NBA

3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 2/25/16

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.

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 nice slate of NBA games on tonight, searching for the landmines could mean the difference from winning or losing your contests.

Gordon Hayward, SF, Utah Jazz

FanDuel Price: $7,700

The Spurs are coming off a nice win last night against the Kings, and now head to Salt Lake City to play the Jazz. Gordon Hayward, however, does not have the greatest matchup tonight, having to go against the number-one ranked small forward defense. With Kawhi Leonard back after missing the last three games for San Antonio, Hayward is going to have a much more difficult time scoring the ball. Leonard and the Spurs are giving up only 0.63 FanDuel points per minute to opposing small forwards this season.

On top of that, Leonard has owned Hayward in their last few meetings -- and most of their matchups in their careers in fact. In their last four meetings against one another dating back to the middle of last season, Hayward is averaging only 21 FanDuel points per game. In those four games, the former Butler Bulldog has shot the ball only 29 percent from the floor.

Leonard is holding his opponents to less than 40 percent from the floor this season, and while he is coming off of injury, he looked good last night in 28 minutes of action. At his price point of $7,700, it’s going to be hard for Hayward to get to the 35 to 40 FanDuel points you need for him to reach value tonight.

Isaiah Thomas, PG, Boston Celtics

FanDuel Price: $8,200

Isaiah Thomas is coming off a four-game stretch where he averaged 25 points and nearly 10 assists, but now he heads home to play Milwaukee tonight, a team he has struggled with in the past. Michael Carter-Williams is a lengthy and athletic point guard, and his physical attributes make him a very tough defender. Carter-Williams is holding his opponents to only 43.6 percent from the floor this season, and amongst point guards, he has the eighth best Defensive Real Plus-Minus rating at 0.75.

Before his hot streak sandwiching the All-Star Break, Thomas put up a big landmine game against Carter-Williams and the Bucks, scoring only 18 FanDuel points in 31 minutes. Thomas has now put up two dud games against the Bucks this season, shooting only 35 percent from the floor in those two games, and he has three assists and seven turnovers in those two games as well.

Carter-Williams has the Bucks as the seventh best team at defending point guards this season, giving up only 0.85 FanDuel points per minute to the position. With Thomas shooting the ball at only 41 percent from the floor at home this season, it may be wise to lay off of him for better options on tonight’s slate. His price tag on FanDuel is simply too high for his projected points tonight.

Danny Green, SG, San Antonio Spurs

FanDuel Price: $4,500

Danny Green has been fantastic over the last two games for the Spurs, and after going through what is becoming a huge regression season for the Spurs’ shooting guard, it looks as if he is slowly turning things around. Green has made five three-pointers in this last two games, but looking deeper into those games, they were against Sacramento and Phoenix, the two worst shooting guard defenses in the league.

Now Green has to play Utah and their second-ranked shooting guard defense. With Green coming off of two straight big games, and with his price tag still cheap, people are going to look at his game log and immediately roster him for some value at the two guard spot tonight.

However, in his last three seasons worth of games against the Jazz, Green has failed to reach 20 FanDuel points in every game. Plus, for a player who relies a lot on hitting shots to make value, Green is only shooting 40 percent from the floor this season on the second night of a back-to-back. Don’t chase points with Green tonight.