NBA

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

Jordan Sharp  —  @TehSharp Mar 3rd, 2017
Brook Lopez heads into Utah for a matchup you'll want to avoid. Who else should be left off your rosters tonight?

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: $6,900

Brook Lopez tends to play well in games where the pace is high and the scoring is plentiful. That almost certainly won't be the case tonight, as the Brooklyn Nets travel to see the Utah Jazz.

The Nets have the second-lowest implied total on our Heat Map tonight at 95.75 points, and Lopez has a really tough matchup against Rudy Gobert, who he has struggled against in the past.

Dating back to last season, Lopez is averaging only 23 FanDuel points per game in his last three meetings against Gobert, and so far this season, the Jazz are allowing opposing centers to average just 0.89 FanDuel points per minute. Lay off Lopez tonight.

Nerlens Noel, PF, Dallas Mavericks

FanDuel Price: $5,300

Even with a tougher matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies, Nerlens Noel should be a popular DFS option tonight. He is going to start at center for the Dallas Mavericks, but that is no guarantee that he pays off his $5,300 salary.

For starters, Memphis is allowing centers just 0.83 FanDuel points per minute this season, and the only way to counter that might be playing Dirk Nowitzki at center more.

The Mavericks were starting to give Noel more minutes before he was late to a team flight. However, even though he is starting, he is nothing more than a tournament option tonight.

Aaron Gordon, PF, Orlando Magic

FanDuel Price: $5,000

Aaron Gordon played through a quad injury on Wednesday, but he only received 24 minutes in what was a foul-heavy game.

Tonight, he has to square off against the Miami Heat, a team he has struggled against this season. In three games, he is averaging fewer than 23 FanDuel points per game against them, and now, he might be going up against plenty of James Johnson. Johnson has been a strong defender this season, and it's one of the reasons the Heat are allowing only 0.85 FanDuel points per minute to the position.

Johnson is also holding players he defends to just 39.2% shooting overall. If Luke Babbitt struggles to defend Gordon to start the game, expect to see more of Johnson off the bench trying to slow down Gordon.