is averaging just 7.4 points and 7.6 assists with a 28.6% field goal percentage against CP3.

Furthermore, with Rudy Gobert back on the shelf, and Derrick Favors ruled out already, Rubio doesn't have a lot of assist options. Gobert and Favors have accounted for about one out of every three of Rubio's assists this season.

Bojan Bogdanovic, SF, Indiana Pacers

FanDuel Price: $4,600

Bojan Bogdanovic has been a bargain for the Indiana Pacers this season, but tonight against the Boston Celtics may be a night where you'll want to lay off the sharpshooting swingman.

The Celtics are holding opposing small forwards to just 0.79 FanDuel points per minute, and Bogdanovic is coming off a poor total of just 10.2 FanDuel points in his last matchup with Boston.


Jordan Sharp is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jordan Sharp also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username TEHSHARP. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.