NBA

3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 12/29/16

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

Jahlil Okafor, C, Philadelphia 76ers

FanDuel Price: $4,600

Joel Embiid is not going to play on Thursday on the front half of a back to back, but that doesn't mean that Jahlil Okafor is a good play tonight. He and the rest of the Philadelphia 76ers will have to battle a tough Utah Jazz defense, and Okafor will have to deal directly with Rudy Gobert.

Gobert has been a machine on defense this season, holding players he defends to just 41.9% shooting and 48.8% shooting from within six feet from the basket.

This has helped the Jazz only allow 0.89 FanDuel points per minute to opposing centers. Okafor has had some big games when Embiid was out, but he is far from safe tonight in what will be a really tough matchup.

Nick Young, SG, Los Angeles Lakers

FanDuel Price: $4,500

The artist formally known as Swaggy P has a tougher-than-average matchup tonight. Nick Young and the Los Angeles Lakers have a bad pace-down matchup against the Dallas Mavericks, and it could spell landmine status for several Lakers.

Young tops the list. If he isn't hitting shots, he likely won't pay off his salary. Even though he dropped 20 points on Wesley Matthews earlier in the season, Young hasn't scored in double figures in any of his five prior meetings with Matthews.

The Mavs are holding opposing shooting guards to just 0.78 FanDuel points per minute, so Young is just a tournament flier on this short slate.

P.J. Tucker, SF, Phoenix Suns

FanDuel Price: $4,100

T.J. Warren dropped 23 points last night against the San Antonio Spurs, but that just means it's time for P.J. Tucker to see fewer minutes. The Phoenix Suns' defensive specialist has seen his minutes plummet since Warren's return, and Tucker played just 16 minutes last night.

Now, the Suns are on the second half of a back to back against the Toronto Raptors. While the game should have plenty of fantasy value to go around, Tucker might not see the court enough to make value, even at a small price tag. Even if Tucker sees more run, the Raptors are only allowing 0.79 FanDuel points to small forwards this season.