NBA

3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 10/31/17

Carmelo Anthony goes head-to-head with Giannis Antetokounmpo tonight, making him a potential DFS landmine. Which other NBA players should you avoid in daily fantasy basketball on Tuesday?

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.

Carmelo Anthony, PF, Oklahoma City Thunder

FanDuel Price: $7,400

Carmelo Anthony is off to a strong start as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder. He has scored at least 21 points in every game and is averaging a solid 35.9 FanDuel points during that time. However, he has his toughest matchup so far this year on Tuesday against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks.

Milwaukee is holding opposing power forwards to just 0.79 FanDuel points per minute, which is the worst matchup of any player tonight in our DvP Matchup Chart. Furthermore, Antetokounmpo is holding players he defends to just 41.3% shooting from the floor and 35.3% shooting outside of 15 feet.

To start the season with his new team, Anthony is shooting over 40% of his field goal attempts from three-point range, so he is playing right into the Greek Freak's defensive strengths. Our models project Anthony for just 30.3 FanDuel points, which is not enough to warrant rostering him in a tough matchup.

Brandon Ingram, SF, Los Angeles Lakers

FanDuel Price: $5,600

Another forward facing a tough opponent Tuesday is Brandon Ingram. The Los Angeles Lakers' small forward has been inconsistent this season, with a low of 9.9 FanDuel points and a high of 37.5 nearly a week ago. Coming off a strong game against the Utah Jazz, Ingram is due for some regression against Stanley Johnson and the Detroit Pistons.

Now the full-time starter in Detroit, Johnson has been solid defensively. He is holding players he defends to 43.0% shooting from the floor and 35.4% from distance while racking up 11 steals in seven games.

Those numbers have helped the Pistons hold opposing small forwards to 0.79 FanDuel points per minute, making Ingram a tough player to roster in any format.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, SG, Los Angeles Lakers

FanDuel Price: $5,000

I understand the narrative of the revenge game for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, but there are several factors working against him. He has posted two good and two poor fantasy outputs in his four games this season, and Tuesday's matchup against the Pistons is not a great one.

Avery Bradley can be very tough on opposing shooting guards, and according to our DvP Matchup Chart, the Pistons are holding shooting guards to just 0.7 FanDuel points per minute this year, the second-best mark of any team so far.

There is also a logjam developing for the Lakers at shooting guard with Jordan Clarkson and Josh Hart playing well off the bench. If that continues, they will eat directly into Caldwell-Pope's minutes, which makes him a risky fantasy investment.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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.