NBA

3 Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 1/31/19

Dale Redman  —  @DTRedman Jan 31st, 2019
Klay Thompson has struggled to produce since DeMarcus Cousins entered the Warriors' lineup. Who else are we staying away from in DFS on Thursday?

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. Which players should we avoid tonight?

Brandon Ingram, SF, Los Angeles Lakers

FanDuel Price: $7,100

Brandon Ingram has been on a remarkable heater this week, averaging 44.6 FanDuel points per game. The Los Angeles Lakers' forward has shot an unsustainable 80.6% (25-for-31) from the field for 29.0 points on over 15 shots per game. The scoring is a dramatic jump from his year-long average of 16.4 points per game and helped to boost his salary to over $7,000 for just the third time this season. Ingram has collected the 35.5 FanDuel points he would need to reach value on Thursday just eight times in his 40 games played this season (20%).

Besides the hot shooting, Ingram benefited from the absence of Kyle Kuzma from the Lakers' lineup. Kuzma was leading the Lakers with 21.5 points per game while LeBron James has been out of action. Thursday, against their Staples Center roommates, the Los Angeles Clippers, Kuzma is looking likely to make his return, reducing Ingram’s fantasy outlook and role in the offense.

The last time these two teams faced off -- Kuzma played and James did not -- Ingram managed just 24.4 FanDuel points as he tallied 17 points and 7 rebounds in 32.9 minutes.

Klay Thompson, SG, Golden State Warriors

FanDuel Price: $6,900

Klay Thompson has never had an issue scoring points. The Golden State Warriors' guard is averaging 21.7 points per game while sinking 46.2% of his shots. Even over the last few games, with DeMarcus Cousins in the lineup, Thompson has maintained a solid scoring line with 20.4 points in the five games Cousins has played. The issue with Thompson, though, is his lack of contributions elsewhere for DFS purposes.

In those five games with Boogie, Thompson has averaged just 2.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 0.6 steals, and 0.4 blocks per night. He ended up with 28 or fewer FanDuel points in four of those five games, despite playing well over 32 minutes a game. The presence of Cousins has also dropped Thompson's usage rate by 4.5 percentage points (down to 22.2%). Facing the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday, Thompson will have to work extra hard on his reduced touches to reach value in fantasy.

The Sixers hold their opponents to bottom-10 shooting percentage from the field (45.2%) and three (34.6%). Thompson will also have to contend with Jimmy Butler, who held him to 1-for-6 shooting (16.7%) on the 33 possessions Butler guarded him earlier this season.

Thaddeus Young, PF, Indiana Pacers

FanDuel Price: $5,900

In the last three games, the Indiana Pacers' offense as a whole has struggled. They are scoring just 97.3 points per game and are feeling the full effect of being without Victor Oladipo. It was believed Thaddeus Young would need to step up and take a more prominent role in the offense, but so far that has not materialized.

In those last three games, Young is averaging just 10.3 points on 8.3 shots per game. His usage rate has risen to 21.3% in the two games, but the increased production is not there. Young has finished with a disappointing 23.8 FanDuel points per game. Facing the Orlando Magic, who have been surprisingly tough on power forwards, Young could be in for another long night.

The Magic have surrendered just 0.88 FanDuel points per minute to the position, the second-lowest rate in the NBA this season. Orlando has also tightened up on defense overall, allowing 103 or fewer points in three of their last five games. Thursday's matchup carries a low over/under (209.5) while the Pacers are implied at just 103.25 points against the Magic. The lack of scoring makes it a good idea to avoid the matchup, and therefore Young, on a six-game slate.


Dale Redman is not a FanDuel employee. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.