NBA

3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 1/2/17

Jordan Sharp  —  @TehSharp Jan 2nd, 2017
Brook Lopez is going head to head with the Stifle Tower tonight. Who else should you avoid?

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.

Brook Lopez, C, Brooklyn Nets

FanDuel Price: $7,000

Brook Lopez has been a good source of fantasy value, and while he isn't rebounding like most centers who are seven feet tall, he's been making up for it a bit by dishing out a ton of assists lately.

However, the Utah Jazz are going to slow down the Nets as much as possible and make Lopez go one-on-one with Rudy Gobert tonight. If the Jazz are successful in slowing down the pace of the game, Lopez is going to suffer the most.

The Jazz are holding opposing centers to just 0.88 FanDuel points per minute, and considering Gobert is becoming a load on both ends, Lopez is going to be expending a lot of energy defending Gobert and keeping him off the glass. It's just not a great spot for Lopez tonight.

Danilo Gallinari, SF, Denver Nuggets

FanDuel Price: $6,000

Kevin Durant has been a revelation for the Golden State Warriors this season and he's easily a leading MVP candidate. However, the biggest surprise of his game this season has been his improved motivation on the defensive end.

That spells bad news for Danilo Gallinari tonight, who has started to find his groove lately. Durant and the Warriors are holding opposing small forwards to 0.79 FanDuel points per minute, and Durant's individual defense has had a big hand in that.

Durant is holding players he defends to just 42.9% shooting from the floor and 31.9% from three-point range. Combine all this with the small problem that Gallinari has to defend Durant as well, and you have a big landmine on Monday.

Taj Gibson, PF, Chicago Bulls

FanDuel Price: $4,600

Taj Gibson is back to playing minutes in the high 20s lately, but it hasn't done a lot for his fantasy value. Now he has a rematch with Marvin Williams and the Charlotte Hornets, who are both underrated defensively.

The Hornets are allowing only 0.85 FanDuel points per minute, and Williams is holding players he defends to just 44.2% shooting from the floor.

On top of that, Gibson has never had a big game against Williams since Williams' move to Charlotte. In seven meetings against one another with Williams in Charlotte, Gibson has never had a 20 FanDuel point game and is averaging just 16.8 FanDuel points per contest.