3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 3/8/16

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

Al Horford, C, Atlanta Hawks

FanDuel Price: $7,400

Al Horford has been about as up-and-down from a DFS perspective this season as you can get, and while he has shown he can beat tough matchups, he has one of the toughest tonight against the Jazz. Utah ranks as the second best team against centers this year, giving up 0.88 FanDuel points per minute to the position. With how defensive this game could end up being, it might be wise to look for other options at center.

Both of these teams rank inside the top 12 in Defensive Efficiency this season, and going up against the Jazz and Rudy Gobert is nothing to get excited about for Horford tonight. Gobert is holding players he defends to only 43.7 percent from the floor, which is almost four percentage points lower than the averages of the players he has faced this season, and he gets even better close to the basket. Gobert is limiting players he defends to only 50.2 percent inside three feet, which is a full 10 percentage points lower than the averages of the players he has faced this year.

On top of all this, Horford’s price is $7,400. His price has been slowly descending from $7,900 a few games ago, but he has also fallen under value in three straight games. All three of those games were against very beatable matchups, including the Lakers, Clippers and Warriors, who all three are in the bottom 12 against centers this season. Don’t expect a bounce back from Horford tonight in a tough matchup.

Andrew Wiggins, SG, Minnesota Timberwolves

FanDuel Price: $6,100

The Wolves played last night, and even though it looked like they were going to get blown out in the first half, they fought back and made the game a close one down the stretch. Andrew Wiggins played a big part in that, scoring 25 points on 11-of-17 from the floor, but now after having to travel from Charlotte to Minnesota on the second night of a back-to-back, Wiggins and the Wolves welcome in a tough matchup in the San Antonio Spurs.

The Spurs played last night and lost as well, which could be bad news for the Wolves, who haven’t been great on no rest. The Spurs have an average margin of victory of more than 17 points when they are coming off a loss, and with the Spurs ranked number one against shooting guards this season, Wiggins’ prospects don’t look great.

In his last two meetings with the Spurs this season, Wiggins averaged only 21.3 FanDuel points, and while Danny Green's defense has not been as good this season, he is still a formidable matchup for a potentially tired Wiggins. The Spurs are giving up only 0.65 FanDuel points per minute to shooting guards this season.

Donald Sloan, PG, Brooklyn Nets

FanDuel Price: $4,400

Not only does Donald Sloan have a tough matchup tonight against the Raptors, but the Nets' point guard has also been losing a lot of his minutes recently to Shane Larkin. Even though Sloan has started the last two games, his minutes have been in the teens, and his production has suffered because of it. Now against the Raptors, who rank as the third best team against point guards, Sloan should probably be avoided this evening.

Sloan has had some success against the Raptors this year, which could lead players to believe that he is a sneaky option tonight. Back in the middle of January, Sloan had nearly 30 FanDuel points on the road against Toronto, but just 10 days before that, he had 2 points, 4 assists and 4 turnovers in his first meeting with the Raptors.

With the possibility that he could lose a lot of his minutes again tonight, it might be a better idea to take Larkin in your lineups for a cheaper price of $3,900. Keep an eye on the starting lineups for this game because, if Sloan loses his starting spot, he has even more landmine potential tonight.