NBA

3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 3/14/19

Dale Redman  —  @DTRedman Mar 14th, 2019
Dwight Powell's price is up, and he may struggle to live up to it against Denver. Who else are we staying away from in NBA DFS tonight?

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?

Dwight Powell, PF, Dallas Mavericks

FanDuel Price: $6,800

Since moving into the Dallas Mavericks' starting lineup, Dwight Powell has seen his salary skyrocket due to some monstrous performances. A $6,800 price tag may not seem like too much cash to spend on a player averaging 34.2 FanDuel points in a starting role. Over his last three games, though, Powell has came back down to earth, averaging only 27.6 FanDuel points per night -- just over 4.0 FanDuel points per $1,000 of salary at this price.

The drop in production is the result of a pair of disappointing scoring nights. He's scored 13 or fewer real-world points in two of those last three games. Facing the Denver Nuggets today, it appears points will still be hard to come by for Powell and the entire Mavericks’ squad.

Dallas carries an implied point total of 104.75 on Thursday, the second-lowest of the 12 teams in action. In fact, since the All-Star break, the Mavs are the worst scoring team in the NBA (103.1) while the Nuggets own the fourth-best defensive rating (105.5). Add in Denver posting a league-high 53,9% rebound percentage, and Powell could be in for a long night, disappointing those who spent up for him.

Steven Adams, C, Oklahoma City Thunder

FanDuel Price: $6,700

Another big man whose performance has taken a step back in recent weeks is Steven Adams. The Oklahoma City Thunder center is still seeing hefty minutes in his last four games (33.6) but has posted a minuscule line of 10.8 points and 7.8 rebounds. Adams has failed to record a double-double in any of the games, finishing with fewer than 30 FanDuel points in all but one game.

The slight dip in production comes at a bad time for Adams, too, as the Thunder face off with Myles Turner and the Indiana Pacers on Thursday.

Turner has been an elite rim protector all year long, leading the league in blocks (174), blocks per game (2.9) and block percentage (8.9%). The Pacers’ center also holds those he defends to a 50.1% shooting percentage -- 7.6 percentage points fewer than expected. A tough break for Adams as 94.1% of his shots come from within 10 feet of the basket. As you would expect, opposing centers have struggled against Indy in DFS, averaging just 1.09 FanDuel points per minute, the fifth-lowest rate in the NBA this season.

Bogdan Bogdanovic, SG, Sacramento Kings

FanDuel Price: $5,300

Over the last 10 days, Bogdan Bogdanovic has seen his salary plummet from $6,800 to 5,300.

The dramatic drop is not unwarranted as the Sacramento Kings’ guard has averaged just 11.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 3.0 assists in 30.8 minutes per game since March 1. He finished with 22 or fewer FanDuel points in four of his last five games as he posted just 21.1 FanDuel points a night in that span.

The best game during the stretch came against Thursday’s opponent, the Boston Celtics. Even that performance was a disappointment, though. Bogdanovic posted just 24.2 FanDuel points as he finished the night with 14 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists. He overachieved in the affair, too, sinking four of six three-pointers. Bogdanovic is shooting just 34.1% from deep this season.

For the year, the Celtics are pretty stout along the perimeter, limiting opponents to 34.1% shooting from beyond the arc, the fourth-lowest rate in the NBA. In DFS, opposing shooting guards and small forwards -- where Bogdanovic splits his playing time -- struggle against Boston as the C’s allow bottom-seven FanDuel-points-per-minute rates to both positions.


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.