NBA

3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 12/7/16

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 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. After all, it takes only one player to sink a lineup. Searching for the landmines could mean the difference from winning or losing your contests.

Rudy Gay, SF, Sacramento Kings

FanDuel Price: $7,200

After his nearly 42-FanDuel-point performance over the weekend, Rudy Gay and the Sacramento Kings got a few days off before tonight's meeting with the Dallas Mavericks. Dallas hasn't exactly been the greatest defensive team this season, but they are one of only a few teams playing at a slower pace that the Kings.

Dallas is averaging less than 92 possessions per game, which ranks 29th in the league in front of only the Utah Jazz. Their slow-down game is not going to help Gay, who seems to thrive more in the up-tempo and fast-break oriented games.

Plus, there is Wesley Matthews to think about. Matthews will almost surely be taking some shots at Gay tonight while the Mavs allow Harrison Barnes to focus more on offense. However, both Matthews and Barnes been solid on defense this season. The Mavs are allowing small forwards only 0.78 FanDuel points per minute while Matthews is holding players he defends to just 43.7% shooting from the floor.

Jae Crowder, SF, Boston Celtics

FanDuel Price: $5,200

Jae Crowder is back to playing his normal minutes, but he has yet to resume his solid cash-game levels of production. Crowder has scored less than 25 FanDuel points in three straight games, and now he has to face off against a tired but still solid Orlando Magic defense.

After stumbling out of the gate, the Magic now rank fifth in the league in defensive rating, allowing just 103.8 points per 100 possessions. This has led to a big boost in defense across all positions, but the Magic have been at their best against wing players.

They are holding small forwards to just 0.7 FanDuel points per minute. With both Aaron Gordon and Jeff Green playing at a high level on defense, it's going to be hard for Crowder to break out tonight even with a potential boost in usage.

Elfrid Payton, PG, Orlando Magic

FanDuel Price: $5,100

On the other side of that matchup is Elfrid Payton, who is coming off his best game of the season. However, a combined six blocks and steals plus 25 points is pretty unheard of from Payton. So with his respective price boost and his matchup tonight against the Boston Celtics, it's not the time to chase points with Payton.

Payton's bench role might have helped his scoring, but the Boston Celtics' defense against point guards has been very good this season as they are allowing only 0.83 FanDuel points per minute to point guards.

With Isaiah Thomas out tonight, Marcus Smart is going to take over the point duties for Boston. He is holding players he defends to just 43.2% shooting from the floor this year. If he and the Celtics can keep Payton out of the paint, it's hard to trust the Magic point guard to replicate what he did against the Washington Wizards. Seeing as it's the Magic's third game in four nights, and they're on the second night a back to back, it's probably best to stay away from Payton for this one.