NBA

3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 10/27/17

John Wall has a tough matchup on Friday against the Warriors, who have been tough on opposing point guards. Who else should you avoid in NBA DFS contests on Friday?

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.

John Wall, PG, Washington Wizards

FanDuel Price: $9,700

I'm going out on a limb here with the recommendation to fade John Wall, but, the numbers aren't looking good for the Washington Wizards' point guard against the Golden State Warriors on Friday.

Other than a huge game two years ago where Stephen Curry and Wall combined for 92 points against one another, Wall has struggled overall when tasked with both having to defend Curry and lead the Wizards offense. Wall is shooting just 41.8% from the floor in 12 career meetings against Curry, and he has scored more than 20 points against him only once.

There is also the factor of the Warriors' defense. Even though Golden State is giving up 111.8 points per 100 possessions, their fantasy defense against point guards has been pretty good. They're allowing point guards to average just 0.8 FanDuel points per minute, and in their last three meetings against one another, Wall is averaging just 43.6 FanDuel points against Curry and the Warriors under the new scoring system.

Evan Fournier, SF, Orlando Magic

FanDuel Price: $7,600

Evan Fournier is coming off an impressive 49.2-FanDuel-point effort against the Brooklyn Nets, where he scored 28 points on 9-of-15 shooting. It's the second time in three games where he's scored at least 40 FanDuel points, but it all could come crashing down Friday when the Orlando Magic host the San Antonio Spurs.

The Spurs have been tough on defense so far this season, and they still don't have their star forward Kawhi Leonard healthy. Either way, San Antonio is holding opponents to 97.6 points per 100 possessions, a .479 effective field goal percentage, and their defensive rebounding rate of 84.2 currently leads the league.

Fournier's issues don't stop there. The Spurs are holding opposing small forwards to just 0.58 FanDuel points per minute, and at his elevated price of $7,600, it's hard seeing Fournier getting the 35 to 40 FanDuel points necessary to reach value.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, SG, Los Angeles Lakers

FanDuel Price: $6,000

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has posted two straight games of at least 30 FanDuel points to start the season, but now that he is up against DeMar DeRozan and the Toronto Raptors on Friday, KCP may be in for some regression against a good Raptors defense.

Toronto is holding opposing shooting guards to an average of 0.76 FanDuel points per minute, and the defense of DeRozan has a lot to do with that. So far this year, DeRozan is holding players he defends to just 44.3% shooting from the floor.

Across their 11 career head-to-head matchups, Caldwell-Pope is shooting just 42.6% from the floor and averaging 11.7 points per game against DeRozan.

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Jordan Sharp is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jordan Sharp also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username TEHSHARP. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.