NBA

3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 12/26/17

Will Barton has seen his usage drop in recent games, and he has a tough matchup tonight against the Jazz. Which other players should you stay away from?

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

Spencer Dinwiddie, PG, Brooklyn Nets

FanDuel Price: $7,400

The Brooklyn Nets have a tough assignment on Tuesday,as they head to Texas to meet the San Antonio Spurs. The Nets have the lowest implied total of any team, and that could spell bad news for Spencer Dinwiddie's fantasy value.

The Spurs are holding opposing point guards to 0.82 FanDuel points per minute this season, and considering Dinwiddie is shooting 35.4% on the road this year, it's not the night to target the Nets' guard.

Will Barton, SG, Denver Nuggets

FanDuel Price: $6,200

After averaging 16 shot attempts per game over his first five games in the month of December, Will Barton's usage rate and production have really fallen over the latter half of the month. Barton is coming into tonight with just 25 shot attempts over his last three games, and a matchup against the Utah Jazz isn't going to help anything.

The Jazz are holding opposing shooting guards to 0.77 FanDuel points per minute, the second-toughest matchup in defense-versus-position matchup chart. All in all, Barton is a risky investment Tuesday night.

Dennis Smith, PG, Dallas Mavericks

FanDuel Price: $5,000

Dennis Smith has seen his minutes reduced coming off a six-game absence as he has yet to play more than 27 minutes in a game since returning from injury. Although there has been no word on whether his minutes limit will continue, Smith has a very tough battle on Tuesday against Kyle Lowry and the Toronto Raptors.

The Raptors are holding opposing point guards to just 0.80 FanDuel points per minute, which is tops in the NBA. Lowry is holding players he defends to just 43.5% shooting and 28.8% shooting from distance, so Smith has his work cut out for him tonight on top of a potentially limited workload.



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.